ESTATE
Two decades’ research shows red grouse responding to warming climate
Red grouse, the king of gamebirds, are laying their eggs earlier in the season in response to warmer springs. A 20-year long research project by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has just been published in the scientific journal Ibis. The research has monitored the laying dates of red grouse using radio-tagged hens in Strathspey, in the central Scottish Highlands. Dr Kathy Fletcher, head of GWCT’s Scottish upland research said: “Although warmer Aprils appear to
benefit grouse, warmer Mays and Augusts were not particularly good news for the grouse. A warm May was likely to drive an earlier emergence of craneflies or daddy-longlegs a key chick food. An early fly hatch means the grouse chicks hatch too late to take advantage of the abundant food source. Warmer Augusts result in fewer craneflies surviving to produce eggs for the following year. However, birds that laid earlier tended to have larger clutches and better chick survival.”
TP Chippers come to Scotland Fraser C Robb has become the Scottish dealer to supply TP Chippers. They are reliable Woodchippers for landscaping & biomass production from Denmark. Drymen based Fraser C Robb is a family run, customer focused business established for over 35 years.
As one of the first manufacturers of wood chippers world wide TP Wood Chippers are now offering a 3 year warranty. The 3 year warranty accentuates the fact that TP have absolute confidence in the quality and durability of the machines. The largest wood chippers, TP320
Rural landowners and the future of Scottish farming By Paul Wakefield Scottish land & Estates
With much media hype around land ownership in recent weeks, it is easy to forget the wide variety of people who work hard every day to manage Scotland’s farms, estates and rural businesses. Land managers across Scotland are continuously striving to maintain and grow economic development through employment and investment, in what are often fragile rural communities. Scottish Land & Estates’ 2,500 members comprise individuals, public bodies, charities, communities, farms and estate businesses. Much of rural Scotland falls within the stewardship responsibility of our diverse membership and this includes many tenant as well as in-hand farmers. Our collective vision for farming is that all of those involved in the industry must ‘buy in’ to the bigger picture where food security, environmental protection and community wellbeing are priorities. Landowners of all types play a part in making this vision a reality by supporting dynamic and progressive tenant and in-hand farming enterprises, especially as so many are involved in farming. The success of agriculturebased business is in the interests of everyone in the rural sector. We suggest that as well as a more business-orientated farming framework, Government should
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encourage entrepreneurialism and flexibility in the system. These can be achieved through greater freedom of contract in the tenanted sector to encourage new entrants, as well as flexible letting vehicles to encourage more opportunities within the sector as a whole. Perceived difficulties within the tenanted sector are often exaggerated in the media and the vast majority of landowners enjoy very strong working relationships with their farming tenants. If disputes do occur, we believe these should be resolved amongst the cross-industry experts at the Tenant Farming Forum. Calls for an absolute right to buy – in other words the enforced sale of land from one individual to another, are confined to the radical fringes and even a recent survey of the Scottish Tenant Farmer’s Association showed that the majority of its members would not support such a move. What is sure is that the current radical hype around land reform, often voiced by those with little practical experience of rural matters, is failing Scottish farming. The hype is sterile, politicallydriven and does nothing to generate confidence in the let farming sector, nor does it help foster an environment where a new generation of farmers will flourish. IZne PZd^Û^e] bl =bk^\mhk h_ Hi^kZmbhgl <hffngb\Zmbhgl Zm L\hmmbla EZg] >lmZm^l For more information www. scottishlandandestates.co.uk Telephone : 0131 653 5400 87