Showing posts with label ghosts in the wood. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 October 2026

Life as a wolf

Life as a Wolf
Dundreggan Project Wolf

In 2016 and 2017 at Trees for Life, Dundreggan, a remarkable project invited small groups of people to spend a month at a time as wolfpack, watching, prowling, patrolling the woods to keep the deer away from new saplings

As part of encouraging wider participation in The Last Wolf project, we’re featuring exciting artwork and projects from other people that draw upon ideas about the connections between people and the world around us. This is the first of those posts. Here, in the woods of Dundreggan, from whence we have lost our wolves, there was a fascinating experiment inviting humans to explore a wolf's way of being…..

A visiting Sami singer blessed the Wolf Den where the humandwolves rested during their prowlings with a joik: https://youtu.be/0gSomkEpnLM?si=rYJIaODHpIpB55T2

and Alan Watson Featherstone, the founder of Trees for Life, wrote about meeting the wolves: https://alanwatsonfeatherstone.com/a-night-with-the-wolves/

Conceived by Doug Gilbert, the manager of Dundreggan at the time, the humandwolves project was challenging and inspiring and regrettably shortlived! It created fascinating insights into how humans connect to natural spaces and other species….

For The Last Wolf, it offers us some wonderful reflections from the humandwolves about just being so immersed in a landscape and a role within a habitat.

If these people were humandwolves – what would you choose to be?

Poet Alec Finlay gathered responses to a questionnaire from the participants and out of that grew the poem below

See more about Alec’s work here: https://petrichormag.com/current-issue/

And the full text of the poem is here: https://petrichormag.com/22-alec-finlay/

I was a humandwolf

I felt very natural
very human
on my nights as a wolf

walking the routes
as tracker and hunter

connected to the land

with favorite places for sleeping

and spots to watch from

waiting by the tree-line at dusk

content to be silent

becoming part of the wood

familiar with nooks
and crannies

patterns of growth
and decay

I felt safe in the woods
with an underlying awareness
I had a purpose

when I’m out there
I want for nothing
(except maybe dry socks)

when I’m back home
I want more than anything
to go back.

(II)

looking for signs
hoof-
prints

scat

hair
in the dark
trails
head-
torches

sniffing the air for
the musty order

bright reflections
of cornea

your senses pick out

faint smell
of something
that just passed

(III)

while being a wolf
I dreamt of deer
and the moon

because of the dreamlike nature
of the nights by night
the veil becomes thinner
lucid dreaming easier

This poem is composed from answers to a questionnaire completed by ‘humandwolves – individuals who volunteered to join one of the four wolf packs, in 2016 and 2017, at Trees for Life, Dundreggan. Each pack spent one month as a ‘humandwolf’, warding deer from saplings.

Project Wolf was conceived by Douglas Gilbert of Trees for Life

The Humandwolves:
Martina Baltkalne
Millie Barrett
Nick Belt
Lotte Brockbank
Liv Glatt
Claire Large
Matt McMullen
Lorna Meek
Chanel Valento-Bovell
Alex Volkers

All photos by Mhairi Law for Alec Finlay's Humandwolf Project, 2017

Monday, 21 September 2026

Public events in Moray and Inverness

The Last Wolf

free public events

October 2026

Tuesday 13^th Lost animals and wonderful places

· Elgin Library, Crooker Park, Elgin, IV30 1HS, 11:00 - 16:00

https://fb.me/e/6D4SUiEcO

Wednesday 14^th, The Last Wolf and Other Lost animals

· Inverness Museum, IV2 3EB 10:30 - 15:30

https://fb.me/e/bEUBvAzp9

make your own folded animal

Thursday 15th, Lost animals and wonderful places

Nairn Museum, Viewfield House, Viewfield Drive, Nairn, IV12 4EE
10:30 - 15:30
https://fb.me/e/4xa9CuTKt

Friday 16^th: Lost animals and wonderful places

· Forres Library, House Community Centre, High St, Forres, IV36 1BU, 10:30- 13:30

https://fb.me/e/9PBxXMaEf

What's all this about?

There are “last wolf” accounts found all over the UK. From full scale dramatic descriptions to a single sentence in a history book, we have noted the departure of this iconic predator. Accounts are almost always congratulatory which might reflect the impact wolves had - or were accused of having – or might have had - on local communities. Rarely is there any thought of what the bigger consequences of losing wolves might mean.

The Last Wolf project coincides with Caroline Bury's Ghosts in the Wood exhibition at Løre Gallery in Forres and sets out to encourage us to pause, reflect and be creative about how we feel about this changing world, about the animals we've lost, the ones we might be losing - and the ones that are coming back whether we like it or not! And its not just animals - if you're into plants, you could think about Ash Dieback and Sudden Larch Death.

Find out more about the whole project here: https://creepingtoad.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-last-wolf.html

Explore those changing landscapes of plants and animals in Scotland. A good starting point is to visit the Nature Champions website for more information and more species and habitats to think about!

where would you like to meet your animal?

Planning Public Events

With funding from the Pebble Trust, we are arranging public events and sessions in local schools.Make your own animal model and a pop-up landscape of the place where you would like to meet your wolf, frog, wild horse, mouse, eagle….

(and many thanks to Moray Council and Inverness Museum for their support!)

Details

These events are

· free

· no booking or tickets needed: just drop-by and join in

· young people under 12 need to bring a grown-up with them

· allow 45 minutes for the activity

· Find out more: @creeping toad

· https:// creepingtoad.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-last-wolf.html

Monday, 6 July 2026

The Last Wolf

GHOSTS IN THE WOOD

the story of the last wolf in Moray

The First Lament

Who will chant the WolfWords now?

