Scottish Highland Estates: The Gamekeepers’ Lot

Mike Holliday is the wildlife manager at the Glen Ample Estate in the Scottish Highlands, and over the past 35 years, he has had to contend with many different management issues.

In the early years, poaching was an issue for a variety of reasons, but Mike was able to overcome the problems.

The law in Scotland allows the authorities to dictate wild deer numbers but not domestic sheep.

Despite this anomaly, Mike has cut back on the sheep population by around 75%, which has reduced grazing pressure on the estate.