Cal Major: Ocean adventurer to stand up for nature as new ambassador for National Trust for Scotland

A record-breaking adventurer and ocean campaigner is joining Scotland’s biggest conservation charity as its new ambassador.

Ullapool-based Dr Cal Major, a qualified vet with a special passion for the sea, is taking up the role with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).

As well as being the first person to stand-up paddleboard the length of the UK, the 35-year-old has a successful career as a television presenter and film-maker and runs a small charity, Seaful, connecting people with blue spaces.

Now she is on a mission to spread the word about the work of the NTS, drum up support and engage new audiences, with a focus on the marine environment.

“I just can’t get enough of being in the sea – it’s my happy place, the place I feel most alive,” she said. “I surf, kite-surf, snorkel, scuba-dive, stand-up paddleboard, anything that gets me into the sea.

“Spending time out in the ocean with wildlife is just phenomenal.”

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Major, who studied at Edinburgh University, first fell in love with the sea after learning to dive in Australia. And it grew from there. She is delighted to take up her new position.

Ullapool-based Dr Cal Major, a qualified vet, fell in love with the sea when she learnt to dive in Australia. Picture: James Appleton

“It’s a huge honour for me because it’s such a wonderful and prestigious organisation with amazing staff,” she said. “Our work and our values align so well. We care about very similar things.”

The NTS manages more than 100 sites, including castles, battlefields, nature reserves and mountains – and the plants and animals that live there. The charity recently acquired the Treshnish isles, an archipelago of small islands and skerries lying west of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides.

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The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and an internationally significant nesting site for protected seabirds such as guillemots, puffins and skuas. The surrounding waters are part of a marine protected area, frequented by basking sharks, whales, dolphins and seals.

The seas around the Treshnish isles are part of the Sea of the Hebrides marine protected area and home to abundant wildlife, including common dolphins

“I’ve been to the Treshnish isles, which has filled me with hope for the future of Scotland’s wild places,” she said. “I couldn’t resist jumping in the sea and it was absolutely out of this world – massive seaweed forests full of kelp and fish. God, it was special.”

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Major can be seen in STV’s Scotland: Ocean Nation, about her paddleboard journey around the Scottish coast, and in the NTS’s new film about the Treshnish isles. She stressed seas here were just as impressive and important as those around Australia.

“Scotland’s underwater world is absolutely mind-blowing,” she said. “The richness of life, the biodiversity, is the same as the Great Barrier Reef – it just looks a bit different and it’s a lot colder.

Ocean adventurer and television presenter Dr Cal Major, who set a world record when she became the first person to complete the 1,000-mile journey from John O' Groats to Land's End on a stand-up paddleboard, has become an ambassador for the National Trust for Scotland. Picture: James Appleton

“But it’s just as valuable, just as beautiful and just as breath-taking.”

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She is determined to help people see why our seas are worth safeguarding.

NTS chief executive Philip Long said: “Scotland’s seas and marine life are facing major challenges as the impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises are becoming ever more evident and it is so important that we speak up for our heritage that doesn’t have a voice.

“Cal’s love of Scotland’s seas and our nation’s environment comes through in all she does. We know she will speak passionately about Scotland’s nature, beauty and heritage and help our charity to gain even greater support for our work to protect and share it all with everyone.”

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