Nativeness and nationhood: what species ‘belong’ in post-devolution Scotland?

On 12 May 1999, the new Scottish Parliament met for the first time. After an interval of 292 years, Scots once again possessed a key signifier of nationhood, emphasizing the differences which set it apart from the rest of the British Isles. Those differences encompass history, geography, culture, law and, in places, language, but they also include distinctive biodiversity. In the context of devolution, it is natural to celebrate and protect those things which are most evocative of the country. In Scotland, this most certainly includes not only the cherished landscapes of mountain, loch, glen and moor but the native fauna and flora which inhabit them – the red deer, Scots pine, wild salmon, red grouse, heather and, of course, the Scottish thistle, the national emblem for 700 years. In a recent poll, red deer were voted Scotland’s most iconic animal species, followed by roe deer, red squirrel and golden eagle, and one factor influencing people’s choices was an explicit recognition that such species are symbols of national identity (Stewart, 2006). In most constructions of ‘Scottishness’, nature looms sufficiently large that it becomes ‘a semiotic player in politics’ (Toogood, 1996). Accordingly, a decade after devolution, it is interesting to reflect on the significance and symbolism of Scotland’s native plants and animals, and the evolving understandings of the terms ‘native’ and ‘alien’.