Publication date: 24th June 2025

 ARC’s Saving Scotland's Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAAR)  Education Officer Janet Ullman talks about recent engagement work with Crofters, stewards of the Scottish Highlands flora and fauna.

The Highlands of Scotland cover 33% of the land mass of Scotland, with 75% of the UK priority habitats and 500 protected areas. Apart from the grand estates and forestry land the large remainder rests in the hands of the crofting area of the Highland and Islands. Crofting provides one of the most distinctive landscapes of western Europe, made up of small landholdings, townships, groups of crofting houses and their common grazings. Crofting is a unique system of agriculture, based on small parcels of land held under agreement to the Laird (the owner of the greater estate). The crofter farms this marginal land, often on the edge of viable production and sustained by supplementary occupations. Crofting is more than just farming; it’s a way of life deeply rooted in the culture and history of the region.

Todays crofter is protected by the law and cannot be forced from their holding and can pass the holding through generations. The Crofters Commission oversees the rights of crofters, however the memory of the clearances run deep. Today modern demands on crofters include an appreciation of supporting Scotland’s biodiversity and carbon capture, as reflected in the new agricultural payments scheme. Habitat mapping is part of the biodiversity audit and crofters have long understood their role as stewards of the Scottish Highlands flora and fauna.

In collaboration with the Scottish Crofting Federation and with funding from the Highland’s and Islands Environment Foundation ARC’s Saving Scotland’s Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAAR) project officers have begun a series of engagement workshops with the Crofting Community, the aim being to reach out to the crofting community and support their needs in establishing or maintaining herpetofauna on their crofts. This is all done in line regarding the new and older legislation governing crofting, nature conservation funding and agricultural payments within Scotland.

The project has started with the first of what is hoped is a series of workshops across the year. On Saturday 14^th June, crofters from across the Isle of Skye joined Janet and Rachael from the SSAARs project for a workshop at An Crubh, Sleat. The workshop covered the herpetofauna of Skye’s identification and the management of habitats on the croft to encourage them. The workshop involved discussions on species and the appreciation crofters have for these most useful of creatures, who are effective natural pest control. There was a lot of enthusiasm to do more to encourage a greater diversity and number of species on sites, with advice on wetland creation, pond maintenance, pond planting and the creation of refugia.

The workshop wrapped up with the crofters delivering an overview of what they would want to see in terms of guidance from ARC for habitat creation and management for herpetofauna. A booklet covering the basics, but pointing towards detailed advice sources, assistance for crofters on the web site and a joined-up delivery of advice from other nature conservation organisations, especially in terms of government funding applications for biodiversity enhancement projects. Gaelic versions of publications will be produced, essential where many crofters first language is Gaelic and many of the terms used in crofting are Gaelic.

The project continued with a webinar workshop on the evening of the 17^th June. More in person workshops are planned and through the support of the Scottish Crofting Federation there is further engagement directly through emails to Janet and Rachael with crofting site visits available.

The aim will be to provide a useful advisory service to crofters across the crofting counties and islands of Scotland, with plenty of chances for crofters to shape and hone the service to something useful and practical, supporting amphibians and reptiles and their vital role balancing a sustainable croft.

 

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Image credits: Scottish Crofting Federation