Nature Recovery; we carefully manage our 46 square miles of land for the recovery of nationally-important wildlife

The recovery of nature is our guiding star. Healthy nature underpins all of our work at Ardtornish. Healthy forests and peatlands release a steady supply of water to generate our hydro power. Production of organic vegetables and meat depends on healthy soils full of life. Thriving and diverse wildlife creates a system that can cope better with changing climate. And the carbon being stored in our woods and peatlands is our contribution to reducing the severity of climate change. People seem to value what we do and this supports of self-catering business.

We have a wealth of natural habitats, from coastal rainforests, freshwater lochs, sea-cliffs and peaty mires to Alpine summits. Since the 18th century, West Highland land use has been mainly for timber production, growing wool and mutton, or for deer stalking. Much of nature has not fared well under these uses. Many previously abundant special are now scare of event lost to Morvern.

We are working towards the recovery of struggling species, such as coileach-dubh, Black Grouse. Increased abundance of wildlife will allow our Golden Eagle, once again find enough prey to raise their chicks.

Some species have been lost from Ardtornish in recent centuries. There are no immediate plans to return Beavers of Lynx, but we have recently brought back wood ants and the yellow flowered small cow-wheat. Even these tiny species have important roles in our landscape and we monitor their recovery with excitement.

Beautiful Land of the Sea

Tir Àlainn na Mara, Scots Gaelic for “Beautiful Land of the Sea”, is a large-scale nature recovery project covering Ardtornish’s 12,000 hectares of the Morvern peninsula. The project is restoring and reconnecting a landscape of fragmented biodiversity – from rainforests to saltmarsh – from the summits to the sea. It uses innovative methods such as drone seeding, reintroducing cattle and ponies as natural grazers, and creating natural fire breaks. Built on strong community partnerships and data-led decision making, the project works to kick-start natural processes and support the long-term recovery of a landscape with much diminished but still precious wildlife. You can find updates about our ongoing nature recovery projects on our blog.

A priority is reducing deer numbers, to create a healthy herd in balance with its habitat. Fiadhach translates from Scots Gaelic as both ‘deer hunting’ and ‘wildness’ – and deer hunting is to us both a symbol of wildness and necessary for the recovery of wildness.

Our deer management team uses its traditional deer-stalking skills, aided by modern technology. A thermal imaging drone informs our deer stalkers on the behaviour of the deer population and where they congregate. We will continue to reduce deer numbers until the habitats and other wildlife are shown to be recovering. Meanwhile, we take seriously our custodianship of deer as one of our many wildlife species, and seek to maintain a healthy herd.

Careful monitoring of habitats and wildlife populations informs our work. A partnership with The University of Edinburgh brings their research expertise. The recovery of our rainforests and peatlands helps the University reach carbon neutrality.

The more robust species of trees and other plants are showing the first signs of regenerating naturally – allowing nature to take its course, rather than intervene with large scale planting.