Banker goes wild back on family farm

Land manager Rory Fyfe turned his back on the life of an economist in Qatar three years ago to help run the family farm and wedding business Kinkell Byre.

The father of three is leading a new stage for the well-known St Andrews wedding venue, where the former calving shed is now filled with guests rather than livestock.

The former bank worker is the latest proponent of the growing rewilding movement at his home at Kinkell Byre.

He is helping nature to “fight back” at the scenic spot on the cliffs to the south east of the Fife town.

“In the last couple of hundred years we have done a lot of damage to biodiversity,” he says.

“We’ve lost lots of plants and species that used to be around here, but aren’t any more.

“We’re trying to get these species back and enhance our environment. That to me is what rewilding means.”

Fife contains a wide range of different habitats. From the nearby sand dune system next to west sands beach in St Andrews to the heathland of the Lomond Hills.

Experts have found around 10,000 different species of plants and animals in the Kingdom.

But that rich heritage is both degraded and under threat, with many more species lost with every year.

The issue is particularly important at Kinkell. The land at the bottom of the farm falls away into cliffs that make up part of the St Andrews to Craig Hartle site of special scientific interest.

Rory said: “We want enriched biodiversity. We want more plant and animal species here.

“Rewilding is a solution to two problems: to the tragic biodiversity loss that’s happened in the last few years and also to climate change.”

He is aware the rewilding idea has had a mixed reception from other farmers and land managers.

Rewilding has been linked to everything from less frequent grass cutting in parks, beaver release, to the bid to restore wolves to the Highlands.

That’s not always helpful, Rory says.

“We don’t want wolves here or anything like that. We’ve got a wedding business here.”

He acknowledges farmers and land managers are businesses, not wildlife charities, and must be properly incentivised for managing their land in way that is as good for nature as it is for the bottom line.

Scottish Government agency Naturescot recently awarded the Kinkell Byre team a small £27,250 grant to fund the rewilding work.

Rory also works closely with Fife Council and the Northwoods Rewilding Network on the project.

So what does £27k get you in the rewilding game?

In a word: trees. And lots of them. Volunteers from the Fife and Kinross Bat Group helped Kinkell staff to plant 700 of them earlier in the year.

MAN ON A MISSION: Rory Fyfe is leading the rewilding project. Picture by Steve Brown.