Biodiversity & Carbon Services

Highlands Rewilding offers a data-driven land-management service for fellow landowners

Learn from our experience

Highlands Rewilding has developed comprehensive methods for measuring, monitoring, analysing and reporting on natural capital.

We have developed holistic biodiversity and carbon data acquisition-and-analysis, and land-management service based on this data, which we will soon be able to offer on a win-win basis to others.

Please contact us on the enquiry form below for more details and rates, letting us know about the location, size and status of your project.

Our Natural Capital Reports

We have published three Natural Capital Reports. The first report studies Bunloit estate in 2021, the second Beldorney estate in 2022, and the third—Building Natural Capital—published in 2023, provides insight into natural capital developments across our three open-air laboratories, our pioneering model and the quickly developing natural capital landscape.

Our research focuses on how best to define and quantify different types of natural-capital credits. Through our research we have developed a comprehensive platform for carbon and biodiversity monitoring and reporting, easing the way for other landowners to follow suit.

We are now developing a range of standardised monitoring protocols that can be repeated widely to build on the baseline work and quantify the impact of land-management interventions aiming to boost carbon sequestration and biodiversity, therefore stimulating investment in nature-based solutions. 
Higlands Rewilding - Second Natural Capital Report cover

Our science-driven approach

We have a world-class science team of our own and have spent time developing a team of leading collaborators involving the top natural capital measurement contractors and universities in the field.

We measure our own carbon and biodiversity in detail, in multiple habitats, using multiple techniques and have reported on progress in detail in our natural capital reports.

We will soon be able to offer our unique experience and expertise to other landowners making recommendations for land management changes based on our fast-growing data collection and optimisation capabilities.

Our process

The images below demonstrate a tiny sample of the range of innovative techniques, technologies and suppliers we use to gather, record, interpret, analyse and report on data as part of our science-driven approach to increasing natural capital.

  • Soil sampling to measure organic carbon

    Soil sampling to measure organic carbon

    Using AgriCarbon technology. Mechanical extraction reduces time to capture SOC%

  • Browsing impact assessment

    Surveys of browsing impact on woodlands and other plant communities to assess the impact of deer and other herbivores.

  • Total carbon stock results

    Total carbon stock result

    Estimation of soil carbon stored in soils and woodland through modelling

  • Peatland sampling

    Peatland Assessment

    Peatland depth sampling, mapping and volume calculations to estimate total carbon stocks. Assessment of peatland condition and pathways to restoration

  • Lichen and Bryophyte assessment

    Lichen and Bryophyte assessment

    Expert assessment of the species diversity of lichens and bryophytes.

  • Soil eDNA for invertebrates and fungi’

    Soil eDNA for invertebrates and fungi

    Analysis of soil eDNA through NatureMetrics to assess the number and type of soil fungal and invertebrate communities

  • DNA metabarcoding for terrestrial invertebrates

    DNA metabarcoding for terrestrial invertebrates

    Use of Malaise and pitfall traps to sample terrestrial invertebrates.

  • Aquatic eDNA

    Aquatic eDNA

    Analysis of eDNA from water samples to assess the number and type of aquatic invertebrates

  • Vegetation Classification

    Vegetation Classification

    Assessment of vegetation communities using the National Vegetation Classification, UK Habs and Eunis

  • Camera traps

    Camera traps

    Assessment of the number of mammal species and their distribution across the site using camera traps

  • Acoustic monitoring of birds and bats

    Acoustic monitoring of birds and bats

    Remote monitoring of birds and bats with acoustic sensors

  • Breeding bird surveys

    To monitor the status and trends of bird populations

Our business model

We are keen to help other rewilding and natural capital projects benefit from our experience and accelerate their pathways to carbon sequestration and biodiversity uplift. As such, we will soon be able to offer a unique, cost-effective, service for partner projects via which everyone benefits:

  1. We pay most of the costs of data acquisition on your estate and will share every detail of our findings with you - saving you significant upfront costs.

  2. You pay a small sum towards the data acquisition

  3. We receive a small share of any eventual natural capital revenues in return for our initial investment

Enquiries

Please contact us for more details and rates, letting us know about the location, size and status of your project.