Nature is beneficial in so many ways, including for our mental and physical health. The Highlands Rewilding Team are lucky enough to experience these effects while at work, and strongly support the creation of more green jobs so that others can too. This article lists some of the ways in which spending time outside can make us healthier and suggests ways that you can better engage with nature, whatever your work or life situation.

As a second part to the blog “Food Forests – A Resilient Solution for People and Wildlife”, Daniel Holm has written a step by step guide on how to start your own. The sustainable benefits of creating a forest garden will help as we face the uncertainties of the climate and biodiversity crisis, and with spring in full swing, this is the perfect time to create a resilient and biodiverse food source that will benefit yourself and nature.

Maggie started working for Bunloit as a research assistant, back in the Spring of 2021. Having spent much of her childhood on the Bunloit hill, she reflects on what it means to be able return home and find work on a local rewilding project.

Winter is the harshest season, where wildlife seems to disappear into hiding and the weather unleashes its full force. Despite this, there is still a lot of activity to witness during the coldest months, as Nicola, one of our rangers, explores at Bunloit.

The pastime of storytelling can be a powerful tool to amplify the voice for conservation. In this weeks blog, our Visual Media Manager looks at how photography can help fight against climate and biodiversity meltdown by connecting the audience with crucial conservation messages.

One of our Rangers, Daniel Holm, has been working on his own food forest for the past 4 years, creating a resilient and biodiverse food source that could provide a solution for many of the problems we are facing today. Now implementing this strategy at Bunloit, Daniel talks us through this relatively unknown way of food production.

Ruaridh Philips is currently undertaking a forestry placement at Bunloit estate, learning and working alongside our Head of Woodlands and Ranger team. Here he explores the wooded landscape of Bunloit and how he hopes the future of forestry changes with a more holistic approach in mind.

Finn Upton - our PR and Social Media Assistant - reflects on his time at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, questioning whether rewilding the event could have led to better results for communities, wildlife and the planet.

Wild boar are a controversial species. Hunted to extinction in the UK, they now roam free once more, under vastly different circumstances. Here, Scott Hendry, our Senior Ranger, talks about his experience with this creature and how we will work alongside them on the estate.

My first view of Bunloit was from the village, looking up to the clear-fell site of Borlum Wood, it was a bit of an eyesore, but that’s what all clear-fell sites look like after the forwarders and harvesters have been in. All the stumps left bare, a few single trees standing vulnerable in their isolation, the ground floor suddenly exposed to the power of the sun and the rest of the elements. The mis-management of our forests lead us to crisis point in the early 1900’s and again post WWII, when all but 5% of native tree cover was left. This led to a surge in Sitka Spruce plantations on good and bad sites.

One of our student volunteers reflects on his time at Bunloit, surveying and monitoring the wildlife that call the estate home. Finn Upton spent four weeks on Bunloit alongside three other volunteers. Here’s what he has to say…

I notice a difference if I don’t get outside for a few days. I feel more tired and lethargic, my mood is lower, I’m easily irritated and I lose perspective more often, getting stuck in thoughts…