Restoring Nature's Balance

The Highlands are considered one of Europe's last great areas of wilderness, yet much of the flora and fauna that once thrived here has been driven to extinction by the activities of man.

The purpose of the Alladale Wilderness Reserve is to restore a remote area of the Highlands to its former natural glory. 

At Alladale you will meet some of the lost species we have returned, and your stay will contribute directly to this pioneering conservation project.

Trial Wilderness Enclosure
On the 15th December, we will have completed the erection of a 7,300 metre fence of our own design, to secure red deer, wild boar, roe deer and European elk ("Moose") within an 500 acre enclosure. This has proved an extremely difficult task, but a real credit to our staff at Alladale who have worked through all weathers, up and down particularly steep hills, not to forget the skills of "Shy" Johnny Farquahar, our highly skilled track-mounted Caterpillar tractor driver who made it all possible. Johnny has nerves of steel!

The fence comprises of kiln dried pine timbers spaced at 5 yard centres and a bespoke woven galvanised netting with 21 horizontal line wires spaced at gradually narrowing gaps as the fence gets closer to ground level. The vertical wires are positioned at 6" intervals to give the high-tensile wire the support it needs to not only stand up to the challenge of wild animals, but in times of heavy snow. The netting rolls come in 110 yard lengths and are 8 ft. high overall. "Tornado Wire", the manufacturers, then coated the galvanised wire with a gold coloured polymer to give extra life to the fence and to make it blend in as much as possible with the landscape. The netting will now be marketed by Tornado as "Alladale Gold". We are very grateful to Tornado who have subsidised the cost of the wire as their contribution towards our Highland's re-wilding project.

We fold the bottom 24" of the 'Alladale Gold' flat on the ground back into the enclosure to prevent the wild boar and small deer from burrowing under the fence; a trick learned by Hugh (our GM) who used this technique in Northern Alberta for preventing wolves and coyotes from entering wildlife enclosures. The folded section of the fence is then covered with a light sprinkle of peaty soil to encourage regrowth of grass and heather back through the wire netting.

To compliment the fence's security potential, we have added 5 electric wires, 3 of them off-set from the main body of the fence. Two of the electric wires are placed on the back of the fence to discourage any red deer stags attempting to enter the enclosure when the hinds are in "season".

The difference between the Alladale fence and a regular deer fence is that, due to the sheer size of the European elk and their ability to be rather clumsy, we have had to create a flat path for the fence to sit on which must include the bottom 24" folded flat on the ground. The fence must be sited well away from any high ground sloping in towards the netting in order to ensure that all animals are secured by the full height of the fence. The path also doubles for a security patrol route for our Highland ponies or a quad bike.

 
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Flora & Fauna

Meet the natives! Meet some of the wildlife you can expect to find on the reserve - including Wild Boar and Elk!

The reserve is home to many species of plant and animal and through our projects we are increasing this diversity.

Click here to explore...