…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
The 5,530 hectare Griffin Forestry Estate comprises the Griffin and Moness estates in Perthshire either side of the A826 south of Aberfeldy. I have a personal connection with the forest as I planted much of it in my first job
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Scotland’s pattern of private rural landownership is becoming more concentrated as first revealed in my preliminary analysis of who owns Scotland published in March. A final 2024 report on the topic will be published next month in November. As discussed
Continue readingI was invited to discuss rural domestic heating solutions on BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland this morning alongside Donna Smith from the Scottish Crofting Federation. You can hear the interview below.
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Following my first blog on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, I will be following up with others including having a look at transfers of land of over 1000 ha in extent over the past few years to assess how the
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The Ferret ran a story today about how the asset management company, Gresham House has been taken over by US private equity form Searchlight Capital Partners LP. “The Scottish Government’s investment bank gave £50m to a forestry scheme that has
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On 1 March 2023, NatureScot announced a £2 billion private finance pilot designed to secure landscape scale restoration of native woodlands. The project involves NatureScot and private companies Hampden and Co., Palladium and Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe) Ltd. NatureScot
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Thirty years ago, from 3-14 June 1992, countries met in Rio de Janeiro at the ground-breaking Earth Summit. The conference agreed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and the Forest Principles. The conference also agreed two legally
Continue readingOn 15 October last year, I was preparing to leave home and travel to the Isle of Skye to visit my parents for the weekend. Shortly before I left, an email arrived from John Clegg & Co. advertising for sale
Continue readingOn 23 February 2014, the Sunday Herald revealed that Timothy Congdon, UKIP’s economic spokesperson, had benefitted from wind energy developments on his land in Argyll and Caithness. Today (4 March) it was revealed that he has stood down from the
Continue readingFOR SALE Rosal Forest 6356 acres Offers over £1,850,000 “A unique opportunity to acquire a large commercial forest situated in one of the last wilderness areas of Scotland surrounded by stunning scenery. Offering a significant volume of commercial conifer timber,
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