This report provides an update on our FIRNS Community Joint Ventures project to develop collaborative enterprises with the local communities living adjacent to the lands that Highlands Rewilding manage. We’ll update you on the work so far, tell you about the selected ventures (see below) and what’s to come over the next few months.

NCIP is a model through which Highlands Rewilding offers plots of land for sale to buyers who can guarantee the restoration of nature and the growth of community prosperity, in perpetuity. The buyers are able to guarantee this through the formation of a charitable trust, which pledges to do so through commitment to upholding the trust’s articles and purpose.

This spring we replanted an area of forest at Beldorney, which was previously a conifer plantation, with a mix of native tree species. The area sits above a strip of Ancient woodland that runs along the River Deveron. Our hope is that the newly planted trees will serve to extend that valuable and biodiverse habitat.

From horticulture to heritage, we are delighted to have selected four community joint ventures (CJVs), that will be developed into robust investment-ready business models in the next phase of the FIRNS funded project: ‘Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding’.

HRL would like to invite all interested consultancies, practices and qualified freelancers to submit their proposals for the Legal Consultancy tender under the FIRNS funding for the delivery of “Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding”.

As part of our aim to improve biodiversity and carbon storage on Bunloit Estate we are planning a project which involves forestry works and peatland restoration. This blog shares details of the work going on at Bills plantation, also known as Woodend, an area of approximately 33.3 hectares that was planted in 1989. It is one of three parts of a larger overall forest-to-bog restoration project. It also links to plans on the Highland Council planning website, for comment until Thursday 1st August.

An introduction to the impressive intertidal and marine habitats at Tayvallich, how Highlands Rewilding are exploring, mapping and baselining them, and how saltmarsh, seagrass meadows and native oyster beds can act as climate change indicators.

The land sale and Highlands Rewilding’s operating lease across this area of Tayvallich sets a new precedent for our nature recovery operations. It locks over 625 hectares of land into management for carbon and biodiversity uplift and the delivery of benefits to the local community, essentially forever.

HRL would like to invite all interested consultants and consultancies to submit their proposals for the Market Research consulting under the FIRNS funding for the delivery of “Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding”.

HRL would like to invite all interested consultants and consultancies to submit their proposals for the Market Research consulting under the FIRNS funding for the delivery of “Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding”.  

Last Tuesday at Tayvallcih, a group of 13 people could be spotted peering closely at the trees in one of the fragments of temperate rainforest on the estate. Led by Dr Oliver Moore, Plantlife International's Lichen and Bryophyte Specialist for Scotland, this group was taking part in a training day on their Rapid Rainforest Assessment (RRA) tool. This blog explores the variety of species that were spotted and our plans for ongoing rainforest monitoring.

When species reintroductions are mentioned in the context of a rewilding project, thoughts tend to turn to wolves or lynx. However, we have reintroduced a much smaller species back into our pine woodland, but one which plays a disproportionally big role in the ecosystem: the wood ant.

We recently had a thermal imaging drone survey of Bunloit estate done by BH Wildlife Consultancy, to check the numbers of deer and boar on the estate. We share those findings here.

The Green Finance Institute has just published the Nature-related Risk Quantification Report, a first-of-its-kind analysis . It quantifies the impact that nature degradation, both domestically and internationally, could have on the UK’s economy and financial sector. The report’s analysis proves that nature-related risks are at a minimum on par with climate risks, and will compound with them.

Today, on the cusp of spring and as colour once again floods the land, we join rewilding movements worldwide to celebrate how we and many other projects are transforming hope into action through rewilding.  

A blog from our Head Ranger at Bunloit on fences in our landscapes: their uses, meanings and our approach.

Land reform in Scotland is long overdue. So too is nature recovery. We have one of the most nature-impoverished landscapes in Europe.

Can land reform and nature recovery make functional marriage partners? I believe so.

Dr Hannah Rudman joins the Highlands Rewilding team as Business Development Director. She is focussing on identifying more potential partners, investors, collaborators and customers: initiating conversations, negotiating deals and forging alliances that will ensure we are a sustainable nature-based solutions business.

We are delighted to share that we have completed the sale, at cost, of Turbiskill Farmhouse and land at Tayvallich to the local community body, Tayvallich Initiative.

Our Third Natural Capital Report - Building Natural Capital - outlines progress and plans across our three open air laboratories: Bunloit, Beldorney and Tayvallich, and gives an overview of the quickly developing natural capital landscape.