Tag: scottish natural heritage

March 3, 2023 Nick Kempe 14 comments

On Wednesday NatureScot, formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, issued a news release (see here) about how they had entered a partnership with the Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and  Palladium (the company that in in a partnership with National Parks across the UK called “Revere).  They described this as: “a ‘national first’…

February 17, 2023 Nick Kempe 1 comment

The Scottish Government is currently advertising for six new board members for the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) (see here) and a new chair for Scottish Natural Heritage/Nature Scot (see here).   Further changes in the composition of the CNPA Board are pending with Local Member elections due next month and with the Convener, Xander…

February 10, 2023 Nick Kempe 5 comments

For the last few years the Herald has carried a full page feature about once a week on the climate emergency and nature crises.  Every 4-6 weeks this involves NatureScot, the new brand name for what is legally still Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).  Sometimes these pieces are written by NatureScot – often under the name…

November 30, 2022 Nick Kempe 5 comments

NatureScot’s consultation on National Parks closes today. In my view the most important section of the online survey (see here) is about the powers and functions of National Parks (questions 13-16).  Get this right and there would be no need to resort to “green” finance as the means to address the undoubted problems in our…

August 23, 2020 Nick Kempe 3 comments

Earlier in the week, a few people copied me into a twitter exchange about Scottish Natural Heritage’s delayed name change.  If I was capable of doing anything on twitter, except using it as a means of enabling people to follow parkwatch’s posts, I might have shared this:   Says it all really! If you don’t…

April 26, 2020 Nick Kempe 2 comments

While arguing in my last post (see here) that Scottish Natural Heritage’s advice on access to farmland during the corona crisis undermines the Scottish Outdoor Access Code and is unduly restrictive, interestingly it contains a link to the quite separate Scottish Government advice on taking dogs outdoors  for a walk that is far less restrictive….

April 22, 2020 Nick Kempe 7 comments

On Monday (20th April)  the Scottish Parliament met, sitting two metres apart.  The session started with the Presiding Officer asked MSPs to take particular care to maintain that distance when arriving and leaving at the Chamber.  That same day the First Minister announced a crackdown on workplaces that had been allowed to remain open but…

April 3, 2020 Nick Kempe 7 comments

In the corona panic, the Scottish Government and our Public Authorities have completely lost all sense of reason.  It will have serious human and environmental consequences. What the Coronavirus Health Protection Restriction Scotland Regulations (see here), passed last week by the Scottish Government without any parliamentary scrutiny, actually say is that you cannot leave where…

February 28, 2020 Dave Morris 26 comments

Anyone trying to understand Scotland’s deer problem need only travel between Perth and Braemar and see the herds of deer desperately seeking food and shelter in the snowy wilds. This photo is taken close to the location where Brian Shackleton filmed masses of deer on the move a few years ago (see here). There are…

February 12, 2020 Dave Morris 6 comments

Anyone who wonders why new legislation is needed to regulate deer numbers in Scotland need only study this photograph, taken in Oct 2018, and then read David Lintern’s fine article from 2017 on Walkhighlands “Bare hill of the Hind” (see here). The Walk Highlands article includes a video of a massive herd of red deer…

January 28, 2020 anon 9 comments

A winter’s day In a deep and dark December Is what it was for most of December.  Dreich was the word to describe it. What better kind of day for a trip down memory lane? I first climbed on Creagh Meagaidh in the early 1970’s.  The place gripped me from the start.  The location was,…

January 14, 2020 Nick Kempe 8 comments

After the criticisms in my last post of the lack of transparency in the planning system, its nice to report that in other areas the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is showing signs of improvement.   The LLTNPA’s recent publication of Deer Management Plans for the area is particularly welcome.  The impact of deer…

December 17, 2019 Nick Kempe 1 comment

I was pleased to get this letter on Scottish Power’s plans to cover land around their windfarms with solar panels into the Herald the weekend before last .  While our two National Parks may have no windfarms within their boundaries, the broader issue, the impact of renewable energy developments on the carbon held in soils,…