NRN PARTNER: Ruigh'riabhach Croft

RUIGH'RIABHACH CROFT

Location:
Scoraig, Highland
Area Committed:
51 acres

Ruigh’riabhach is a crofting township on the south-eastern side of Scoraig peninsula, lying between Scoraig common grazings and the shores of Little Loch Broom. Meadows of sedge and grass, swathes of gorse and copses of alder and rowan are interspersed with the remains of long abandoned croft houses on Ruigh’riabhach Croft. Nature is recovering in these microhabitats, assisted by new plantings of Scots pine and other native tree species on a portion of land to the west.

Key rewilding commitments:

  • MORE SPACE FOR WATER: Explore use of timber ‘leaky dams’ to create more standing water and wet flushes – for the benefit of invertebrates and other wildlife
  • JOINED UP HABITATS: Remove redundant stock fencing and other obstacles to wildlife
  • RETURN MISSING SPECIES: Undertake enrichment planting of missing or poorly represented plant species – such as juniper, hazel and blaeberry
  • LET NATURE LEAD: Proactively manage non-native conifers, and expedite removal of non-native Himalayan balsam and Rhododendron ponticum
  • REINSTATE NATURAL GRAZING: Explore more extensive grazing with large herbivores (native cattle and ponies) for their ecosystem benefits