country living


Rural estates lead on wildlife conservation


Rural estate owners in Scotland are blazing a trail on positive land management for wildlife conservation. Full Wildlife Estates Scotland accreditation was this weekend awarded to seven diverse country estates at The Scottish Game Fair. The newly accredited estates have all demonstrated a standard of excellence in land and sporting management that enhances wildlife conservation and encourages biodiversity through careful habitat management for Scotland’s wild animals and birds in line with rigorous and independent EU standards. The successful estates are as follows: • STRACATHRO ESTATE NEAR BRECHIN, ANGUS;


• LOCH CHOIRE, SUTHERLAND; • ATHOLL ESTATE, PITLOCHRY; • GLENLIVET ESTATE, MORAY; • ALLARGUE ESTATE, NEAR STRATHDON; • EDINGLASSIE, ABERDEENSHIRE; • RSPB ABERNETHY - NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE


Alvie Estate near Aviemore was also recently recognised through an accreditation awarded by European Commissioner Janez Potocnik at the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston.


The WES initiative was developed from a European Union scheme to drive forward higher standards of conservation and environmental stewardship. Focused on game and wildlife management, WES was established to create a transparent system which demonstrates how land and estate owners can deliver multiple benefits to rural Scotland aligning closely with the Scottish Government’s developing Land Use Strategy.


Welcome re-think on renewable heat fund eligibility


One of the Alvie Estate cottages likely to benefit from biomass heating funded through the RHI


Rural landowners have applauded a ‘logical’ revision to the approach by the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) on who can and cannot apply for grant payments through the renewable heat incentive, following the recent government launch of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive*. Homes in the ownership of groups of trustees will now qualify for grant applications to the renewable heat premium payments scheme and its successor, the tariff-based domestic renewable heat incentive. Scottish Land & Estates Policy Officer Anne Gray explained: “One of our members, Alvie Estate, brought it to our attention that its application for renewable heat funding had been turned


down, apparently on the basis that its business model included a governing group of trustees. After investigating, Scottish Land & Estates could not see any logical reason why trustee-owned homes and businesses were being excluded from the application process. We asked the DECC to look again at the issue earlier this year and were delighted to learn that it has since reviewed the situation and that trustee led groups can now be eligible for payments for installations of microrenewables including biomass boilers, heat pumps and solar thermal panels.” Peter MacKenzie from Alvie Estate commented: “This is a welcome and sensible change of heart by the Westminster government. We had initially been very disappointed with the prospect that the ideas we had put in place around renewable energy projects for the estate would not be able to receive the available funding simply because Alvie is owned by a family trust. Given these revised qualification criteria will be applied across the board, this opens up eligibility for the grant to a wide range of estates and businesses that will really benefit. It will help ensure we are all working to combat rural fuel poverty and in turn sustain fragile communities in the long term”.


Verm-X backs ‘The Pig Idea’


Verm-X is delighted to back ‘The Pig Idea’, an exciting new campaign to highlight the need for a change in the EU law which prevents the feeding of catering waste, or swill, to pigs.


Over the past few months, Verm-X users Stepney City Farm, have been rearing eight pigs on ‘legally permissible’ food waste including spent brewer’s grains, vegetable trimmings, whey and okara (a


tofu by-product).


Katharine Sharp of Stepney City Farm explained: “The current EU ruling is resulting in economic crisis; UK pig farmers are being put out of business by expensive grain prices and people around the world are starving.


“The United Nations estimates that feeding food waste instead of commercial


grains to livestock could liberate enough food to feed three billion people.


“The food waste we are using to rear the Stepney pigs is ‘legal’ but there are so many other types of food waste which, with the right processing, can be fed safely to livestock and are not currently being utilised.”


Said Philip Ghazala of Verm-X: “When we heard about The Pig Idea we were keen to show our support as it makes perfect sense to reduce food wastage in such a practical and safe way. The pigs at Stepney City Farm look fantastic on their diet of Verm-X and food waste!”


The brainchild of food waste expert Tristram Stuart and chef Thomasina Miers, The Pig Idea will culminate in a feast in Trafalgar Square later this year. The pork produced from the Stepney City Farm pigs will be served up at the feast by some of the UK’s best-known chefs in a variety of mouth-watering cooking demonstrations.


Tristram Stuart and Thomasina Miers, founders of the Pig Idea campaign, with the waste-fed pigs at Stepney City Farm


For further information please visit www.verm-x.com


Country Living Page 42 www.farmnequineproperty.co.uk


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