Nominee Summary
The Glenlivet Estate Ranger Service work with the local community and partners delivering countryside education from Nursery to University level as well as engaging visitors and residents to educate about land management, wildlife, dark skies and light pollution, and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. This important work has led to the local primary schools making their own food and drink from local ingredients, a range of volunteers being trained in meadow management, and Speyside High School Geography pupils working through a Dark Sky Project that immersed them in the Dark Sky world while also exploring the full rural employment sector.
The preservation of skills
The Glenlivet Estate Ranger Service work with a range of volunteer groups throughout the year and facilitated 107 volunteer days in 2024. They work monthly with Cairngorms National Park Volunteer Rangers and Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland volunteers on tasks such as invasive species removal, path maintenance, drainage improvements, wildlife monitoring and biological recording, pond maintenance, and running events. In addition, they have facilitated or ran larger scale volunteer events which build rural skills in the participants. For the last four years the Ranger Service has organised local volunteers to work with Pioneering Spirit on an archaeology dig at the site of the old Glenlivet Distillery. This totalled the equivalent of 176 volunteer days. Participants learned the skills required to work on a live dig site and built a good knowledge of local whisky history. Those taking part ranged from Primary School age to being in their 80s with one younger attendee going on to volunteer on sites across Scotland with Pioneering Spirit. Over the last three years the Ranger Service has ran scything workshops, with support from the North East Scotland Biodiversity Partnership, at Tomintoul Wildflower Meadow with 80 volunteers being expertly tutored in using scythes to manage species rich grassland. The preservation of this skill allows for management that is more sympathetic to nature, connects people to the land, and reduces the use of petrol or diesel-powered machinery.
Ethical/environmental standards
The Ranger Service aims to use all engagements to promote consideration of ethical and environmental standards. The team supports five visits each year from the Wilderness Foundation, helping to provide an immersive experience in wild and remote settings that utilises the power of the outdoors and a therapeutic grounding to allow young people to connect with themselves, their peers and the environment as they build resilience and capacity for navigating their next stages in life. The work with Tomintoul and Glenlivet Primaries has focussed on local food with Glenlivet Primary helping harvest the apples at Drumin Orchard which the Estate then has made into bottled Apple Juice for the school to sell. Tomintoul Primary have been supported to grow vegetables at the Estate Office with a harvest and cook out day showing that a range of tasty and healthy food can be grown and made locally. Over the last 18 months the Rangers have been working with the Cairngorms Pride group to support the creation of the first Pride event in the National Park and we have hosted several one-off events for the group. This demonstrates an allyship to the local LGBTQ community and promotes Glenlivet as a welcoming place for all. Environmentally the Estate monitors species such as Black Grouse and waders, as well as maintaining ponds and wildflower meadows and working with partners on projects e.g. a Twinflower translocation project with Plantlife.
Noteworthy improvements
Crown Estate Scotland was without a Ranger team for several years before appointing a Head Ranger in 2021. Since then, quality relationships have been built with a wide range of partners resulting in an extensive education programme being delivered alongside significant community engagement. It was recognised that to do this alongside the upkeep of visitor infrastructure and biodiversity projects another Ranger would be required and so a Maintenance Ranger was employed in 2024. The small team is now able to work together increasing the benefits for both residents of the Estate and visitors. This work has also seen recognition of the Estate increase within the conservation sector with the Scottish Countryside Ranger Association hosting events on Glenlivet while other events have been supported by a range of partners. The Estate is also recognised across the area and staff sit on many groups including the Local Outdoor Access Forum, the Ranger Development Partnership, and the Junior Ranger Development Working Group. The increase in awareness of the Dark Sky Park status has also been noteworthy and this has been supported by Crown Estate Scotland recently completing the building of a Dark Sky Viewing Area called the Sky Hide.
Overcoming Challenges
Glenlivet Estate is not a visitor hot spot within the Cairngorms National Park and local schools are small. This means it can be difficult to engage large numbers of people. The approach to this has been twofold. Firstly, partnership working has been key – it has been shown on Glenlivet that developing meaningful relationships with partners can increase the interest in engagement and helps find creative ways to increase turnout. For example, the Estate has built a strong relationship with Moray Walking Festival and with support from them there is a strong turnout for events on Glenlivet. Secondly there is an acceptance that smaller groups can lead to a better quality of engagement and the ability to get an educational message across. The number of repeat engagements from schools and organisations such as the Wilderness Foundation hopefully demonstrates that this is the case.
