EIGHT SCOTTISH estates have been awarded prestigious international accreditation to recognise their ongoing work in wildlife management and conservation.
Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES), is a national version of the EU Wildlife Estates (WE) initiative, and endorsed by the European Commission's directorate-general environment, whose objective is to protect, preserve and improve the environment for present and future generations.
The estates awarded accreditation are: Horseupcleuch Estate, Lammermuir Hills; Glenfalloch Estate, Crianlarich; Glenmuick Estate, near Ballater; Edinglassie Estate, Huntly; Tulchan Estate, near Grantown on Spey; Hopetoun Estates, South Queensferry; Altyre Estate, Forres; and Dalhousie Estates, Angus.
The estates have all undergone a rigorous independent assessment of their game, wildlife and habitat management, as well as their social and economic contribution to rural life.
All properties are expected to maintain these standards throughout the lifetime of accreditation.
Wildlife Estates Scotland chairman Robbie Douglas Millar said:"With the launch of its first annual report, WES now creates a transparent system which sets a benchmark demonstrating what, and how land managers can deliver multiple benefits to rural Scotland, supporting the Scottish Government's developing Land Use Strategy.
"The completion of accreditation for these eight estates brings the total number of accredited farms and estates across Scotland to 28, covering nearly 750,000 acres.
"It is pleasing to award accreditation to eight new estates, highlighting more of the outstanding conservation work being carried out by farms and estates across Scotland.
"We have just launched the first annual report of WES, and it is clear that WES is providing greater visibility on species, habitats and conservation measures being undertaken by land managers.
"We seek information on 70 named species, which allows us a range of insights including the benefits of conservation efforts and even climate change indicators.
"We are also seeing landowners being challenged by WES to take their positive management a step further.
"The newly accredited estates are diverse in nature but they all share a desire to work exceptionally hard for the good of the nation's wildlife at the same time as sustaining their own business activities.
"It is pleasing that their efforts in wildlife management - that is sometimes taken for granted - is being recognised more widely."
WES was founded by Scottish Land and Estates with support from Scottish Natural Heritage, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
It is supported by the Scottish Government and 250 estates have pledged to become fully accredited members of the initiative.
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday's issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article