Beaver pioneers’ rewilding project a Scots first

Almost 20 years after spearheading the reintroduction of the beaver to Scotland, an estate in Perthshire now aims to go further with a pioneering rewilding project.

Led by a mother-anddaughter team, the family-run upland farm aims to create Bamff Wildland by rewilding 450 acres – with 12 fields, six woods and some of the UK’S most impressive beaver territories transformed into a nature-rich connected area of land.

Sheep have been removed from the fields, and after a fallow year this land will be linked to the woods and beaver wetlands to form a single rewilding zone – the first of its kind in Scotland.

Small numbers of native breeds of pigs, cattle and ponies, as proxies for their wild ancestors, will be introduced to create a dynamic mosaic of diverse habitats through conservation grazing. Eventually, the animals will be able to roam freely across the whole 450 acres, in an approach shown to be critical for nature to thrive.

A crowdfunder to make Bamff Wildland a reality aims to raise at least £24,000 by May 2.

Funds are needed to kickstart the project, including creating a perimeter fence so the estate’s internal fencing can eventually be removed.

The work is all being done for public benefit, although currently much of it is not eligible for government funding.

“As our climate destabilises and threatens human survival, and with heartbreaking accounts of wildlife numbers crashing internationally, farmers and landowners have a responsibility to respond to these twin crises.” said Sophie Ramsay of Bamff Wildland.