Friday 14 November, 2025
In an effort to address the nature and climate emergencies in Scotland, Trees for Life has announced the launch of its Missing Species Programme. This pioneering initiative aims to reintroduce four keystone animals – lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and modern-day aurochs – to the Scottish Highlands.
According to the rewilding charity, this programme will not only help restore biodiversity, but also bring significant benefits to local communities through nature tourism. However, the ambitious project requires a budget of £3.6 million for its first five years, including detailed habitat assessments and community engagement to meet Scotland’s strict licensing requirements.
To kickstart the initiative, Trees for Life has launched a supporter appeal to raise an initial £25,000. The charity is also reaching out to major funders, including individuals, businesses, foundations, and grant-making bodies, for support.
Keystone species play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. However, many of these species are currently missing from Scotland, one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. Centuries of persecution and habitat destruction have led to their local extinction or drastic decline.
“We can restore nature at scale and breathe new life into the Highlands, so people and wildlife can thrive together,” said Steve Micklewright, chief executive of Trees for Life. “By bringing back the forest-planting red squirrel, flood-preventing beaver, deer-managing lynx, and landscape-shaping aurochs through their modern-day descendant the tauros, we can boost biodiversity, take action against climate change, and promote economic growth. The Highlands can become a beacon of hope in the fight against extinction and wildlife loss.”
Ensuring successful coexistence between wildlife and people is a top priority for Trees for Life. This includes thorough community discussions, management measures, and ensuring local people can enjoy the social and economic benefits.
The successful reintroduction of species in Scotland requires extensive technical work, including habitat assessments and stakeholder engagement, to meet the standards set by NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency. This allows nature to recover while promoting coexistence between people and wildlife and ensuring each species finds its rightful place.
For instance, beavers create wetlands that support wildlife, purify water, and reduce flooding. While they may cause issues for farmland, these can usually be managed. Officially reintroduced to Scotland in 2009 after being hunted to extinction 400 years ago, beavers have only been restored to a few sites and are missing from much suitable habitat.
In October, a partnership between Trees for Life and Forestry and Land Scotland led to the historic reintroduction of beavers to Glen Affric. The charity is also discussing the potential for returning beavers to the Loch Ness area with the Beaver Trust.
The elusive Eurasian lynx, which poses no threat to humans, plays a vital role in managing deer numbers by preying on them, enabling more young trees to survive and woodlands to regenerate. Unfortunately, lynx were hunted to extinction in the Middle Ages and are still missing from Scotland, despite research showing that the Highlands has the habitat to support a breeding population of 250. Through the Lynx to Scotland partnership, Trees for Life has worked with diverse stakeholders for five years to assess what an official reintroduction might entail, from sheep predation to eco-tourism benefits. The charity plans to hold further local discussions in 2026.
Tauros, classified as domestic cattle, have no equivalent breed. However, scientists in the Netherlands have ‘back-bred’ them to be as similar as possible to the ancient aurochs – the wild ancestor of all domestic cattle. The aurochs played a vital role in shaping landscapes and enhancing biodiversity across Europe, including Scotland, for millennia. At the 4,000-hectare Dundreggan estate near Loch Ness, Trees for Life is carrying out assessments for what would be the UK’s first introduction of a herd of tauros, effectively reintroducing the aurochs, four centuries after its extinction.
European research shows that tauros, being bigger and more active than other cattle, help create richer habitats through their powerful grazing impacts, sheer size, and behaviour. Bulls can reach up to 180cm and cows 150cm at the shoulder. If introduced to Dundreggan, their role in ecological restoration would be scientifically studied.
Red squirrels were brought to the edge of extinction in the UK by historic habitat loss and human persecution, with estimates of numbers today ranging from 160,000 to 287,000. Their recovery is still at risk due to competition from, and a fatal virus spread by, non-native greys. Reds remain missing from much of the Highlands, one of their last bastions. Trees for Life has relocated reds to woodlands in the northern Highlands which the animals can’t reach on their own, establishing 13 new and flourishing populations so far. The charity is investigating opportunities to
