Mystery donor's £17.5m gift could turn Scottish estate into rewilding showcase

The Guardian

03-03-2025

Scottish conservationists hope to convert a Highland sporting estate into a rewilding showcase after a mystery benefactor gave them more than £17.5m to buy it.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), best known for its small nature reserves, has bought Inverbroom estate near Ullapool in north-west Scotland, complete with an 11-bedroom lodge that boasts an indoor swimming pool.
It was given the funds needed to buy Inverbroom by a private donor, who does not want to be named, on the understanding the 7,618-hectare estate would be acquired for conservation purposes.
Brokered by a former SWT chief executive and the UBS UK donor-advised foundation – a funding vehicle for wealthy benefactors – it is the largest gift the trust has received. It is also believed to be one of the largest given to a conservation body in the UK.
The estate, which features a 999-metre (3,277ft) high peak, Sgùrr Breac, also has links to the Forth Bridge near Edinburgh.
Sir John Fowler, the chief engineer for the Forth Bridge, owned Inverbroom and in 1870 erected an elaborate A-listed wrought iron bridge over the River Broom, and a second B-listed bridge over a deep gorge and spectacular waterfall used by kayakers.
Jo Pike, the trust's chief executive, said it planned to make the estate a model for rewilding in north-western Scotland, focusing on creating new Atlantic rainforest, restoring riverside woodland and restoration of its degraded peatland.
Largely open hill, Inverbroom has no notable ecological features, but she hopes their regeneration work could prove to be a catalyst for greater rewilding in the wider area.
'We see so many possibilities for nature restoration, which bring together benefits for nature with benefits for people,' she said. 'It fits perfectly with our priorities.'
The SWT will end deer stalking and grouse shooting, which risks irritating neighbouring sporting estates that rely on the free movement of red deer to let out to shooting parties.
Conservationists blame Scotland's mushrooming deer populations for overgrazing upland areas, suppressing natural regrowth of native woodland and shrubs. Many conservation-minded landowners aggressively cull deer to promote regeneration.
'Deer management is going to be a really important priority,' Pike said. That would be professionally run but in time, she added, local people might be allowed to hunt deer on an ad hoc basis.
The Victorian-era lodge, built on the site of a late medieval courthouse, is to be converted into a holiday let to raise money for the estate, alongside rents from a farm and cottage tenancies on the land.
It adds to an emerging trend where conservation charities and community land buyouts raise money from luxury tourism.
The Assynt Foundation, which bought 17,806 hectares from the Vestey family in 2005 on the Assynt peninsula north of Ullapool, has gone into partnership with a hotel group to run Glencanisp Lodge on its estate as a boutique hotel.
Pyke said SWT hoped to win funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and state subsidies to help pay for peatland and woodland regeneration.
Its donor had also provided money to support running costs for the next few years. Surplus funds will be put into an endowment to pay for upkeep and conservation work in future.
Andy Wightman, a land reform campaigner, said he was puzzled by the acquisition, since it seemed out of step with SWT's core purpose of running nature reserves. 'It's a risky business taking on an estate of this scale,' he said.
'We should've moved beyond a world where conservation bodies need to acquire large amounts of land; we should be restoring land through well-crafted public policy.'