Ian Mitchell

Having visited a number of the Scottish islands included in this book I was looking forward to reading this account of a journey around the Inner and Outer Hebrides. My initial impression was that this would be a travelogue, but I was very much mistaken. The book is far more political. Parts are written journalistically in order to explore the issue of nature conservation in this part of Scotland.

Mitchell has big concerns about how much money goes towards the preservation and protection of habitats that are not particularly at risk and bird spieces that are not internationally under threat. He is very much against the authoritarian approach taken by the likes of the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage, often going against the wishes of islanders.

The book is well written and I enjoyed the read and learnt a good deal from it. I might not agree with Mitchell's views, but I still thought it was worth reading. I one aspect that left a bad taste in my mouth was his interview approach to representatives of the nature conservation bodies he met along the way. Having had not success speaking to people who run the bodies he instead harangues local reps. This often made for uncomfortable reading and resembled the Paxman approach to interviews.… (plus d'informations)