[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

East Cairngorms Moor­land Partnership

5‑year Action Plan (2022−20271)

INTRO­DUC­TION

The East Cairngorms Moor­land Part­ner­ship is a land­scape-scale col­lab­or­a­tion between five estates² (Bal­mor­al, Glenavon, Glen­liv­et, Mar and Mar Lodge) and the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority.

Pur­pose of Partnership

The over-arch­ing pur­pose is to demon­strate a clear con­tri­bu­tion to the aims of the Nation­al Park, the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and Cairngorms Nature Action Plan through sus­tain­able moor­land man­age­ment. This includes recog­ni­tion of the var­ied pri­or­it­ies and object­ives of the estates, and the need to main­tain viab­il­ity of estate enter­prises as a basis for deliv­er­ing a viable mix of pub­lic and private interest outcomes.

Spe­cific­ally, the pur­pose is to col­lab­or­ate across land hold­ings to achieve the fol­low­ing, along­side the estates’ sport­ing and oth­er man­age­ment objectives:

• Wood­land and scrub expansion;
• Peat­land restoration;
• Rap­tor and oth­er pri­or­ity spe­cies conservation;
• Land­scape enhancement.

In doing so, the part­ners seek to demon­strate the com­bined deliv­ery of pub­lic and private interest out­comes and the suc­cess­ful integ­ra­tion of grouse moor man­age­ment with oth­er land use objectives.

Out­comes

The part­ners set out to achieve the fol­low­ing outcomes:

• Com­bined deliv­ery of private and pub­lic interest outcomes;
• Great­er hab­it­at diversity, includ­ing expan­sion of wood­land and scrub in key locations;
• Retained sense of wild­ness and land­scape value;
• Diverse wild­life pop­u­la­tions appro­pri­ate to the land­scape and habitats;
• Improved under­stand­ing of moor­land hab­it­at and spe­cies management;
• Col­lab­or­a­tion and com­mu­nic­a­tion based on a set of agreed principles.

OBJECT­IVES

To achieve the out­comes above, ECMP aims to demon­strate sus­tain­able moor­land man­age­ment by restor­ing, man­aging and mon­it­or­ing moor­land hab­it­ats and spe­cies, includ­ing healthy red grouse pop­u­la­tions which sup­port sus­tain­able rur­al busi­nesses. It also aims to com­mu­nic­ate the value of moor­lands and how they can con­trib­ute to meet­ing the twin nature and biod­iversity crises, and a fair and just trans­ition to a net-zero and nature-based economy.

1 Amended 11/03/25 to end of ²⁰²⁷⁄₂₈ fin­an­cial year 2 Abergel­die Estate joined in March 2023

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

While indi­vidu­al estates may put a dif­fer­ent emphas­is on the deliv­ery of the fol­low­ing object­ives, togeth­er part­ner estates will:

1. Act­ively restore moor­land, wood­land and fresh­wa­ter habitats

   With­in the UN Dec­ade of Eco­sys­tem Res­tor­a­tion, we will ensure we have resi­li­ent, more nat­ur­al moor­land eco­sys­tems that provide a great­er range of hab­it­ats for plants, insects, birds and mam­mals, that are resi­li­ent to and can mit­ig­ate against the effects of cli­mate change and con­trib­ute to restor­ing the state of nature. We will work togeth­er on land­scape-scale res­tor­a­tion plans to deliver:

   • Pock­ets of trees and shrubs on moor­land edges, steep slopes, in gul­lies and around wood­land remnants
   • Re-wet­ted and restored peat­lands and bogs
   • More nat­ur­al river and wet­land systems
   • Big­ger and bet­ter con­nec­ted nat­ive and ripari­an woodlands

2. Deliv­er focused action to improve the con­ser­va­tion status of threatened or declin­ing species

   Moor­lands are an import­ant place for biod­iversity, with inter­na­tion­ally recog­nised hab­it­ats sup­port­ing com­munit­ies of plants, breed­ing birds and inver­teb­rates that are uncom­mon else­where. While most spe­cies will bene­fit sig­ni­fic­antly from land­scape-scale hab­it­at res­tor­a­tion, there are some pri­or­ity spe­cies with very spe­cif­ic and some­times urgent man­age­ment needs that demand focused action.

