The Cairngorm National Park. A Year In The Life.

In what I think is the final part of the BBC 2 series you where shown what a year in the life of the Cairngorm National Park can be like for the people who live and work there. What came clearly across to me was the fact that unlike some parks, here the work people do to maintain the environment is of vital importance for example without there natural predator the Wolf Red Deer numbers would sore and in large numbers they would do untold damage to there grazing land. To counter this problem game keepers do the vital if a bit nasty job of culling the old or weak much as the Wolf would, meaning you're left with a strong but well managed population. Another job done done to help the wild life in the area is the burning of the heather, heather is an important food source for the Grouse population who feed on the new shoots and without it being burned back the heather wouldn't produce as much new growth. There is another reason why Grouse numbers are so important and this is for the local economy, during the shooting season this provides many jobs for locals if numbers are to low then the season could be cancel costing everyone dearly.
The Caringorm's provide a great deal of variety in landscapes from mountain highlands, woodland and rolling moorland each with its own individual characteristics but what really defines the area is the colour and the weather. During the seasons you can seem to see such great extreme in conditions and during the winter particularly it can be seen at its most beautiful but deadly with raging winds and bitter cold. Then in the autumn with the changing light comes bursts of reds and golds with the changing season in the forest. To live and work here in the winter must be really testing, you must have to be a pretty hardened soul to survive but still people do because you can find climbs in the mountains and other tourists lower down even in the worst weather. The whole place has a rugged untouched feel and that's one of the reasons people are drawn to the area, its one of the last great wildernesses left in this country where you can go and find near complete quiet and maybe feel more connected to the natural world.