In 2019, conservationists made a stark announcement: the European wildcat (*Felis silvestris silvestris*), one of Britain's last large native predators, was **functionally extinct** in the United Kingdom. The wild population had dwindled to near zero — decimated over centuries by hunting, habitat loss, and fatal hybridisation with domestic cats.
In March 2026, Guardian country diarist and naturalist Jim Crumley walked through Cairngorms National Park after overnight snow and found something different: unfamiliar tracks, larger than any fox, unmistakably feline, ringing the bases of ancient pines.
Wildcat tracks. In Scotland. Multiplying.
**The Saving Wildcats Project**
The recovery is the result of the **Saving Wildcats project**, launched in 2015 as a last-ditch effort to save the species from British extinction. The programme involves:
🐱 Captive breeding of genetically pure European wildcats (carefully screened to avoid hybrid individuals) 📍 Careful release and GPS monitoring in the **Cairngorms National Park** — the largest national park in the UK, and historically the core of the Scottish wildcat's range 🔬 Ongoing scientific assessment of survival rates, territory establishment, and reproductive success
So far, **46 individuals have been released**. The early results have exceeded conservationists' hopes on almost every metric.
**What the GPS Data Shows**
Each released wildcat wears a GPS collar, allowing researchers to map its movements in extraordinary detail. The satellite tracking data has revealed a picture of a species taking hold:
- Some individuals are **establishing defined home territories**, patrolling them with characteristic feline precision - **Multiple litters of kittens** have been confirmed born in the wild — seven females gave birth in 2024, five more in 2025. Wild-born kittens mean the population is not just surviving but **self-sustaining** - Survival rates are described as **very high** by the project team
And then there is the story that became something of a legend among Scottish wildlife watchers: a single wildcat, tracked crossing from **Speyside to Deeside over the plateau of Ben Macdui** — the UK's second-highest mountain, at 1,309 metres — in search of a mate.
A small, striped cat. Navigating the Scottish Highlands alone. In winter. Over one of the highest mountains in Britain.
*'It is fascinating to see their movements,'* said Crumley, who attended a Saving Wildcats project talk. *'The crossovers between individuals as they find and mark their territories or search for mates.'*
**What a Wildcat Looks Like**
The European wildcat is noticeably different from even the largest domestic tabby. Much stockier and more powerfully built, it has a **thick, dense coat** with distinct tabby markings, and — most crucially — **a thick, blunt tail banded with bold black rings and a solid black tip**. A black dorsal stripe runs down the spine and stops cleanly at the base of the tail, a feature absent in hybrids.
Crumley himself had a close encounter the previous year: *'I can still remember the distinctive tail, the feeling of awe and excitement.'*
**Wildcats Are Not Alone**
The Highland tiger's return comes alongside other positive signals from the Cairngorms ecosystem:
🐦 The **capercaillie** — a giant grouse that also faced extinction in Scotland — recorded a modest but meaningful population increase in 2025, the first in years 🌲 **Pine marten** populations continue their westward expansion across Scotland, helping suppress grey squirrels and support the red squirrel's recovery
These are not isolated stories. They are threads in the same tapestry: a highlands landscape beginning, slowly, to heal.
**The Long Game**
The wildcat remains critically rare. 46 released individuals and their offspring do not constitute a secure, self-sustaining population — not yet. The threats that drove them to the brink — hybridisation with domestic cats, road collisions, secondary poisoning from rodenticides — have not gone away.
But for the first time in a generation, there are **wild-born Scottish wildcat kittens** alive in the Cairngorms. There are GPS tracks crossing highland ridges. There are footprints in fresh snow around ancient pines.
The Highland tiger is not gone. It is, quietly and stubbornly, coming back. 🐆🏔️💚
*Sources: The Guardian, March 6, 2026 · Saving Wildcats project (savingwildcats.org.uk) · Jim Crumley, Country Diary*