Top praise for shooting estates

The value of shooting estates across Scotland has been recognised at this year’s Scottish Land & Estates “Helping It Happen” awards.

The winner of the Enhancing our Environment Award was Philiphaugh Estate in the Borders, which was praised for its peatland restoration work, while the other two finalists in this category were grouseshooting estates, with Invercauld Estate and Farr Estate also nominated.

Game For Giving, a joint project by Grampian Moorland Group and Angus Glens Moorland Group, received the Working with Communities award, for their efforts to provide meals of game meat to the needy and vulnerable in their areas, including 600 meals for homeless people at Christmas.

Lianne Maclennan, coordinator for the Angus Glens Moorland Group and the Grampian Moorland Group, said: “We partnered with a homeless charity, a family support charity and a food bank to distribute healthy fresh game meat to people in need.”

Glenogil was nominated for the Conservation Award, due to the shooting estate’s habitat management, with 103 bird species having been recorded as living on the moors.