Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland distillery joins bid to boost wild juniper

Martin and Claire Murray
Martin and Claire Murray

The owners of a family-run micro distillery have joined forces with local conservationists to boost stocks of wild juniper on mainland Britain’s most northerly peninsula.

Martin Murray, co-founder of Dunnet Bay Distillers, hopes the long-term project will eventually yield enough berries to use in production of its award-winning craft gin.

For more gin news, visit our sister site The Gin Kin

The company, which currently imports juniper from Bulgaria and Italy, is working with Caithness Biodiversity Group (CBD) on the scheme, which has received funding from Highland Council.

Surveys of the “almost tundra-like” landscape of the headland, 11 miles from John O’Groats, by Caithness Field Club, identified high density “hot spots” of the evergreen conifer as well as parts suitable for its growth, where only isolated shrubs were found. Further survey work was undertaken by CBD members, who believe areas of juniper may have been destroyed by uncontrolled heather burning on the peninsula.

Cuttings of the plants have been sent to nurseries to be propagated, with the aim of replenishing stocks on the fire damaged areas of moorland, which would be cared for by CDB volunteers. A juniper nursery has also been set up at the distillery.

Mr Murray, said the project could take up to 10 years to bear enough fruit to use in production of the firm’s Rock Rose gin, but would be “worth the effort”.

He added: “The conditions are completely different up here and things that may work in southern Scotland or Wales wouldn’t stand a chance here.

“It would be great to one day release a bottle of Rock Rose that uses our own juniper, but I think that is still a few years off.”

Dunnet Bay Distillery, which employs 12 people, was set up by Mr Murray and his wife Claire in 2014 and also produces Holy Grass vodka.

Growing demand for its products and an increase in tourism in Caithness, driven by the popularity of the North Coast 500 road trip route, saw the firm announce a £248,000 expansion plan last year.

The project includes installation of another still and development of a visitor centre and shop, as well as a new warehouse.

Berries from native common junipers were once widely used by UK distilleries to flavour gin, but now stocks tend to be imported. In the north, juniper grows on acid soils on cold, rainy moorland alongside heather and bilberry. Its berries are also used in cooking game dishes.