The men who look after wildlife on about 100,000 acres of Scotland’s hill land are also responsible for keeping the tiny local school alive in the village of Dalwhinnie in Badenoch.
All six children attending Dalwhinnie Primary School have gamekeepers as fathers and live in an environment where feeding red deer stags and getting paid to help out on grouse and pheasant shoot days are a part of daily life.
Their class teacher, Moira Webster, said this lifestyle and closeness to nature has given them an advantage over other children.
She said: “The gamekeepers’ children are more alert, capable and aware of their surroundings than other children I have taught.
“If we go out for a walk, it takes twice as long as with city kids, because these children see so much and pass on the information to me. And because they are so aware, we can start at a higher level with lessons.
“They know about the life cycles of deer and see animals being born and dying on a daily basis, so it doesn’t seem as traumatic for them when elderly relatives pass away. They have a mature, balanced view of life for their ages.”
Some of the children live up to 11 miles from the nearest tarred road and all live in households with several working terriers or labradors.
And, in the autumn during the grouse shooting, or in winter when pheasants and partridge are in season, the children get paid £25 a day to accompany their fathers as they help direct the birds to the waiting sportsmen.
Iain MacDonald, who has been employed as a stalker on Ben Alder Estate for 16 years, has two sons at Dalwhinnie School who watch and help as he brings red deer back to the estate larder to be cleaned and prepared.
He said: “Fraser and Lauchlan understand where their food comes from and they enjoy being part of the preparation, whether it is rabbit, hare or venison. They have grown up with so they’re not squeamish.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association chairman, Alex Hogg, said Dalwhinnie Prim-ary was a good example of how gamekeepers and wild-life managers kept communities and culture alive in some of Scotland’s most isolated hills.
“Without our members having jobs in these areas, schools like Dalwhinnie would close,” he said.