HE HAS been accused of waging war on Scotland’s famous red deer after a record 1,400 were shot on his Scottish estate but Anders Povlsen, the Danish billionaire, has defended the cull as unavoidable because animals were intruding from neighbouring land.
Senior staff on Povlsen’s 45,000-acre Glenfeshie estate have warned that deer from Atholl estate and Mar Lodge, where higher deer populations are tolerated, are frustrating efforts to rewild the land with plantations of native Caledonian pine. There are also concerns that flora and fauna protected under EU law are being trampled and destroyed.
To solve the problem, Povlsen, whose family own the Bestseller fashion brand, has proposed that a 1.6m-high fence is erected along a 40-mile boundary between Glenfeshie and Atholl, where deer flourish to ensure good sport for wealthy stalkers. Povlsen does not want the fence on his land but is willing to contribute towards the estimated £1m cost of installing it.
Thomas MacDonell, who manages Glenfeshie for Povlsen, said extra stalkers had been hired to contain the deer population. He expressed concern that they risk breaching EU environmental laws if red deer continue to damage special areas of conservation within Glenfeshie.
He said deer also wander in from Mar Lodge, owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which last week admitted that numbers are higher than they should be.
Advertisement
“We accept that our neighbours have different objectives for their land, but we need to find a solution that allows us to achieve our objectives for Glenfeshie,” said MacDonell.
“It’s true we shot a record number of deer last year but many of those were from Atholl estate and Mar Lodge. We think a fence is the best solution, although not on Glenfeshie.”
Povlsen bought Glenfeshie, which lies within the Cairngorms national park, in 2006 and deer numbers have since reduced to about two per square kilometre. About 600 deer have been shot on the estate every year since the early 1990s.
It means saplings have a chance to grow before they are destroyed by foraging deer. By comparison, there are an average of 7.5 deer per square kilometre on Mar Lodge — though densities are as low as 4.5 deer per square kilometre on some parts of the estate — and about 22 deer per square kilometre on Atholl estate. Povlsen and MacDonell insist that over the last nine years, their approach has more than doubled Caledonian pine woodlands on Glenfeshie from 1,700 to 4,200 acres. MacDonell said their vision is for widespread regeneration of native woodlands, which, in the decades to come, will provide an array of enriched woodland habitats, capable of supporting many species including deer, which will benefit from better opportunities for food and shelter.
Advertisement
Andrew Bruce Wootton, a spokesman for Atholl Estates, said the fence is regarded as the best solution.
“There is an ongoing conversation with Glenfeshie about land management and fencing is an option where there are diverging objectives.We need to keep a balance between economy, environment and people [whereas] Glenfeshie has put more eggs in the environmental basket.”
A spokesman for the NTS said the deer population on Mar Lodge had remained at about 1,950 beasts since 2012 — against a target of 1,650 — but insisted the charity was “fulfilling or exceeding its [annual deer cull] quota scrupulously” on Mar Lodge.
“Keeping herd numbers down to a sustainable level depends on area-wide co- operation between estates,” said the NTS spokesman. “Mar Lodge receives herds crossing over from other estates from time to time and these raise the population to higher than ideal levels. Nevertheless, we are achieving real success in bringing habitats into favourable condition and in regenerating the ancient Caledonian pinewoods.”
Advertisement
MacDonell, added: “Maintaining grazing by deer is also an important requirement of a functioning woodland eco-system. Other species are also beneficial for the vibrant plant community, which is now evident when visiting Glenfeshie.
“We welcome visitors to see this transformation for themselves.”