Country Market and Sporting Sale 2015

Malcolm Hay and Duncan Grant outside Old Croick Manse with stalker Alasdair Sutherland.

Preparations are now underway for next year’s Country Market and Sporting Sale after the success of 2014’s event raised a record sum to fund the Heather Trust’s important work across Britain. We have already had some great feedback from happy bidders who won lots during the Sale which was held during the Spring, including a report from our new Chairman Antony Braithwaite, who enjoyed a trip to Wales fishing for sea trout in August. We’ve also heard news of a successful driven grouse day on Speyside and an exciting day of fishing on the River Ettrick, both from generous bidders who won Lots during the Sale.

The first Heather Trust Prize Draw was well supported across the board, and the holder of the winning ticket took his trip up to the stunning Croick Estate near Bonar Bridge on the 22^nd November for a week of sport and relaxation in Sutherland. Duncan Grant thoroughly enjoyed his week at the estate, which he shared with his wife and the former Heather Trust chairman Malcolm Hay. A day's woodcock shooting was laid on under the supervision of stalker Alasdair Sutherland, and two hinds were culled by the winning party. Reviews for the estate were glowing, particularly in relation the warmth and comfort of the manse itself.

Plans are already in motion for a new Prize Draw in 2015, and this will build on the success of the first, which attracted widespread attention to the Sale after coverage in the sporting press.

We are now looking for supporters of the Trust to give the Sale an extra boost and drive 2015’s Country Market on to new heights. Whether you have been a donor, a bidder or a sponsor in the past, we’d like to hear your ideas and suggestions for possible Lots as the Sale begins to take shape.

Our new Country Market and Sporting Sale Secretary Samantha Harrison is masterminding the proceedings for 2015 and is very keen to hear from members and well-wishers as the plans start to come together for next year. Lots can be as varied and diverse as stalking and fishing to food, drink and artwork, so if you think you can help to donate something to the Sale, please let us know by emailing info@heathertrust.co.uk

Golden Plover Award 2015

The Heather Trust and The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (Scotland)  will be presenting the Golden Plover Award for Moorland Management for a third time after an extremely successful year in 2014. For a second year, Savills will be the lead sponsor.

The Golden Plover Award was launched in 2013 to celebrate the very best in sustainable and progressive moorland management which balances a number of different enterprises. The inaugural winner was Edinglassie in Strathdon, an estate which has supported some of the most advanced and groundbreaking research into grouse production during the past twenty years.

In 2014, Finzean Estate on Deeside was presented with the Award at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone after a close fought struggle with two other runners up from Angus and Sutherland. Finzean Estate impressed the judges with a wide spread of balanced, sustainable enterprises spanning a range of interests from grouse shooting and capercaillie conservation to a successful farm shop and a thriving forestry concern.

Heather Trust Director Simon Thorp said that working with the GWCT to run the Award was an opportunity to showcase the very best that moorland management has to offer in Scotland. “The Golden Plover Award celebrates balanced and integrated management in which a number of goals are achieved by the careful, sensitive use of our uplands. The award in 2015 will have a particular focus on peat and peatland conservation, and this is a great opportunity to highlight some of the best land management devoted to what is increasingly seen as a crucially important habitat”.

Adam Smith, the GWCT’s Director for Scotland, welcomed the collaboration with The Heather Trust that brought two independent organisations together who are both working to improve the standards of moorland and upland management throughout Scotland. “The Award will highlight the role that applied research has in improving the quality of moorland management in Scotland. This allows the best management practices to be identified and transferred to other land managers.”

Applications for the 2015 award will be are welcomed from any owner or manager of land in any part of Scotland who can demonstrate a real commitment to sustainable moorland or upland management. Applications from the remoter parts of Scotland are encouraged, as are applications from individuals; this is not just an award for estates.

More information is available on the Golden Plover Award page, and application forms are available by request. Applications close on 27th February 2015, and the Award will be presented at the Scottish Game Fair on 3^rd July 2015.

Advisory Visit to Corehead

Black grouse are a key species at Corehead

The Heather Trust was recently invited to visit Corehead Farm, one of the Borders Forest Trust's (BFT) properties North of Moffat. The farm includes the spectacular Devil’s Beeftub, an iconic feature of the Southern Uplands which lies at the top of Annandale where the hills run together to form a deep and extremely steep sided hollow.

The Borders Forest Trust bought Corehead in 2009 and began to plant up large areas of the site in a bid to recreate the historic Ettrick Forest which once lay right across the Southern Uplands. Using native tree species, a huge amount of planting has taken place during the intervening years and a major part of the process has involved stock-proof exclosures to protect the young trees.

Relieved from grazing, some interesting things have been happening to the heather where it still survives after centuries of sheep, and we were called in to consult on progress with the project so far, as well as provide some advice for the future of the heather. The site also provides a home to a small population of black grouse, and while the project aims to improve biodiversity across the board, these birds provide a useful focus for habitat work.

After several years without any grazing, some parts of Corehead are looking excellent and an area of steep ground we visited could soon provide some excellent habitat for ring ouzels, which already breed in the area. Encroaching bracken will need to be controlled, and the nature of the ground is such that helicopter spraying may be the only workable solution.

Elsewhere, there are potentially serious problems with under-grazing within the exclosures, and much of the heather which has recovered as a result of excluding livestock now risks being smothered by molinia grass and star moss, both of which can dominate vegetation. In an ideal world, these plants could be selectively grazed and controlled by native hill breed cattle, but the trees must get precedent and any attempt to control the grasses would surely come at the expense of the new trees.

Corehead is a fascinating project, and while the farm will never be dominated by heather, low heather coverage is sure to be a key issue in the project’s future. During our walk, we discovered a juvenile black grouse feather which suggests that there has been successful breeding in 2014, and while the local population of birds has been badly suppressed by habitat fragmentation, commercial woodland and overgrazing, there is some sign of promise in the new plantations. 

With some judicious predator control and ongoing habitat management, this area of the Borders could support a healthier population of birds, and the potential for heather recovery gives the hill a sunny outlook, despite being steeped in thick cloud on the day of our visit.