Land Agent Life

Insights and stories on nature, conservation, and rural life from a land manager living and working in the Scottish Highlands.

By Charlotte

The Shifting Sands of Culbin Forest: From Desertification to Landscape-Scale Recovery

Once a barren expanse of sand, a century of innovative intervention has transformed Culbin into a thriving and productive forest.

Recent posts

The Women Who Inspired Me to Write

A mini-series celebrating the best of rural writing, with recommendations and reviews that each explore a different theme

Dec 5, 2025•Charlotte

Rural Reads: Trees & Forests

A mini-series celebrating the best of rural writing, with recommendations and reviews that each explore a different theme

Nov 16, 2025•Charlotte

Confessions of a Pecker Twitcher

Birthdays, birds and bankruptcy.

Sep 30, 2025•Charlotte

The 'Deer Garden' Experiment

How an alternative approach to gardening in the presence of deer developed into a way of working alongside nature, not against it.

Aug 31, 2025•Charlotte

Rural Reads: Nature Conservation

A mini-series celebrating the best of rural writing, with monthly recommendations and reviews that each explore a different theme

Aug 25, 2025•Charlotte

Forests Under Siege: The catastrophic effect of Rhododendron ponticum on our native biodiversity

From its introduction in the mid-18th century, this invasive non-native plant has wreaked havoc across Scotland, and now threatens the existence of one…

Aug 10, 2025•Charlotte

Making Waves: Seawilding and the restoration of our seagrass meadows in Scotland

Once in decline, seagrass is now at the heart of a growing grassroots effort to repair coastal ecosystems and help fight climate change

Jul 19, 2025•Charlotte

Why the aggregation of marginal gains matters in our fight for nature

Inspired by British Cycling's strategy for success, how small, everyday actions can add up to big wins for nature conservation and recovery

Jul 14, 2025•Charlotte

The Clarkson Effect: Farmering, Food Security, and the Future of British Agriculture

How the former Top Gear host and his Lamborghini ignited a national conversation about the realities of modern farming, and sparked new hope for its…

Jul 7, 2025•Charlotte