Dear Cairngorms National Park Authority,
Loch Builg and the eastern flanks of Ben Avon are remote country for those arriving on foot, three hours or so from a public road. Despite the network of estate tracks I was surprised to see this trap, at the end of the track above Loch Builg ,and on the hillside above upturned turves sprinkled with medicated grit. Please read Susan Matthew’s fine piece in the recent issue of the Cairngorms Campaigner, the newsletter of the Cairngorms Campaign, about a walk through a wildlife desert on the flanks of Ben Avon. The explanation is in the photo. Every animal that might prey on or affect grouse is destroyed, while heather is the only plant that counts. If the core of the Cairngorms cannot be wild, a sanctuary for wildlife and devoid of human artefacts, where else could be?
This is the kind of thing the SNH and government should be doing something about, the Cairngorms should be totally protected.
I walked over Ben Avon from Beinn a’Bhuird on Tuesday just past, painfully aware that there was no other living creature to be seen apart from the ubiquitous pippits and the occasional grouse. It was a magnificent but sterile desert. I see more wildlife in 5 minutes on the Uists than in 24 hours on the eastern Cairngorm plateau.