Visual perception of wild land in Scotland

The term ‘wild landʹ is often used to describe the Highlands of Scotland, but means different things to different people. In biophysical terms there is very little, if any, ‘wild landʹ left in Scotland as most of the landscape has been altered by human hand or grazing; what is left is now under pressure from recreational activities and the continued development of forestry. However, ‘wild landʹ still exists for some people and yet there is no widely accepted definition of the concept within the context of Scotland. Based on the peoplesʹ visual perception of the environment this research attempts to define the term ‘wild landʹ for two areas of Scotland, the Cairngorms and Wester Ross. A photographic questionnaire is used to differentiate between the concepts of ‘wildnessʹ, ‘perceived naturalnessʹ and ‘beautyʹ. In addition, the identification of which landscape attributes are requisite for a ‘wild landʹ experience and an analysis of how these differ between the sample groups is presented. The views of rural inhabitants, walkers, rural outdoor workers and environmental organisations are taken into account. The results from initial analysis of the questionnaire data shows that there is a large variation in perceived wildness across a range of Scottish landscape types. In addition there is evidence to show that for each landscape type, wildness is perceived in a similar way by all four sample groups, unlike perceived naturalness which displays much greater variation between the groups. The largest differences in perceived naturalness are apparent between the views of rural inhabitants and recreational users. Discussion of possible future spatial analysis of the results using a geographic information system to provide map output showing the variation in wild land quality for the different sample groups is presented. The implication for conservation management is to consider the value of wild land as a resource in its own right, in addition to the more tangible ecological and geological resources that are currently valued.