Aigas Field Centre: Wildlife Conservation and Sustainability in the Scottish Highlands

It’s Only Natural

Born in 1946 in Yorkshire, England, Sir John spent his childhood scrambling through hedges in search of birds and small beasts, keeping pigeons and tracking foxes around the local farms and woods. “Almost every child of my generation grew up reading Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and getting to know Peter Rabbit, Tommy Brock — the boot-wearing badger — and Mr. Tod, a fox,” says Sir John.

“I love badgers,” says Sir John. “When I was a boy, my friend Eileen Soper, also a celebrated author and naturalist, taught me how to badger-watch. She was remarkable. Cubs would run over her lap.” Sir John finds that talking to visitors about these animals immediately conjures up these wonderful images.

“I’ve found substantial burrows, 5 to 7 feet underground, with 12 entrances, here on the property,” says Sir John. “The badger colony on this site has been here for over 100 years. Guests can sit inside the hide and wait for the badgers to come.”

“The human experience of wildlife would be greatly diminished without badgers,” says Sir John. “They’re interesting and colorful, and people get pleasure knowing they are out there and maybe seeing them. And, ecologically, they are an important part of our ecosystem.”

This early immersion in the natural world fueled his two passions: exploring the wonders of nature and writing about them. He came to live in the Scottish Highlands in 1968, where he devoted his life to protecting and celebrating the landscape and its wildlife.

The House of Aigas

Once a Victorian sporting lodge, the historic Aigas estate later served as a home for older people before being abandoned in 1971. Sir John bought the house in ruins in 1976 and renovated it for his family. Set on 600 acres, it became the base for the first field studies center in the Highlands.

“It’s our family home,” says Sir John, “and we welcome our guests into the public areas. While we live in the west wing, we invite our guests to enjoy their meals in the huge Baronial dining hall, next to a roaring log fire, surrounded by family portraits. In this storied gathering space, Road Scholars are privy to soups made with seasonal organic potato, beetroot, carrot and onion and local, sustainably sourced meat and fish like venison, lamb and salmon.

“Our local butcher’s haggis is prize-winning,” says Sir John and Lady Lucy’s daughter, Hermione Jackson. “The most popular meal — served on the last night of the Road Scholar program — includes haggis (Scotland’s national dish) with oatcakes, lamb, Dauphinoise potatoes and red cabbage with sticky toffee pudding for dessert.”

A library with an extensive collection of natural history, wildlife and local history books is available to our guests. Sprinkled about the property are nine lodges and cabins, accommodating four to six people and offering everyone a private room.

Feathered Friends

As the seasons change at Aigas, so do the flora and fauna. The wild countryside is a bird lover’s paradise — from White-tailed Eagles overhead to the tops of pines filled with chaffinches and siskins. To date, 142 species of birds have been recorded on the estate. In the evening, guests can hear the hoots and screeches of Tawny Owls. “In the last two or three years, we have seen ospreys nesting here on the property,” says Sir John. “That’s a huge draw for our guests who can observe them fishing. We regularly see well over 100 species of birds in a week and many of the Highland’s iconic mammals, all in spectacular scenery.”

Expert Field Staff

Programs at the Aigas Field Centre shift with the turning season, specializing in whatever aspect of wildlife is current. Ancient woodlands are home to red squirrels, deer, pine martens, Scottish wildcats, hedgehogs and badgers.

With an environmental education team of seven and a conservation team of eight, Aigas Field Centre and its staff run different projects year-round. “Every program includes educational information about wildlife, climate change and sustainability,” says Sir John. A typical day includes hiking and birdwatching. “We’ll usually walk 3 to 5 miles over an eight-hour day, with many places to stop and rest.”

Miles of nature trails wind around the loch, moorland and up to the Iron Age Fort on this magical property. Punctuating the landscape are carefully crafted wildlife hides, structures specifically built to allow guests to observe native species, including deer, red squirrels and pine martens. The Treetop Hide enables guests to spy on deer, ravens, ospreys, crossbills, buzzards and red kites. For those interested in badger-watching, the Campbell Hide is ideal.

“For the last 10 years, we’ve been focusing on climate change and sustainability,” says Sir John. “Road Scholars come to the Highlands for historical reasons — they may have a Scottish background. But they are all interested in the natural environment.”

Road Scholars Learn About Conservation Initiatives

Over the years, Sir John has engaged in quite a few pioneering conservation initiatives. In 2006, the trailblazing Aigas Beaver Demonstration Project began when two Eurasian beavers were released into a 200-acre enclosure consisting of an 8-acre loch and woodland. “Here, in this perfect habitat, one of the world’s most important keystone species has thrived, built lodges and produced many kits,” says Sir John. This project shows people the impact of beavers on the wetland habitat. “Road Scholars are always interested in beavers,” he says. “Some people don’t like to see trees felled, but beavers are wonderful agents of biodiversity.”

Another important project, The Aigas Wildcat Conservation Breeding Program, was set up in 2011. “We are now breeding these animals in collaboration with over 20 other organizations who share the goal of releasing wildcats, Felis silvestris, back into large tracts of healthy Highland habitat,” says Sir John. This project allows a wild population to survive, thrive and spread to colonize new areas. After over a decade of breeding, rangers released the first 19 young wildcats into the Cairngorms National Park in 2023.

A declining population of red squirrels inspired Sir John to do a trial reintroduction of eight red squirrels in 2016. “This initiative reversed the decline to a point where we have an abundance, leading us to believe that a lack of genetic diversity was the problem,” says Sir John.

The twinflower, Linnea borealis, is an incredibly beautiful, rare flower found in ancient Caledonian woodlands. With only 16 clones surviving today, the North Highland Twinflower Conservation Project was launched in 2018 when six twinflower rootstocks were moved to Aigas to establish self-sustaining twinflower populations across the northern Highlands. The Aigas Field Centre is the first location to have new viable populations planted as part of the project.

Regeneration and Habitat Restoration

Sir John finds his Road Scholar guests extremely interested in the natural regeneration he has been aiding for almost 50 years. “Overgrazing and irresponsible land management had created a barren environment, lacking in diversity with an absence of native species,” he says. He and Lady Lister-Kaye lead Road Scholars on arboretum walks, where 65 distinct species of trees grow. “Guests are surprised to see the range of North American trees on site, including giant sequoia and western red cedar. Arboretums like these are found in most Victorian homes in Scotland and have become an import seed bank for species not doing so well in their native land,” says Hermione.

A visit to Aigas Field Centre is more than a journey into nature; it’s a step toward understanding the critical role Aigas plays in protecting the planet. As Sir John eloquently says, "To conserve the wild is to conserve the human spirit."

Learn more about Road Scholar’s 11-day program, Scotland’s Highlands: A Stay at the Aigas Field Centre.