Scotland Magazine

Maxwell’s WORLD

Author, painter, aristocrat, crack shot, ardent wildfowler, racing driver, Scots Guard and social renegade, Gavin Maxwell was first and foremost a naturalist. He bore the scars, quite literally: a ring-tailed lemur once severed his tibial artery.

Throughout his life, the author of Ring of Bright Water was surrounded by animals. He had many pets, including a springer spaniel called Jonnie, a cocker called Judy, Giddy the pony, a heron, a blind vole, an owl called Andrew, Jackie the jackdaw, five Greylag geese, a wildcat kitten, a water rail, a herring gull, a hedgehog, Mary the cockerel, a Slovakian gull and a goat called Alftruda.

He also, of course, had several otters – Chahala,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Scotland Magazine

Scotland Magazine5 min read
KING Of The CASTLE
As the Allies celebrated VE Day in May 1945, one Scottish aristocrat, the 5th Marquess of Ailsa, showed his gratitude to one of the military’s most renowned leaders in remarkable fashion. The Marquess and his family, the Kennedys, gifted their home a
Scotland Magazine4 min read
Clan Courier
A new exhibition at The King’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, shines a spotlight on Georgian style and fashion, with key pieces telling the story of King George IV’s historic visit to Scotland in 1822. Visitors to the exhibition
Scotland Magazine2 min read
Which Witch?
“Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch”. So reads the white, hand-painted declaration on a crude, cross-topped cairn just outside the village of Dunning in Perthshire. Maggie Wall’s Memorial is a sober reminder of a dark chapter in Scottish history,

Related Books & Audiobooks