Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Scotland’s tigers
PETER FROST goes hunting for one of the world’s rarest mammals — the Scottish wildcat
Scottish Wildcat
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Some folk call them Scottish tigers — it’s not a bad name for one of the world’s most endangered animals. Forget your giant panda, Sumatran elephant, three-toed sloth or even the hairy wombat, when it comes to mammals on the edge of extinction, the Scottish wildcat is far rarer than any of them.
Experts estimate there may be only 35 pure-bred individuals left and only four or five small remote areas of the Highlands that are home to the wildcat.
This compares with fewer than 2,500 wild Bengal tigers and makes them 70 times rarer than the giant panda.
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