Two Scottish estates have earned prestigious international accreditation in recognition of their efforts in wildlife management and conservation.
Glenrinnes Organic Estate near Dufftown on Speyside and Torwoodlee Estate, near Galashiels in the Scottish Borders have been awarded Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) accreditation. The awards were presented by Lorna Slater MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.
WES is a national version of the Wildlife Estates (WE) initiative and is endorsed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Environment, whose objective is to protect, preserve, and improve the environment for present and future generations.
Glenrinnes Organic Estate is a family-owned estate located in the heart of Whisky Country and has been an organic operation since 2001.
Over the last few years, Glenrinnes have focused on extending their native woodland cover, planting nearly 73 hectares and fencing off around 10km of riparian habitat to encourage regeneration and mitigate erosion.
As part of their agricultural activities, they annually sow over 40ha of wild bird seed and undertake a conservation grazing approach, moving the herd weekly which benefits both habitat and livestock.
As the farm is organic, the lack of fertilisers and sprays has significantly improved soil biomass and therefore carbon sequestration. On top of this, the estate has further reduced carbon emissions by installing a biomass boiler over seven years ago.
From a community perspective, they are an excellent employer providing 12 full-time roles. They also work with the local group Friends of Benrinnes and their local authority to improve public access whilst they have also hosted placement students from the local high school with interests in rural skills.
Torwoodlee Estate, meanwhile, is a mixed operation with farming, forestry, shooting, and deer management comprising their core activities. Over the last five years, the estate has continued its longstanding collaboration with Butterfly Conservation to utilise their native Luing Herd to conservation graze crucial habitat that supports the rare Northern Brown Argus butterfly and countless other species.
Their species list of butterflies and moths stretches to an impressive 251 species currently, including some species that have recently returned to the area, including the Green Hairstreak. They have also been busy working with the British Trust for Ornithology to monitor black grouse which returned to the estate in 2022.
In other projects, the estate has restored a lowland meadow which barn owls are taking full advantage of for hunting and they have planted 500 saplings to connect fragmented habitat.
Alongside biodiversity enhancements, the estate is working hard on reducing carbon emissions by utilising ground source and air source heat pumps, and two solar arrays, one with battery storage support. They are also being careful to baseline their carbon footprint so that they have a benchmark from which they can demonstrate improvement.
Alister Laing from Glenrinnes Organic Estate said: “Our involvement with Wildlife Estates Scotland has been very positive and we’re thrilled to have achieved accreditation.
We’re hugely committed to helping the environment as we undertake the running of the estate and we have plans over the next five years to go even further including surveying a greater variety of species, both flora and fauna, whilst also establishing more hedgerows to provide greater forage and shelter for farmland birds.”
James Pringle from Torwoodlee Estate said: “We’ve been really pleased with how our wildlife and habitat management has progressed so far and we are now looking towards plans to retain more water on the land to benefit biodiversity, our farming operation and also build resilience against climate change.
We have already established one sizeable pond this year and are currently looking at other options including restoration of our Old Mill Pond. Wildlife Estates Scotland provides a great platform for both gaining and sharing knowledge and best practice and we are delighted to have received this accreditation once again.”
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