A modern intensive farmed landscape (above) has less visual appeal than
a traditional landscape with smaller fields and field boundaries (below)
A traditional crofting landscape
A lowland farmed landscape with trees along the field boundaries
Wild upland landscapes with few visible signs of human
intervention, apart from a forestry plantation in the lower picture
A modern upland landscape managed for timber and energy, The future of most of
upland Scotland?
A similar modern upland landscape consisting exclusively of
improved, species-poor pasture and timber plantations, although
with some wild land remaining on the highest ground in the distance
The European Landscape Convention
The Scottish Government is a signatory to the European Landscape
Convention, a Council of Europe initiative, not a European Union
one. However, the implications of this are not widely known. For
example, Article 5 of the Conventions states that Each Party
undertakes “to establish and implement landscape policies aimed
at landscape protection, management and planning.”
The iconic Scottish landscape: image or reality?
Scotland is often praised by the government and tourism bodies
for its ‘fantastic scenery’, and the government certainly pays lip
service to ensuring that this remains the case. But what happens
on the ground often appears to belie this. It is as if politicians hold
in their minds the Platonic ideal of the iconic Scottish landscape –
but an ideal which has lost touch with reality [see page 35 of the
guide]. If anything, the trends of landscape change are accelerating
us further away from this ideal.
But this does not have to be the case. There are many tools
available to describe, assess and plan landscapes, although it
would appear these are not widely known to the public at large.
Hence I have produced a guide for the layman:
Introduction to Landscape: A guide for the non-
specialist to aid the understanding, assessment and
future planning of rural landscapes,
with a focus on Scotland
There is currently a new momentum to take the conservation of
the Scottish landscape seriously as evinced by the recent formation
of Scotland’s Landscape Alliance. It is hoped that this guide will
assist people with understanding landscape change and with
planning our future landscapes, thus ensuring that cherished
landscapes are looked after properly.
The version of the guide downloadable here is a first draft, which I
have called a ‘Test Version’. Comments which will help improve its
content are welcome. Please send them to me at
ecology@fenton.scot