Latest news with #SiânAddison
Scotsman
26-06-2025
- Science
- Scotsman
Why deer in the Highlands are being fitted with GPS collars
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Deer will be fitted with GPS collars in Scotland in a new, joint initiative to track their movement and behaviour for management purposes. The project is part of a study between rewilding charity Affric Highlands and Durham University, and is supported by the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It will focus on red deer in the Ross-shire area of the north west Highlands. The South Ross Deer Management Group will deploy GPS collars on 22 stags from Glen Affric to the west coast. Twelve stags have already been collared, to be followed by a further 10 this winter. Collared stag being monitored by researchers and stalkers | Siân Addison Those behind the initiative said six GPS ear tags have been deployed on deer calves to provide data on hind movements, with a plan to tag more calves next spring. The collars allow researchers to analyse where red deer prefer to be, and how they interact with the environment, including their habitat preferences during rutting, calving and foraging. Data will be stored on the collars, but also sent via satellite to EarthRanger – an app which allows deer stalkers to view deer movements and manually add their own observations. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The study area includes a range of landowners with different land management practices, from sporting estates to purely conservation work. While stalkers in Scotland have been using modern technology to track deer for years, the charity said it believes the initiative is the first of its kind in the location where the study is taking place and with the multi-landowner approach. Affric Highland said so far, 18 deer stalkers from 14 sporting estates are involved, 'bringing invaluable knowledge of deer behaviour, built over decades of experience.' The charity said the new project will help future decisions and collaboration between landholdings on deer management, which has been a point of controversy between different rural groups. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Researcher Dr Eilidh Smith, from Durham University, said: 'Through this innovative research, we'll be tracking and mapping red deer movements to assess their seasonal migrations, home range sizes, and responses to human activities such as fencing, culling and commercial stalking. 'We'll also conduct habitat surveys in areas where the GPS data reveal that deer have been foraging or sheltering, to analyse their environmental impacts.' Nicola Williamson, a field officer for Affric Highlands, said: 'Strengthening our understanding of how these iconic and ecologically important animals move across estates and habitats is key to recovering ecosystems and improving deer health. This in turn supports rural economies and livelihoods through skilled deer management, and sustainable sport and nature-based tourism.' Arran Matheson, a deer stalker on Scotland's west coast who has been involved in the project, said: 'Taking part in the red deer collaring project with Nicola and Eilidh has been a great experience. We've worked together to locate, track, and fit GPS collars on the deer as part of this important conservation effort. This will give vital data about the deer's habitat use and movement patterns, and it's something I know a lot of stalkers will be very interested in.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The project was granted a licence by the UK Home Office and approved by Durham University's Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body. Affric Highlands is currently working to secure additional funding for the initiative, to enable more GPS collars to be deployed and to fund the collation of the two years' worth of data for use by land managers. Red deer are Scotland's largest surviving terrestrial mammal, and a keystone species that plays a crucial role in natural processes, shaping the landscape by grazing grasses and sedges, browsing tree shoots and shrubs, and trampling and wallowing. Affric Highlands, among other conservation groups, said the current level of deer numbers are 'a major barrier' to tree planting initiatives.
The Herald Scotland
07-05-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Rewilding scheme Affric Highlands launches as charity
It will rewild the landscape and allow nature to connect and thrive across large areas – creating social and economic benefits for communities, supporting re-peopling, and tackling the climate and nature emergencies. Affric Highlands will work with local landowners to strengthen land-based rural livelihoods and nature-based economic opportunities, making the region a hub for sustainable timber, fishing, farming, venison and wildlife tourism. This will include the creation of a network of businesses benefitting from rewilding. 'Affric Highlands is a community focused vision of hope. It's hugely inspiring to be setting out as a new charity on this ambitious 30-year journey to take large-scale nature recovery to a new level,' said Affric Highlands executive director Stephanie Kiel. 'We want to create new opportunities and real benefits for local landowners, communities and rural economies, so nature, people and livelihoods can all thrive together.' Black Grouse (Image: Siân Addison/Affric Highlands) Restoring habitats will boost biodiversity and benefit wildlife including golden eagles, red squirrels, black grouse, mountain hares, salmon, trout, ospreys and otters. The initiative will potentially cover over 700 square miles stretching from Loch Ness to Kintail in the west, and encompassing Glens Cannich, Urquhart, Affric, Moriston and Shiel. The region is stunningly beautiful but largely ecologically damaged, with much land degraded following centuries of deforestation and overgrazing. The globally unique Caledonian forest has been reduced to isolated fragments. Damage to peatlands means they are emitting rather than absorbing carbon. Lochs and rivers are depleted of salmon. This damage to the natural world means the region now supports fewer people than it could – limiting people's opportunities for sustainable land-based jobs, and undermining sustainable agriculture which depends on functioning natural processes. Affric Highlands began work in September 2021, when it also became the ninth member of Rewilding Europe's network of large, iconic rewilding landscapes across Europe. This followed the initiative's first three years of work as Trees for Life's East-West Wild project, during which the charity carried out extensive preparation and local consultation. READ MORE: Affric Highlands has since operated as a joint venture led by Trees for Life with support and advice from Rewilding Europe. The initiative has grown so successfully that it has now been launched as an independent charity, to take forward and upscale its pioneering work. Affric Highlands' growing partnership already consists of a broad coalition of 19 landowners, covering an area of over 58,000 hectares within the vast landscape. These separate landholdings – which have all signed a memorandum of understanding – are making their own decisions on what nature recovery interventions are right for them, with the Affric Highlands team providing guidance and also support for seeking funding. Native woodlands and peatlands are being restored to boost biodiversity and absorb carbon. Riverwoods are being created by returning woodland to the banks of upland streams and rivers to provide vital shade, nutrients and shelter for Scotland's struggling Atlantic salmon. Executive Director Stephanie Kiel (Image: James Shooter) The landscape is centred on Glen Affric, where native woodland restoration has been pioneered by Trees for Life since the 1990s. Thirty years on, these original areas are now alive with Scots pine and other trees, and wildlife is thriving. Trees for Life's own 10,000-acre estate at Dundreggan in Glenmoriston – regarded as an exemplar of rewilding in the Highlands, and home to the world's first Rewilding Centre – is one of over 45 different estates that own most of the land in the Affric Highlands landscape. Steve Micklewright, Trees for Life's chief executive, said: 'Affric Highlands' success so far – coupled with the opportunities for people offered by its bold vision of landscape-scale nature recovery – has brought us to the point where it can now begin a new era as an independent charity. This is fantastic news for breathing new life into the Highlands through rewilding.' Rewilding Europe's family of major European-wide flagship rewilding landscapes range from Affric Highlands to Swedish Lapland to Italy's Central Apennines. Frans Schepers, executive director of Rewilding Europe, said: 'By recovering a tapestry of habitats, bringing together landowners and communities, and creating tangible benefits for people, Affric Highlands will enrich the social fabric and wildlife of these glens and hills, while inspiring the growth of landscape-scale rewilding across Europe too.' The Affric Highlands emblem is the Scottish wildcat. It is hoped that habitat restoration will support efforts to help this much-loved species thrive again.