   The Cairngorms Nature Action Plan iden­ti­fies pri­or­ity spe­cies most closely asso­ci­ated with moor­lands includ­ing cur­lew and oth­er wader spe­cies, moun­tain hares and moor­land rap­tor spe­cies, par­tic­u­larly golden eagles, hen har­ri­er and per­eg­rine. Caper­cail­lie, twin­flower, woolly wil­low and aspen, as well as inver­teb­rates asso­ci­ated with aspen, are also included. ECMP estates have sig­ni­fic­ant aspen stands so con­trib­ut­ing to aspen con­ser­va­tion is an import­ant pub­lic bene­fit that can be delivered on the moor­land edge and in ripari­an zones.

   In the longer term, eco­sys­tem res­tor­a­tion will ensure vul­ner­able spe­cies are less reli­ant on tar­geted action and can recov­er with­in a net­work of habitats.

3. Cre­ate a strong evid­ence base and foster know­ledge exchange by sur­vey­ing, mon­it­or­ing, con­duct­ing research and shar­ing data

   Mon­it­or­ing provides robust evid­ence and data which in turn allow us to demon­strate the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of our land man­age­ment prac­tices, the biod­iversity of our moor­lands, the con­ser­va­tion status of our moor­land spe­cies and the deliv­ery of oth­er pub­lic bene­fits such as sequestered car­bon, enhanced land­scape qual­ity and health­i­er upland rivers. Mon­it­or­ing also provides inform­a­tion that sup­ports sus­tain­able sport­ing interests and con­trib­utes to a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the import­ance of moor­land hab­it­ats. In addi­tion, such data will feed into the Cairngorms Nature Atlas (Atlas of Liv­ing Scot­land), Cairngorms Nature Index and allow com­par­is­on with sites else­where, under altern­at­ive man­age­ment. They also provide inform­a­tion that can be shared with the pub­lic to demon­strate the import­ance of moor­land habitats.

4. Achieve estates’ private interests through sus­tain­able moor­land management

   Moor­land man­age­ment is often fun­ded through red grouse shoot­ing. Well man­aged moor­land sup­ports healthy pop­u­la­tions of red grouse which should pro­duce a sur­plus for shoot­ing. This in turn

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

sup­ports rur­al employ­ment. Thriv­ing estate busi­nesses provide oppor­tun­it­ies for skills devel­op­ment, appren­tice­ships and oth­er train­ing and con­trib­ute to the green economy.

1. Raise aware­ness and under­stand­ing of how moor­land man­age­ment works and the con­tri­bu­tions it makes

Moor­lands can be an over­looked hab­it­at and enga­ging with the pub­lic to com­mu­nic­ate their import­ance helps to raise their pro­file and pub­li­cise the work car­ried out by ECMP estates, demon­strat­ing mul­tiple land use benefits.

Fig. 1 Object­ives of East Cairngorms Moor­land Part­ner­ship, show­ing over­laps in moor­land man­age­ment, tar­get hab­it­ats and species.

BACK­GROUND INFORMATION

The area man­aged by ECMP estates amounts to 98,000 ha³, around 22% of the area of the Nation­al Park. Moor­land, which can be con­sidered as open upland heath and blanket bog hab­it­ats, char­ac­ter­ised by acid­ic soils and low-grow­ing veget­a­tion, accounts for over 60 % of ECMP ground. It is dom­in­ated by dwarf shrubs, cer­tain grass com­munit­ies and bog spe­cies includ­ing Sphag­num mosses. The broad hab­it­ats across ECMP are shown in Appendix 1, with heath­lands cov­er­ing 43,000 ha and blanket bogs 19,000 ha. Com­mer­cial and nat­ive wood­lands, includ­ing ripari­an cor­ridors, cov­er nearly 11,000 ha, around 11% of ECMP.

