Dr Peter Cosgrove

• Appointment term: September 2023 - September 2027
• Appointed via Scottish Minister
• Committee membership: Not applicable
• Committee Convener: Not applicable
• External representation: Chair - Cairngorm Upland Advisory Group (CUAG), Chair - Cairngorm Nature Strategy Group 

Peter Cosgrove has lived and worked in the Cairngorms since 1998. He is Managing Director of Alba Ecology Ltd, an ecological consultancy specialising surveying and advising public, private and third sector clients on land-use and biodiversity conservation issues. Peter has worked with many of the key Cairngorms National Park Authority partners for decades, right back to the inception of the Cairngorms National Park. Much of his work has sought to demonstrate and communicate that climate change threatens livelihoods and important biodiversity across the Cairngorms, and it requires urgent action from many individuals, businesses, and organisations across the National Park and beyond to tackle the climate crisis effectively. 

In 2014 Peter was awarded the RSPB’s 2014 Nature of Scotland Species Champion Award for his conservation and research work on the endangered freshwater pearl mussel under the auspices of a project entitled ‘Mollusc of the Glen’! When not up to his waist in a river looking for his favourite species, Peter likes hill-walking, hill loch fishing, birding, malt whisky and music. 

Register of interests: 

Category 1: Remuneration 

• Managing Director of Alba Ecology Ltd. an ecological consultancy based in Grantown-on-Spey
• Part time, occasional overseas wildlife guide, Heatherlea, a wildlife tourism business based in Nethy Bridge. 

Category 2: Other roles 

• None 

Category 3: Contracts 

• In my role as an ecological surveyor, advisor and consultant with Alba Ecology Ltd. I have on occasion worked previously with and for the Cairngorms National Park Authority. At the time of writing (20 June 2023), I currently do not have any paid / contractual work relationship with the Park Authority. 

Category 4: Election expenses 

• None 

Category 5: Houses, land and buildings 

• Part own (with my partner Ms Jacklyn Farquhar) a house in Grantown-on-Spey. 

Category 6: Interest in shares and securities 

• None 

Category 7: Gifts and hospitality 

• Invitation to the Whisky Snug at the Grant Arms Hotel, Grantown-on-Spey on 
  29 January 2026

Category 8: Non-financial interests 

• None 

Category 9: Close family members  

• My partner is Ms Jacklyn Farquhar, who currently works at the Cairngorms National Park Authority as a Rural Development Officer. We have a son together, Cameron Farquhar Cosgrove.