People

Scotland’s first female gamekeeping lecturer is also a firefighter

Sophie Clark (27) – is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. She is Scotland’s first female lecturer in Gamekeeping, and is also a retained firefighter.

“I grew up in the small harbour village of Kinlochbervie in the north west of Sutherland. It was and still is an idyllic place to live and the community is very close-knit. I’ve always known I wouldn’t want a job that involved sitting behind a desk all day. I love the outdoors and I always want to feel that I’m making a difference. I enrolled on the Gamekeeping & Wildlife Management course at UHI North Highland in Thurso and from that moment I never looked back.

From the word go I loved every aspect of the course – I was offered the chance to assist with walked up grouse shooting over dogs on estates in the north of Scotland, which was an amazing introduction to land management.

My first work placement was at Reay Forest Estate where I was trained in deer management, worked with hill ponies and as a ghillie on the glorious River Laxford. There is so much more to being a gamekeeper or a ghillie than most people realise.

I became a lecturer to help encourage more young people and women to pursue a rural career – whether as a gamekeeper, a ghillie or a land manager, there are huge opportunities to protect the natural environment and encourage biodiversity while also remaining in your home village, and supporting your community.

The role of a gamekeeper has changed immeasurably in recent years with far greater emphasis on conservation, and in my opinion, this opens the door to more women coming through.

There’s nothing more heartening than to see lapwing nesting on the land you manage or to hear the beautiful call of the curlew when up on the hills. That’s thanks to gamekeepers providing a rich habitat for wildlife to thrive.

All too often those who come to Scotland for country sports are pigeonholed as toffs wearing tweed but that is an outdated view based on the age old myths about shooting.

It’s not a question of looking for a huge number of birds to shoot above everything, and it’s also important to note that grouse shooting only takes place when there’s a sustainable surplus. Gamekeepers and those who come here to shoot are passionate about our countryside and understand the need to retain moorland so that generations to come can enjoy the outstanding purple heather moors that we see today.

The number of women on the Gamekeeping and Wildlife Management course at UHI North Highland is slowly growing year on year. We are developing new areas of the curriculum, including woodland impact assessments and delivering rural skills to local schools in the north west of Scotland. If we don’t work hard to inspire the younger generation they will all feel they have to move to Glasgow or Edinburgh to get a job and the glens and hills will suffer even more than they do today.

I became a retained firefighter because I wanted to help my community and there is always a need for firefighters in the Highland region – it’s another job where you can make a difference and help the local community. This year there has been an extraordinary number of wildfires breaking out and gamekeepers are often first on the scene of a wildfire, working in partnership with the Fire & Rescue Service.

Wildfires rarely occur on grouse moors as the gamekeepers manage the moors with a cycle of controlled heather burning that reduces the fuel load and which prevents the destruction and devastation to wildlife and their habitats that wildfires cause.

There are so many aspects to rural conservation - I’m in talks with starting a local deerstalking group for women and I help out with sea bird surveys. I hope many more women will feel confident about working in land management or gamekeeping. If I can do it, anyone can!”

HUK Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Presented by the Holstein UK Board of Trustees, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognises at least twenty years of dedication and service to the Holstein and/or British Friesian breeds. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a remarkable contribution to the Society and provided outstanding service to the breed.

With great pleasure, the Trustees presented the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Beard, who has recently retired from the Society after having worked for them for four decades. Richard’s interest in British Friesians was ignited as a school boy, and led him to study at Askham Bryan College to complete a National Certificate in Agriculture. Richard learnt about Canadian Holstein imports while working with the Sharcombe herd which resulting in him emigrating to Canada at the age of 21, he also went on to live and work in the USA.

Whilst abroad, Richard wrote letters to the Holstein World magazine which were later published before the editor invited him to write a regular column. Richard wrote the page for over 10 years before it morphed into A Letter From Great Britain when he relocated back to the UK. Articles for many other publications were to follow and one of Richard’s favourites was Cremona: Where Stradivarius meets Starbuck, about the appearance of Starbuck daughters at the European Holstein Show, which was published in the Farmers Weekly in the mid 80’s.

Dealers support industry leading apprenticeship

The high level of support from the Claas dealer network for the new, industry leading in-house apprenticeship based at the Claas Academy at Saxham is evident in the fact that the new course starting this Autumn is fully booked

Claas is the only UK machinery manufacturer to offer and deliver a specific in-house apprenticeship scheme, using new purpose built facilities. Opened earlier this year the new Academy is an integral part of the Claas Academy at the Claas UK Saxham headquarters site.

Following the inaugural intake of students in February, a further 23 students from dealerships throughout England, Wales and Ireland arrived at Saxham for the start of their 4-year block-release course in September.

A further cohort of students from dealerships in Scotland have also been welcomed onto their course provided and run by the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) Barony near Dumfries.

The new Claas in-house Apprenticeship scheme was introduced to help raise the standard of newly qualified engineers. By ‘growing our own’ Claas UK can ensure that the engineers of the future have been fully trained on the very latest Claas machinery and that they have the skill set to keep them abreast of technological advancements within the industry, including key franchises offered by the Claas dealer network.

During their apprenticeship, the students will study for a Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard in Land-Based Service Engineering Technician, delivered by dedicated CLAAS trainers alongside specialist product trainers from the main Claas Academy.

The new Apprentice Academy with its purpose built facilities and specialist fabrication, engine workshops and classrooms, in addition to break-out areas and onsite restaurant, provide the students with some of the best training facilities in the UK. The 3 million Euros development is a worldwide first for the Claas Group and is being used as a blueprint for the instigation of similar programmes within the company’s global operation.