3 Increased to 100,000 ha with the addi­tion of Abergeldie

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

ACTION PLAN

Object­ive	Area of work	Action	Key indic­at­ors
1. Hab­it­at restoration	Peat­land	Res­tor­a­tion of act­ively erod­ing peat & peat­land drain­age features	Area of peat­land res­tor­a­tion (Tar­get: > 1,350 ha over 5 y)
		Devel­op a land­scape-scale plan for the res­tor­a­tion of all peat­land across ECMP, includ­ing pri­or­it­ies, time­frame & costings
	Moor­land	Ensure that all man­aged burn­ing (muir­burn) occurs with­in mapped areas, fol­lows best prac­tice & is com­pli­ant with muir­burn licens­ing (when enacted), sup­port­ing hab­it­at res­tor­a­tion & recovery
		Mit­ig­ate wild­fire risk through col­lab­or­at­ive approach
		Assess cur­rent scrub presence	Pres­ence of juni­per, dwarf birch, wil­lows (Tar­get: increase)
		Increase moor­land veget­a­tion diversity by expand­ing & con­nect­ing areas of juni­per, wil­lows, dwarf birch & asso­ci­ated spe­cies assemblages
	Wood­land	Increase wood­land hab­it­at through plant­ing & nat­ur­al regeneration	Area of new wood­land (Tar­get: > 1,500 ha of new wood­land over 5 y, with an increase on all estates)
		Pro­tect & enhance con­di­tion of exist­ing woodland
		Identi­fy at risk wood­lands & devel­op plan to move towards favour­able recov­er­ing condition
	Fresh­wa­ter	Cre­ate & con­nect ripari­an cor­ridors along upland tributaries
		Intro­duce woody debris	River res­tor­a­tion pro­jects (Tar­get: 1 in each major catchment)
		Recon­nect rivers & floodplain
In-bye and grassland		Cre­ate & main­tain wader hab­it­at (rush cut­ting, cattle graz­ing of rushes & scrapes)	No. wader scrapes (Tar­get: increase)
		Sup­port pol­lin­at­ors & spe­cies rich grasslands

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

Object­ive	Area of work	Action	Key indic­at­ors
2. Spe­cies conservation	Rap­tors	Col­lab­or­at­ive monitoring	Home range (re)occupation & breed­ing suc­cess of golden eagle, hen har­ri­er & per­eg­rine (Tar­get: stable / increase & no per­se­cu­tion incidents)
		Pos­it­ive land man­age­ment that will encour­age re-colonisation
		Work with CNPA rap­tor pro­ject to elim­in­ate persecution
	Waders	Hab­it­at man­age­ment as above	No. breed­ing wader pairs (Tar­get: stable or increase)
	Twin­flower	Mon­it­or­ing & trans­lo­ca­tion where appropriate
	Aspen	Expan­sion & con­nectiv­ity of aspen stands across ECMP & Deeside aspen corridor	Area of aspen (Tar­get: increase)
3. Research, Sur­vey & Monitoring	Veget­a­tion	Mon­it­or con­di­tion of moor­land by Hab­it­at Impact Assessment	Herb­i­vore impact (Tar­get: mod­er­ate / low)
		Site Con­di­tion Mon­it­or­ing of des­ig­nated sites	Con­di­tion of des­ig­nated sites (Tar­get: favour­able or recov­er­ing favour­able condition)
		Juni­per & willows
	Land­scape	Spe­cial Land­scape Qual­it­ies map­ping & mon­it­or­ing (with input from CNPA colleagues)
	Spe­cies	Moun­tain hare index of pop­u­la­tion size (GWCT methodology)	Counts of moun­tain hares, waders & black grouse (Tar­get: healthy populations)
		Wader tran­sects to determ­ine con­ser­va­tion status & effects of hab­it­at improvements
		Black grouse surveys
		Com­par­at­ive mon­it­or­ing with Cairngorms Connect
		Cur­lew sens­it­iv­ity maps
4. Estate interests	Eco­nom­ic activity	Sus­tain­able moor­land man­age­ment for bene­fit of game species	Tar­get: Sus­tain­able sur­plus for shoot­ing No. land man­age­ment staff (Tar­get: stable / increase)

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

Object­ive	Area of work	Action	Key indic­at­ors
5. Pub­lic engage­ment and comms	Col­lect­ive ECMP com­mu­nic­a­tion of key messages	Peri­od­ic press releases, social media posts &/or blogs on pro­gress to tar­gets or achieve­ment of mile­stones Cre­ate ECMP webpage	No. com­mu­nic­a­tions (Tar­get: at least 3 /​y)
	Bal­later inter­pret­a­tion centre	Main­tain / update digit­al mater­i­al in centre	Vis­it­or numbers
	Know­ledge exchange and shar­ing of good practice	Hold, host & par­ti­cip­ate in events incl. CN BIG week­end, walk & talk, know­ledge exchange, shar­ing good prac­tice, sem­inars / work­shops, invited speakers	No. events (Tar­get: at least 2 /​y)

[Agreed by Part­ners 5/12/22]

APPENDIX 1.

Map. 1. Dis­tri­bu­tion of EUNIS hab­it­at­s⁴ across East Cairngorms Moor­land Part­ner­ship estates

4 https://www.nature.scot/landscapes-and-habitats/habitat-map-scotland