As part of our commitment to the environment, we are very pleased to announce our new Corporate Grove with the charity, Trees for Life, to support the amazing work they do. The Trees for Life vision is of a revitalised wild forest in the Scottish Highlands, providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive. They have been rewilding in the Scottish Highlands for over 25 years.
We have started our Hebrides Cruises Grove and have funded our first 25 trees, to represent every year we have been cruising the Hebrides.
We chose Trees for Life because of its reputation as one of the leading experts in wild forest restoration in Scotland. Its Dundreggan tree nursery ensures enough native rare and hard to grow trees are available to be planted in the Highlands. Trees for Life works to ensure the Caledonian Forest grows from the last few patches of the original wild forest that remain so it can grow again in large areas of Scotland. It is helping the wild forest grow at a scale that enables rewilding to happen so nature can look after itself, especially around Glen Affric and Glenmoriston where it has worked for many years.
What Trees for Life are achieving is truly inspirational. The new wild forest will benefit everyone: helping to reduce the impacts of climate change by storing carbon; preventing flooding and erosion by holding back water after rain and; providing opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to experience and be inspired by wild nature.
Hebrides Cruises will fund additional trees to our Corporate Grove after every season, for every guest we welcomed on board. We are also hoping some of our guests might wish to add their own tree to our grove which can be found here https://treesforlife.org.uk/groves/382692/
Please convey our thanks to Rob, Stevie, Phil and Alex for their efforts to provide a fantastic week afloat. The crew’s efforts made our week on board a time to remember and look back on with complete satisfaction. Despite the weather doing it’s best to disrupt our trip, the crew confirmed their absolute ability to put us amongst the wildlife of the area. Rob’s command of the vessel and knowledge of the area ensured that we were at all times safe and comfortable. As a retired chef, I did my utmost to test Stevies ability in his galley, to his credit, the food produced was excellent, his attention to our dietary requests exceeded our expectations. With visibility offen quite poor, Alex our guide did a steadfast job, remaining outside in all weathers whilst spotting the wildlife we had come to view.
David Tovey: 22 September 2018