Nature and landscape conservation is one of the main objectives for managing the 76,000 ha of land owned by NTS. In many cases, this will simply mean continuing the traditional management activities that have shaped the land over the past few centuries; in others, nature conservation may mean a radical departure from past management – replacing commercial conifer plantations with native broadleaved woodland, reintroducing locally extinct species, creating new habitats to favour certain species, and so forth.

While the larger tracts of wild countryside attract most attention, we must remember that the farmland, parkland and gardens contain important wildlife that can benefit from our management. Even our buildings contain roosting sites for bats or nesting colonies of swifts and swallows.

In all cases, the National Trust for Scotland hopes to keep abreast of the latest developments in conservation management and to demonstrate best practice in the stewardship of the outstanding natural features under our care.

• Controls of invasives
• Farmland management
• Garden for life
• Grazing management
• Species action
• Survey & monitor
• Woodland management