HEATHERLEA and the ENVIRONMENT

Heatherlea are delighted to continue our sponsorship with RSPB Scotland.

‘Peatlands’ are habitats with a naturally accumulated layer of dead plant material (especially mosses) formed under waterlogged conditions. UK peatlands cover 26,000 km2 of land with over 60% in Scotland, including some of the world’s most important and best examples of blanket bogs, found in the Flow Country. Peatlands are extremely important for wildlife, including rare and specialist birds such as Red-throated Diver, Blackthroated Diver, Golden Plover, Dunlin and Greenshank.

As an ecosystem, peatlands are also incredibly important for human and planetary wellbeing, particularly as a long-term carbon store and as a sponge to soak up water, reducing downstream flooding. In undamaged peatlands, the wet conditions slow down decomposition and enable dead plant remains to be laid down as peat. Our peatlands have a major role to play in combating the effects of climate change because carbon removed from the atmosphere by the plants is stored in the peat and remains there for millennia. Peatlands have risen to prominence in recent years because of this role as a carbon store, and as a means of moderating greenhouse gas emissions.

We are so grateful to Heatherlea for their incredibly generous donation to support our peatland restoration work in RSPB Scotland’s Forsinard Flows Nature Reserve. This donation will also go towards funding our continued commitment to restoring our threatened and damaged blanket bog in the North of Scotland; a rare habitat which in total covers just 3% of the world’s land surface but contains nearly 30% of all terrestrial carbon. Seonaid Mason, Senior Development Officer, RSPB Scotland

Guidelines for watching Capercaillie have been agreed by responsible bodies, and you can read a full copy on our website. Heatherlea fully supports these guidelines.

We have unique access into a privately-owned estate, actively managed for the benefit of Capercaillie. The landowner is regenerating the native Caledonian pinewood to create additional habitat, and our arrangement includes the payment of a fee which contributes towards management of this special place. We enter through secure gates, staying inside our ‘mobile hide’ minibuses as we drive around tracks with keen eyes to all sides! In recent times we are still enjoying good views of the birds on many occasions. We are the only birding tour operator authorised to look for Capercaillie inside these lands and will continue our financial support for the benefit of wildlife … and our customers!

We are passionate about supporting the next generation of environmentally conscious students, and every year the Heatherlea Bursary at Lancaster University is awarded to a deserving student by the Department of Environmental Science. Our 2023/24 recipient has recently been confirmed, and this year we have awarded the Bursary on the grounds of student hardship, to a person who otherwise might not have been able to come to university. We are delighted to fund this important initiative, now in its 18th year.

2019 recipient Ami (pictured at Mountview Hotel) said ‘receiving this prestigious Bursary reduced my barriers to returning to higher education to complete a Masters’ Degree. It greatly boosted my confidence and reassured me I had made the right decision’.