Whisky firm gets peaty taste for conservation

Vital investment from Johnnie Walker means a crucial area of peatland in Abernethy Nature Reserve can be preserved.

RSPB Scotland’s Abernethy Nature Reserve is home to the An Lurg North peatland area, which sits on the Cairngorms plateau.

The peatland is severely degraded and in need of preservation.

Thanks to funding from whisky brand Johnnie Walker, restoration and conservation of the area will now begin, ensuring it is a suitable environment for the local community and wildlife.

The project was announced by Mairi McAllan, Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform on a visit to the area. She said: “Restoring peatlands is a central part of our response to the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss in Scotland.

“We hope this partnership encourages further private investment in peatland restoration and Scotland’s natural capital.”

The works will focus on 88 hectares of peatland. In total, an area the equivalent of around 224 football pitches on the plateau will be conserved.

Preparatory work has already been done on the reserve.

Ewan Andrew, chief sustainability officer for Johnnie Walker’s parent company Diageo, said it will even impact the whisky industry as its Cardhu Distillery is just downstream.

He said: “The area is also part of the water catchment for the River Spey, the greatest whisky river in the world, and preserving the peatland will enhance and protect water quality in the future.”

Abernethy Nature Reserve is part of Cairngorms Connect, which brings together neighbouring land managers to enhance ecological processes across the Cairngorms.

The reserve is home to a wide variety of wildlife and plant species that will also benefit from the funding.

Currently, the sundew plant, Britain’s only carnivorous plant, and hen harriers are at risk if the levels of carbon in the peatland that they rely on decrease.

Delivery manager at Cairngorms Connect,

Steve Blow, said: “Peatland restoration is one of the landscape-scale habitat restoration objectives shared by all of the Cairngorms Connect Partners (RSPB, Wildland, Forestry and Land Scotland and NatureScot).

“Both on the plateau and down in the forests, these bogs support endangered wildlife, lock up carbon from the atmosphere and can help reduce flooding, so are an invaluable resource.”

If kept in a good condition, peatland can get rid of around four times more CO2 than an area of forest the same size.

Peatlands store more than 30% of the world’s carbon, and the vast majority of the UK’s three million hectares of it is in Scotland.

This is part of the catchment for the greatest whisky river in the world

FOR PEAT’S SAKE: RSPB Scotland’s site manager Uwe Stoneman, left, is joined at Abernethy Nature Reserve by minister Mairi McAllan and Diageo’s Ewan Andrew.