Human Ecology
Sgeulachd na h-Aibhne is na Daoine
The River’s Human Story
Ùisge Èirinn, the River Findhorn, is not just a natural feature - it is part of a landscape that has been shaped and understood through human experience.
To understand that the watershed was once known and named by people who had an intimate knowledge of their place - at a time when ecologies were far richer - can help us imagine how it might be restored in future.
The Findhorn Watershed Initiative engaged collaborators Raghnaid Sandilands and Mairi McFadyen to deliver a programme of cultural research and community events to help nurture nature connection. Their work traces the rich human story found in Gaelic place names, music, song and story, acknowledging that humans are not separate from ecological systems but rather a fundamental part of the ecology of a place.
Their research draws from various sources: maps, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, song collections, oral histories and audio archives. The key principles guiding this work emphasise the intertwined nature of cultural and ecological loss, the importance and value of cultural heritage and traditional ecological knowledge, and the role of culture and creativity in forging new connections of care and stewardship.
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Gàidhlig | Gaelic
Like all languages long of a place, Gaelic has much to say about seeing, naming and experiencing the natural world. It offers us a view of the world that can focus our attention and deepen our sense of place, inviting us to consider another way of seeing.
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Ainmean-àite | Placenames
In the upper reaches of the Findhorn, the landscape was named by those for whom the living world was more alive. Names speak of an intimate knowledge of a diversity of habitat and wildlife, an awareness of conditions in the sky and underfoot, as well as old beliefs, myths, legends and folklore. They also speak of human capacity and of working lives - trace paths of people who have stepped before.
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Òrain, Fuinn agus Seanchas | Music, Song and Story
In music, song and story there exists a cultural memory of a time when these places reverberated with the human stories of lives lived - of drovers, lovers, reivers, fairies. To hear again the songs that describe the sun on the river or the wind from the heights, that remember the grief and love that happened here, is to heed some of the human story that connects us to this place and the people who have stepped before.
Explore the Gaelic nature-related place names, songs and stories of the upper reaches of the River Findhorn
Headwaters Celebration
Cruth na tìre air a doimhneachd | A landscape by its depth
In March 2024 we welcomed over 130 people from across the catchment to The Strathdearn Hub in Tomatin to enjoy an evening of stories, songs and music inspired by the landscapes and wildlife of the River Findhorn. It featured multi-award winning Gaelic singer, Julie Fowlis, alongside esteemed musicians Ewan Robertson, Rachel Campbell, Munro Gauld and Neil Baillie.
Each guest received a map which details the songs and tunes of the upper reaches of the river, calling us forth to share and steward them into the future. Further information, song texts and transcriptions can be found in the research publication below.
Uisge Èirinn | River Findhorn: Placenames, Music, Song and Story from the Upper Reaches
Set out in this publication is some of the rich social and ecologial history to be found in place names, poetry, story and song. It traces the course of the river from where it rises high in the hills of the Monadh Liath and down through Srath Èirinn (Strathdearn) to where the river’s flow is reigned at Na Srianabh (the bridles), known locally as The Streens.
This publication seeks to privilege knowledge rooted in place, drawing on old maps, manuscripts, published sources and oral histories.
Caochain Map
Every tributary flowing from the Monadh Liath into the River Findhorn carries cultural memory. Even the tiniest streamlets were once known and named, reflecting the deep connection between people and the landscape.
Caochan is a name for the smallest streamlet, defined as a ‘purling rill, a tiny streamlet so obscured from view that it can’t see out of its own bed.’ It is derived from caeich - an old Gaelic word for blind. It is a name found often in the Monadh Liath and Monadh Ruadh mountains.
There are 86 named caochans that feed into the River Findhorn. Click below to view the full map.
Làraich | Traces Map
Gable ruins of farmsteads, outlines of abandoned crofts and townships, faint traces of sheiling settlements, low boundary stone dykes, old kiln and mill sites speak to the long period when Strathdearn supported a vibrant population of small scale agriculture and mixed farming.
The settlement pattern was characterised by homes that tracked the topography, set low and where tenancy of the land permitted there was space enough for small scale agriculture. Neil Gunn described the highland cottage in his book Highland River (1937) as ‘part of the rythm of the land itself.’
This map, in two parts, indidcates sites of dwelling and routes through the landscape. Click below to download the full map and key, or find included on the interactive map above.
Findhorn Watershed Human Ecology Researchers in Residence:
Raghnaid Sandilands and Mairi McFadyen
Raghnaid and Mairi are collaborators whose work is underpinned by a creative practice they describe as cultural darning and mending - finding disparate and disconnected threads from the past and weaving them back together with purpose. “While we acknowledge that we cannot mend the whole, we can make small acts of repair that can nurture imaginations and invite people to enter into an ethical and reciprocal relationship with the land, its past, people and their stories.”
Find out more at their respective websites: Dr. Mairi McFadyen & Raghnaid Sandliands