Rewilding News and Updates

Highlands Rewilding named as one of Giving to Amplify Earth Action’s (GAEA) global partners at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.

• GAEA is a WEF initiative that aims to catalyse global market investments for climate and nature solutions through a Big Bets Accelerator, a new amplifier of innovative public-private-philanthropic partnerships. GAEA's efforts focus on spurring the philanthropic world to leverage its nimble and risk-tolerant capital to unlock new and additional public and private investment through public-private-philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs).

• In particular there is an urgent need to encourage investment globally into restoring natural capital stocks. At Highlands Rewilding, we can help by pioneering a data-driven approach to natural capital verification, demonstrating how natural capital can be grown verifiably for the planet, for people and for profit. With reliable data, greater integrity, transparency, consistency and accountability, natural capital markets can be built on trust, vital to attracting private capital and achieving the exponential growth we need.

  17th January 2024

Highlands Rewilding receives funding from the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS)

Highlands Rewilding is delighted to announce that we have been successful in our bid for funding under the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) scheme, co-funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with the Scottish Government and NatureScot.

October 2nd, 2023

Shaping the future of land management in Scotland: A roadmap to aligning community, nature and shareholder interests

Highlands Rewilding and local Tayvallich Initiative sign first-of-kind land management MoU to benefit local community and nature.

• The MoU includes a no-eviction policy for tenants, provisions for local jobs.

• Plans are progressing for sale of land to community at cost, and application of rural housing burdens on other plots/properties.

• The unique approach to land management in Scotland provides a blueprint to combat Scotland’s depopulation crisis and spiralling biodiversity loss.

Our crowdfund hit a staggering £1 million. Wow.

Rewilding truly does offer hope and a fighting chance for both nature and us.

With this crowdfund we are demonstrating the huge backing for nature restoration from citizen rewilders; the more we receive investments at the £50 to £100 level, the more the financial institutions and large investors are likely to invest in the millions. There are still 3 weeks to go in our fundraise to scale nature recovery and community prosperity.

April 21st, 2023

We have signed the contract for Tayvallich, greatly boosting our chances of scaling nature recovery!

This has been made possible by substantial support from the UK Infrastructure Bank and a committed long term founding funder.

This is the UK Infrastructure Bank’s first natural capital transaction and the Bank’s first deal exclusively in Scotland. The rich tapestry of habitats at Tayvallich provide huge opportunities for our frontier work in natural capital science, including great potential for restoring Scotland’s temperate rainforest; a vitally important and rare habitat.

These new insights are expected to inform more effective land management for biodiversity, which in turn will support the growth of high-integrity natural capital markets.

For World Rewilding Day, Dr Calum Brown - Highlands Rewilding's Co-chief scientist - takes you on a walk around Bunloit Estate to explain what rewilding means to him.

At Highlands Rewilding, we aim to restore whole ecosystems. We believe that offers hope for both nature and local communities.

For Calum, rewilding means “the chance to live and work in the place where I grew up, to improve the environment for my children, seeing peatlands restored, native woodlands growing, and wildlife flourishing.

We all need hope for the natural world and our own futures, and rewilding can provide it. Through rewilding, we are addressing the two crises of biodiversity extinction and climate change - two challenges, one solution.

Discover how you can get involved on our communities page, and on World Rewilding Day, watch more videos about rewilding on the Global Rewilding Alliance.

March 20th, 2023

Optional enviro-tip on Great Glen Way will help to fund nature-based apprenticeships at Highlands Rewilding

To mark Scottish Apprenticeship Week (6-10 March) Highlands Rewilding, has joined forces with Scotland’s leading hospitality group, Cobbs, to introduce an optional environmental tip for visitors to help fund the next generation of nature apprentices.

Visitors to the group’s six hotels and seven holiday homes along the Great Glen Way, running from Fort William to Inverness, will be invited to add a £2 discretionary tip to their stay, to support rewilding efforts and develop much-needed local rural skills.

Fraser Campbell: “We live in an amazing part of the country with wide open spaces. We want to do what we can to help, protect and restore biodiversity and tackle climate change. This new partnership provides a great platform for our group to play their part in supporting the future of our local community.”

The Press and Journal, Scottish Business News, Scottish Field, March 6th 2023

Highlands Rewilding is set to buy Tayvallich Estate as fundraising extends into April.

We are delighted to announce that we have acquired the funds to buy Tayvallich estate and are intent on closure by the end of March

Villagers rejoice as Highlands Rewilding secures £10.5 million to buy Tayvallich Estate

‘Relief’ as bid to buy Tayvallich Estate hits £10.5M target

Scotland’s pioneering rewilding project succeeds in Tayvallich Estate fundraiser

We are extending our campaign for a further two months until the end of April, to fully test investor sentiment on the back of our strengthened business case with the inclusion of Tayvallich. Here we have a wonderful opportunity to extend the temperate rainforest and sequester carbon offshore in kelp and seagrass.

March 1st, 2023

Our Chief executive Jeremy Leggett has been speaking to Lesley Riddoch regarding Highland Rewilding’s hopes to buy the Tayvallich estate.

Our CEO, Dr Jeremy Leggett, recently spoke to The National about our hopes for purchasing Tayvallich Estate which will enable us to expand our nature restoration plans in Scotland

Martin Mellor of Tayvallich Initiative Steering Group said: “This isn’t community ownership but it might be the next best thing… Fundraising to buy the whole estate would have been very hard for a small community, so it’s good to have an organisation with community prosperity at its heart. We’re not in the driving seat or the passenger seat but we’re a lot closer to the wheel. And at last, we are talking directly to the driver.”

