SCOTLAND’S estates are continuing to generate tourism, employment and economic benefits thanks to the popularity of world-class country sports.

The value of shooting, stalking and fishing to Scotland’s rural communities was endorsed at the Highland Field Sports Fair by cabinet secretary for rural economy, Fergus Ewing.

With Scotland leading the way in field sports - drawing visitors to the country from the UK, Europe and further afield - recent research has placed the current value of this tourism to Scotland at £155million per annum, estimated to rise to £185million by 2020.

Mr Ewing said: “Our tourism sector is a vital strand of the rural economy and country sports represent a significant proportion of this.

“Field sports are a huge draw, with both domestic and foreign audiences enjoying the wealth of world-class opportunities available in Scotland. And forecasts suggest this area is set to continue to grow over the coming years, which will bring further gains to rural communities in terms of employment and economic benefits.”

One estate where the income generated by country sports is used to drive investment is Culachy Estate.

A traditional Highland shooting and stalking estate, Culachy is in its tenth season under head gamekeeper Scott Bremner who started working at the estate in 2002 and developed the shoot in 2006 – before Scott was appointed 14 years ago the estate hadn’t been keepered for 25 years.

Culachy now draws visitors to Fort Augustus from all over Europe including Germany, Sweden, Austria and Holland as well as throughout the UK.

The value of this tourism has allowed the creation of a new build cottage at Culachy for student gamekeepers, which now takes the total number of keepers working at the estate up to four.

The estate has also erected a large quantity of fencing to help with deer managment as well as restoring stone walls throughout the estate which has had a positive knock-on effect for the local business,

Head gamekeeper at Culachy Estate, Scott Bremner, said: “The estate has only offered country sports for 10 years, which has been a huge undertaking to establish over the short period of time that I have been here at Culachy. However, we can clearly see the significance to the area.

“We are building a great product that generates income from home and abroad and that in turn allows the next generation to gain a start in skilled employment such as gamekeeping and stonemasonry. We want to encourage this even further and grow not only the estate but the businesses of the local area.”

Chief executive of Scottish Land and Estates Douglas McAdam, said: “Scotland’s estates are at the forefront of driving progress in our rural economy and country sports are a significant contributor to that success.

“ It is clear that rural economies close to sporting estates recognise the value they create for the area and estates are committed to furthering that cooperation.”