Seton Gordon

Seton Gordon was born in 1886 into an Aberdeenshire family and was to live to the age of 91. In that time his life spanned some of the most momentous changes in civilisation and yet his travels rarely took him away from Scotland for long. He dedicated his life to natural history and in his awareness of the environment he was ahead of his time.He wore the kilt as everyday dress and entered college in 1908 to take a degree in natural sciences at Exeter College, Oxford. Whilst there he befriended the Prince of Wales, who was to correspond with him after he left university. In later life he also corresponded with Ramsay MacDonald.He spent hours roaming the hills of Deeside and the Cairgorm plateau while observing nature and would sustain incredible hardships in pursuit of his favourite bird, the golden eagle. He became engaged to Audrey Pease in 1915 and after marriage, they moved to the Isle of Skye where they settled in Trotternish and where he began to write on all aspects of Highland and Hebridean life. Over the years he produced prose which managed to place man in his proper context in the environment, and these books inspired countless numbers to look to the hills and corries in search of Scotland's wilderness areas.His ethereal descriptions of the Western Isles, whether in sun or in rain, a but the real contribution of are perhaps his most finely observed pieces but the real contribution of his 28 books and numerous articles and papers was to the sum of knowledge on the natural history of the Highlands and Islands. He will be remembered by all who knew him, read him and heard him speak as one of the last great Highland gentlemen.Raymond Eagle first met Seton Gordon in Skye in 1949 and was to correspond with him for a number of years. After Eagle moved to Vancouver in 1967, a chance encounter led him to meet Seton's son, Alasdair who had lived in the city for several years. With Alasdair's help, Eagle set out to write this biography which was published in print format in 1990. This is a complete revised Ebook edition with numerous colour and black and white illustrations.