The National, December 22nd 2022

Highlands Rewilding's crowdfund for nature restoration and community prosperity hits its £500,000 target.

On New Year’s eve, and exactly one month into our three-month campaign, Highlands' Rewilding’s crowdfund has exceeded its target of £500,000.

Jeremy Leggett, the founder, has said, “In the two months to go, we will focus outreach on Scots and local communities, but all Brits are welcome (minimum investment is £50), and international investors can invest “off campaign (minimum investment is £10,000). Beyond this, our total focus is on the vital mission of making nature recovery ethically profitable”.

January 4th, 2023

Scottish rewilding project Highlands Rewilding strikes gold at Nature of Scotland Awards

Highlands Rewilding is proud to have taken home the 'Business for Nature' award at the RSPB's Nature for Scotland awards on Thursday, recognising the efforts of businesses that have a tangible, impactful and positive effect on nature.

We're honoured to have been listed amongst the inspirational projects, people and groups working hard to preserve Scotland's natural heritage

December 1st 2022

Highlands Rewilding launches crowdfund in bid for mass ownership

2,000-acre rewilding project’s ambitious business model scales nature recovery like no other

Biodiversity-focused business aims to act as a leader in helping the Scottish Government achieve its ambitious climate targets

‘Citizen rewilders’ retail investors are invited to invest from as little as £50

Follows successful first round of funding in January which raised £7.5m with just 50 investors

Launch: 12 noon, December 1st 2022

Scotland’s top rewilding project scoops prestigious environmental award

Highlands Rewilding took home the award at the VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards Ceremony in Glasgow, in recognition of a “visionary approach to climate adaption”

November 1st 2022

Press Release: Former Greenpeace director inspires next generation of entrepreneurs

In a lecture to students at SRUC’s Craibstone Campus in Aberdeen, Dr Leggett shared the story of his journey from solar entrepreneur to the field of natural recovery and his rewilding developments in the Highlands.

September 15th 2022

£7.5m of shares sold as investors buy into new 'mass-ownership' rewilding firm in Highlands

Read about the success of our first fundraising round, the land we are working on and what we hope for the future at Highlands Rewilding.
“A ground-breaking new rewilding company has secured £7.5 million in its opening funding round, allowing the purchase and management of more than 1,600 acres of land in the north of Scotland.”.

April 9th 2022

Highland Tourism announces Bunloit Estate and Jeremy Leggett as new ambassador

Highland Tourism CIC has added to its tourism ambassadors with the addition of Bunloit Estate near Loch Ness, owned by award-winning entrepreneur, writer and climate campaigner, Jeremy Leggett. Find out what they have to say in this article by the Inverness Courier.

December 27th 2021

COP26: Groundbreaking Scottish project will see forests planted to mark current and future climate talks

The Forest of Hope debuts in The Scotsman as “The first ever legacy woodland to celebrate a United Nations climate summit”. The article explores this concept, the people involved and hopes for the future.

October 31st 2021

Climate change pioneer and Beldorney Estate owner to launch 'citizen rewilding' crowdfunder

‘Highlands Rewilding’ launches today as we share our plans for an upcoming crowdfunding campaign. Having emerged from the Bunloit Rewilding Project, the company will replicate locally appropriate versions of the Bunloit rewilding model on other suitable tracts of land across the Highlands, to increase impact on tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, and the inequality of land ownership in Scotland, while creating new local employment opportunities and raising ethical profits.

September 24th 2021

Finalist in Scottish Land & Estates national Helping it Happen Awards 2021

Bunloit Rewilding is proud to be a finalist in the ‘Working with Communities’ category. We believe tackling the climate and biodiversity crises through rewilding cannot be achieved without community involvement. As such, we want to create local green new jobs whilst generating ethical profits for reinvestment, all while exploring other avenues through a community centric approach.

September 9th 2021

Second Scottish estate bought up by climate change pioneer with pledges of repopulation and profit share

The Scotsman focus on our plans to re-people the highlands. Beldorney is a place well suited for new jobs, trades and housing, as a place that lost the majority of its community after the first world war. You can read more about our community-centric approach in this article.

June 28th 2021

Rewilding: Aberdeenshire estate bought as part of ‘open laboratory’ project

Say hello to our new estate - Beldorney. Based near Huntly in Aberdeenshire, this estate is pasture dominated, acting as a blank canvas for rewilding. Find out more about our plans for natural capital and regenerative agriculture on the new estate, in this article by the Press and Journal.

June 28th 2021

Highland estate recruits five new staff as it kicks off major rewilding project

Welcome to our new rangers and research assistant! Summer has arrived and the work has started, after twelve months of consultation. Find out about our new team members and what the rangers think about joining the Bunloit Rewilding project.

June 15th 2021

Bunloit Estate’s ‘vital’ barn conversion plan faces objections

Planning permission has been applied for to convert our barn into a shelter and meeting place for our rangers and visiting researchers. This will provide crucial warmth and protection in the winter months. Find out about the objections to the proposal and our response in this article.

May 3rd 2021

‘A better future for people and the planet’: Climate-conscious landowner wants to ‘repeople’ Highland estate where population dwindled decades ago

An article in the Press and Journal explores our community consultation. The idea calls for eco-buildings on the northern sector of the estate, comprising of affordable housing, workshops and small holdings, all nestled in a new mixed native woodland.

April 25th 2021