Rewilding project ‘ramping up’ with new recruits and fundraising drive

A rewilding project in the Scottish Highlands is “ramping up” its efforts after recruiting three new scientists to its team.

Highlands Rewilding owns a total of 682 hectares of land in Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire, which it has dedicated to nature recovery.

It has now appointed two new co-chief scientists, Dr Penelope Whitehorn and Dr Calum Brown, who have collectively authored or co-authored 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers between them.

The group has also taken on a chief data scientist, Cathy Atkinson, who has previously been awarded an OBE for her work in this area.

The appointments come as Highlands Rewilding also attempts to secure new funding, so it can both acquire more land and use what it describes as its “scientific and data firepower” to help other landowners benefit from more nature-friendly land management practices.

The organisation is seeking new investors, and is also planning a crowdfunding initiative.

Highlands Rewilding founder Dr Jeremy Leggett said as well as contributing towards climate change efforts, their work was also helping tackle “dire land inequality” in Scotland.

He said: “In the first two years of this project, we have made a good start in rewilding science, land management for nature recovery, and community involvement.

“By ramping up all these in our third year, we are aiming for a meaningful contribution to the Scottish Government’s effort to hit its ambitious climate and biodiversity targets, while also helping with the dire land inequality problem in Scotland.”