Alladale Wilderness Reserve focuses on restoring native habitats and wildlife. The reserve's reforestation efforts have been significant; their largest project to date planted an impressive 920,000 saplings, giving a sense of how vast the reserve is! 

Alladale's diverse landscape comprises deciduous and coniferous woodlands, peatlands, grasslands, and wetlands, providing homes for a wide array of wildlife. Amongst the many species living within this mosaic of habitats are mountain hares, pine martens, red squirrels, ptarmigans, black grouse, and golden eagles - to mention just a few! Highland cattle also play a crucial role in the landscape as they contribute to conservation grazing practices.

Alladale Wilderness Reserve is a comprehensive restoration project covering 100 square kilometers of the Scottish Highlands. This large-scale, long-term endeavor requires collaboration among a range of specialists, including botanists and wildlife biologists.

Since 2021, NatureSpy has been actively collaborating with Alladale Wilderness Reserve and Mossy Earth to deepen our understanding of the reserve's wildlife. This valuable information supports conservation strategies implemented in the area.

To gain insights into the reserve's wildlife, we have teamed up with Mossy Earth to conduct multiple trail camera surveys. 

Running trail camera surveys in this diverse and rugged landscape poses its challenges, but we are dedicated to innovating and finding ways to capture those crucial images of elusive wildlife. Our support includes providing loans of trail camera equipment, assisting with survey design and fieldwork support.

Our Findings

In 2021, we ran a species inventory survey using trail cameras to gain a better understanding of which wildlife is present in different habitats across the reserve. This survey revealed 56 different species and informed our next steps to dig a little deeper…

Mountain hares were given full protection in Scotland in 2021 due to concerns over dwindling population sizes. Our inventory survey highlighted potential hotspots of mountain hare activity, so in 2022 we ran a more thorough trail camera survey in those areas to estimate population sizes and observe behaviours.

Pine martens maintained a stronghold in the Scottish Highlands over the past century while the species experienced local extinctions across much of the rest of the country. The mosaic of habitats at Alladale are, on paper, ideal for pine martens, yet our 2021 inventory survey revealed very few pine marten records. In response to this, we set up a pine marten feeding station survey in 2022 to record footage of unique pine marten bib patterns and estimate the population size.

Findings from our 2022 work will help to inform if any conservation measures are required for pine martens and mountain hares at Alladale Wilderness Reserve.