The GoG Blog

By Ross Ewing, Moorland Director at Scottish Land & Estates It is often forgotten that red grouse are wild birds living in an uncompromising moorland habitat. Even their Greek trinomial name – Lagopus lagopus scotica – speaks to unique characteristics that allow them to survive in harsh environments. Lago means ‘hare’ or ‘rabbit’; while pous

This year’s Estates that Educate programme is larger than ever before with nearly 800 children taking part in hands-on demonstrations of rural conservation and land management skills across Scotland. Primary and secondary school pupils in the Angus Glens, Grampian, Southern Uplands, Tayside, Strathdearn and Speyside will benefit from five consecutive weeks of moorland education sessions

Ronnie Kippen, retired gamekeeper served over 50 plus years on moorlands, 41 of which as keeper and then head keeper on an estate in Glen Quaich, Perthshire. Ronnie has witnessed considerable change over his time out working on the Scottish moors. Here he reflects on the increasing professionalism of the job and the intense interest

NatureScot’s progress report on its Pollinator Strategy published this week includes details of exciting conservation projects to help boost the number of pollinators in the lowlands and in urban areas of Scotland. In the uplands, traditional moorland management over thousands of acres already provides a superb environment for flowering plants and crucial native pollinators such

By Tim Baynes, Moorland Director at Scottish Land & Estates The role of muirburn in maintaining some of Scotland’s most precious habitats can be heated one – but new science from the University of Cambridge is the latest research to demonstrate the importance of ‘cool burns’ to our upland ecosystem. Published in Nature Geoscience by

The grouse season ends today, 10th December , and while the number of shoot days has been limited, the season continues to provide an extraordinary boost for biodiversity and the rural economy in Scotland, with numerous birds of prey nesting successfully and spending by estates rising to £15m. Tim Baynes, moorland director of Scottish Land

As the COP26 climate conference comes to an end, land managers are celebrating the progress already achieved towards meeting the key goals set out for sustainable land management and biodiversity. Here we summarize the top six environmental benefits of grouse moors. Wildfire prevention Climate change is increasing the likelihood of wildfires, including in the UK,

Further to the article in your May issue ‘Should grouse moors be licensed?’, there are some assumptions about grouse moors that need to be corrected. The proposed licensing of grouse moors is, by the Scottish Government’s own admission, a very complex issue. There is no detail at present as to how it may work or