Scottish Woodlands’ pride in The Lost Forest
The Kinrara Estate has been left in an "exceptional" condition by Scottish Woodlands, and the company is very proud of what it has achieved on the site.
That’s the message to Scotland’s rural community from David Robertson, Investment Director at Scottish Woodlands, who paid a last visit to the estate, near Aviemore, just before the ownership changed hands.
In a short video filmed at Kinrara, also known as The Lost Forest, he says: “I think it's really important as we move on as a business from this site to reflect on how the whole site has developed and what our part has been in that."
“I'm very proud of what our company has done. We've had our challenges, but the site is thriving. It's an excellent legacy for Scottish Woodlands and for our staff who've been involved.”
Mr Robertson describes how the new woodland creation and peatland restoration on the site are both thriving - and his comments have been backed by the new owners of the site, Oxygen Conservation, who have acquired Kinrara from BrewDog.
After taking over the estate, Rich Stockdale, Oxygen Conservation’s chief executive, said: “We were blown away by the job that had been done. No woodland creation or environmental restoration project is without its challenges. [But] genuinely, we were astounded about the quality to which the estate’s been delivered.”
In the video, Mr Robertson describes the challenges on the site, mainly the exceptionally dry spring of 2023, which lead to around 50% of trees planted on the site dying.
“It was one of the driest springs on record and gave us some significant issues with drought,” says Mr Robertson. “As a result, we lost roughly 50% of the trees on the site. But by the back end of 2023, we were already on site, replanting the areas that had failed. That was substantially completed in spring 2024 and we see the trees around us today are absolutely thriving.”
The main trees on the site are Scots Pine, plus silver birch and downy birch, willow, rowan and many other native species. Mr Robertson says there was significant misinformation about what was planted on the site - and stressed that there was no commercial planting at Kinrara.
He said: “We're trying to recreate what nature would have had in the first instance, to plant the right tree in the right place to get the best outcomes.”
Some of the trees planted on higher ground, which were thought to have died, have also started to grow back naturally, as they weren't as badly impacted by the drought - and are now showing signs of full recovery.
Mr Robertson also describes the 500 hectares of peatland restoration on the site.
He says: “We started by concentrating on some of the worst degraded areas of peatland, then moved into areas that had been drained in the 1950s for agricultural production. We've stopped water from leaving the site, and those peatlands will be restored back to their natural condition.”
Scottish Woodlands staff were badly affected by inaccurate and harsh criticism, Mr Robertson says in the video: “They are passionate, professional people who really want these sites to succeed. And we had some challenges here with weather, which meant it was difficult in the first year, but the misinformation was really wide and brought with it additional negative coverage."
“That’s not borne out by what we see on the site today, which is a really well-established and fantastic-looking property.”
Watch the full video here