Who will speak the Wolf's Words?

Who will tell the Wolf's own story

Now the woods no longer sing?

There are “last wolf” accounts found all over the UK. From full scale dramatic descriptions to single sentnce in a history book, we have noted the departure of this iconic predator. Accounts are almost always congratulatory which might reflect the impact wolves had - or were blamed for having – or might have had - on local communities. Rarely is there any thought of what the bigger consequences of losing wolves might mean.

see note at end about pics!

19th Century accounts (follow the link for a useful description of the situation) describe the killing of the last wolf in Moray in 1743. Somewhere on the banks of the Findhorn in current Darnaway Forest, MacQueen of Pollochoch claimed to have " buckled wi' him and dirkit him, and syne whuttled his craig and brought awa' his countenance". There is, however, a sense that, perhaps, the description is wrapped in later melodrama and the need for that romanticism of the highlands. (we have been using Jim Crumley's book The Last Wolf as a starting point)

But the story, however much the description of the events may be exaggerated, is intriguing, engaging and inspiring. With The Last Wolf project, we are using that account as a springboard for conversations about loss and extinction, about landscape change and our human responsibility. More powerfully, we hope the project will invite a deeper, personal, spiritual exploration of our relationship with the world around us. Hoping not to get too tangled up in rewilding, reintroduction and completely hysterical conversations, we want people to think about what all this: species loss, species change, and landscape changes, might mean for them on a deeper level.

Creatively, we will find ways of expressing those relationships: drawing, printing, model-making, writing and more. Starting as a collaboration between artists Caroline Bury and Gordon MacLellan, this work will grow into both physical and digital exhibitions, the former hosted by Løre Gallery in Forres as part of its Into the Wildwood Year in 2026 (see below for more on the partners here)

some of Caroline's artdolls

The Last Wolf is firmly anchored in landscapes. We can still walk the riverbanks and woodlands the Wolf visited. We can see the homes identified in that 18th Century account. We can meet trees standing now that were growing then, and we can linger by river pools mentioned so long ago. Wolf offers a wonderful opportunity to link past and present experiences and encourage people to look ahead, to build a vision of the future. From rewilded landscapes to new ways of living with and within our landscapes, Wolf can help people imagine the world they want to live in.

The Last Wolf relates to the landscapes of Moray and the eastern Highlands of Scotland – around the towns of Nairn and Forres and the Findhorn and Nairn rivers. If you are interested in hosting a workshop in that area please get in touch: we can tell stories, work with groups (schools, community groups, open public events) to create strange and wonderful creatures and characters, find the words that tell personal stories as tales and poems

As we get started, this post becomes another invitation…Caroline’s exhibition at Løre Gallery is set to run between 30th October – 1st January 2027. Creeping Toad(i.e.me!) is involved as a poet and storyteller, adding words to accompany Caroline’s visual storytelling. Like the leaves on the trees and the toadstools in the leaf mould, everything evolves slowly, at its own pace and in unpredictable directions.

Here, we encourage people to explore those reflections for themselves: thinking about species loss and landscape change, reflections upon those species that have gone, those who are in peril now and those who are returning (planned or not!)…or simply turning up…beavers, boars and dragonflies!

We would love to share images and links to other people’s posts and blogs (and, sorry, but we will exercise our own critical judgement on what we share). When we can, we will post snippets from those posts or add images to the galleries that will start developing as material comes in

Themes you might turn to:

· Species loss
· Landscape change
· Climate change
· Reintroduced species
·New species arriving in their own right
· The consequences for an environment of the loss oof a single species
· Keystone species: https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/reintroductions-key-species/keystone-species-and-trophic-cascades
we ourselves, as people in a changing world: how do we feel, how do you feel...get out there, sit beneath a tree and feel the world living around you....

And where do the Ghosts come in?

Caroline and I are both exploring the idea of those others who witnessed that last hunt. Not always human, not even often human, the woodland watched its last wolf run. Their voices are inspiring us both: with characters and sculpture from Caroline and poems and chants and prayers and charms from me. Here are voices and people that linger in the quiet corners of woods along the Findhorn, whispers in the shadows: ghosts in the wood

With generous funding from the Pebble Trust, we are setting up a number of outreach events encouraging public participant in both the project itself and in those wider reflections of a changing world. Keep an eye on the Creeping Toad social media - and this blog- for news of events

The Last Wolf Team
Caroline Bury: an artdoll-maker and dancer, Caroline describes her work: "Living in our human world with such cruelty, terror and despair, I balance my art with wonder and delight...I love feeling inspired by nature and creating from that feeling. Much of my art work happens this way but sometimes a continuation of a dream, a poem or a bird call is enough."

Løre Gallery: "the carved Tree of Life is at the heart of the Gallery’s identity. Like the tree itself, we are grounded in the past while reaching toward an unknowable future. Our work is a tribute to the enduring beauty of nature and the shared threads of humanity, seen through the artistic legacy of three ancient cultures: Pictish, Norse, and Celtic.
This is more than a gallery. It is a celebration of heritage, sustainability, and the living bond between art and nature."

Gordon MacLellan: and I come into this work as a storyteller and poet. I am an ecologist and a teacher and a shaper of celebrations, but mostly I am a storyteller, using stories and creativity to inspire relationships with the world around us. Helping people find their own creative connection to the world we live in is central to my work in the belief that we will work hardest to protect and enhance the things we love and watching people remember they love the places around them and respect and value the everyday plants and animals is what gives me hope for positive environmental change.

Next Steps

This project is now gathering speed (our wolves are starting to run!) and we are keen to talk to interested people: other artists, venue managers, exhibition hosts or simply keen and helpful people! Contact Gordon at creepingtoad@btinternet.com