Drones to scatter seeds over wildfire damaged land in Lochaber

Drones are to be used to scatter the seeds of native tree species over land damaged by wildfires.

Lochaber nature restoration partnership, Loch Abar Mòr, will use volunteers to collect seeds before they are dispersed over burnt ground on Glenuig Estate.

The wildfires broke out on the estate last year.

Funding has been secured from the Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation for the Seeds from the Sky project.

Loch Abar Mòr was launched last year and is a partnership involving land managers, rural businesses and communities.

It was set up with aims of restoring natural habitats over the next 50 years, and boosting social and economic opportunities in Lochaber.

Seeds from the Sky is one of its latest projects.

A spokesperson said: “We aim to accelerate native woodland regeneration through drone seeding, and to enable natural processes to drive distribution patterns.

“Native tree seeds will be collected by volunteers, prepared for sowing, then dispersed by drones over areas of ground burnt by a wildfire last year.”