> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “You’ve got to acknowledge that you’re just a fragment in time.” Episode 2#9 settles down with Doug Bartholomew, a man who has the dream job of managing one of Scotland’s great landscapes. Seek him on a weekday, Saturday or Sunday and you’ll find him and his team of fellow NatureScot employees on Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands National Nature Reserve in Wester Ross. This 48 square kilometres of magnificent highland wilderness requires hard work to keep it running sustainably, and constant attention is required to replenish the native Caledonia pinewoods that still grow in these soils. As a consequence, Doug finds himself stalking deer, nurturing and planting up to 20,000 pine seedlings, and enduring vicious swarms of midges throughout his working year. Told you it was a dream job. Doug reveals how he came to be in this “dead man’s shoes” kind of role, why volunteers on the reserve are absolutely essential to its continued success, and how much joy can be found running and climbing in this exceptional landscape when you wake and work between its peaks. > Want to volunteer at Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands NNR yourself? Walk this way: https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/scotlands-national-nature-reserves/beinn-eighe-and-loch-maree-islands-nnr/beinn-eighe-and-loch-maree-islands-nnr-getting-involved Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series! [episode recorded on 30/08/22] 00:00 - Introduction 01:56 - Welcome, living on Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve (“it’s a short commute to work”) amongst the “largest remnant” of ancient Caledonian pinewood 06:06 - A run-down of a Reserve Manager’s job, stalking deer and growing trees from seed 09:06 - A small team for a 5,000 hectare area 11:24 - Growing 20,000 trees per year, repairing deforestation by humans and herbivores 16:06 - “As a manager, you want to see things happen in your time… but especially with woodland restoration like this you’ve got to acknowledge that you’re just a fragment in time when you think of the hundreds of years it’ll need to restore these landscapes.” 17:11 - More about deer management, “aiming for a about 1-2 deer per kilometre squared”, the absence of apex predators (“we don’t have an intact natural process”) 20:06 - A “‘dead man’s shoes” kind of job 20:36 - Doug’s journey to becoming a Reserve Manager, the challenges of conservation, feeling a connection to the environment 29:36 - Getting out in the evenings and getting up high - “if you can run, you can pack a lot into a short time… to get up on the Beinn Eighe ridge while the light’s flooding in from the west”, the scrambly mountain running in the area 32:46 - Multi-pitch trad climbing on Beinn Eighe, and the appeals of winter when ice climbing is in. Being one step ahead of UKClimbing’s forums 36:26 - Welcoming the general public, the first waymarked route in Britain which rises to 500m with views of Loch Maree 38:16 - The hardest days on the job, being uplifted by the “vibrance and enthusiasm” of volunteers on the Reserve, enjoying their varied backgrounds 41:40 - Midge chat: “the weather’s not always hot and sunny… and my house must be one of the midge-iest spots in Scotland. They never lose their bite”... don’t end up with a “lather of dead midges all over you”... “grimace” 45:36 - Greatest mountain memory… a winter traverse of the Cuillin in perfect weather and perfect snow conditions; a winter climb of the Fiddler’s Nose (“I’m still buzzing”) 48:16 - All the time, money, freedom… what would you do? Climbing in Alaska and the Himalayas, but “I love my job and I’m pretty content, so I wouldn’t ask for much more”