Achkeepster estate near Thurso in deer larder deal with Forestry and Land Scotland
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A private estate near Thurso has teamed up with its neighbour, Forestry and Land Scotland, to share a deer larder as part of an agreement to managing deer numbers in the area.
The deer larder sharing agreement with Forestry and land Scotland (FLS) is designed to encourage collaboration in managing deer, while reducing costs.
The shared deer larder helps both organisations which are managing the same deer population - it facilitates access for the estate to a refrigerated deer larder to produce assured Scottish Quality Wild Venison (SQWV) and simultaneously helps to reduce deer browsing impacts, on a landscape scale.
The FLS agreement with Achkeepster estate is the first such partnership between the public body and a private estate.
Speaking about the agreement, Megan Bregazzi, the FLS wildlife ranger manager who implemented and manages the agreement, said it creates a blueprint for other such agreements where private estates adjoin national forest estates and where a joint approach to reduce deer impacts is beneficial.
She said: “Supporting a neighbour in their deer cull is clearly of benefit to our own management activities on the national forest estate; ultimately we’re both trying to reduce deer browsing pressure.
“In effect this is collaborative deer management in action: the agreement works for both parties because the estate now has access to a larder where they can process and sell quality assured venison from their estate and at the same time it helps us to reduce the shared deer population overall.”
Deer numbers in Scotland are estimated to have doubled in the past 30 years and are now estimated at over 1 million, a figure widely regarded as unsustainable.
To help protect Scotland’s national forests and land from the negative impacts of deer, FLS employs a number of techniques, including regular deer culling and fencing, to keep numbers down to a sustainable level, keeping animals healthy and mitigating against habitat loss.
Speaking about the larder share for the Achkeepster estate, owner Innes Miller said: “We needed quality storage and processing for our carcasses but didn’t have sufficient volume to justify putting in new buildings and expensive refrigeration.
“This sharing of facilities with FLS helps both of us because we are taking deer off our open hill which would otherwise migrate into the FLS forest across our shared boundary, and cause long-term damage.”
