The judgement of the Supreme Court in the Dartmoor camping case issued last week (see here) was good news for those concerned it might lead to the further erosion of access rights in Scotland. Alexander and Diana Darwall, the owners of the 1,619-hectare (4,000-acre) Blachford estate on Dartmoor where they were trying to stop people…
Month: May 2025
The provisional decision of the Scottish Government appointed Reporter last week to uphold Flamingo Land’s appeal against the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s refusal of planning permission for their proposed development at Balloch should surprise no-one. Senior management at the LLTNPA had long backed Scottish Enterprise’s wish to use the land they…
On 2nd May Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced (see here) that having re-opened the funicular on 27/02/2025, after one and a half years of repair work, it would be closing it again on 12/05/2025 – just ten weeks later – for another three weeks until 2/06/25: “while the company’s in-house engineering team carries out…
The proposal to plant Coire na Ciste on Cairn Gorm – a new low for conservation in the National Park
The caption reads “A solitary pine clings to the hillside in Coire na Ciste. A rare survivor in an otherwise treeless landscape”. Propaganda credit Spey Catchment IniitiatveA month ago, on 15th April, the Spey Catchment Initiative (SCI), a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), formed in December 2022 issued a news release announcing it was to…
Forest and Land Scotland (FLS)’s landholding Strathyre, which runs north from Callander to Balquhidder, provides perhaps the best example of mixed woodland in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. It is also one of the few near examples we have in Scotland to Continuous Cover Forestry (see here for explanation). Among the main species…
Over the last six weeks or so I have written several posts about how Scotland is being burned to bits by land-managers, many of whom carry on with muirburn whatever the fire risk. The muirburn provisions of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act were intended by the Scottish Parliament to change that for the…
The propaganda The reality First the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) went after the campers, confining them to a few “permit areas” around the loch shores; then they went for the day visitors by shutting down visitor infrastructure and making it harder and harder to get to places; who and what will…
Further to Nick Kempe’s post at the end of March about how satellite technology is rapidly undermining the case for erecting phone masts in Total Not Spots (see here), it is worth highlighting that Vodaphone announced at the end of February (see here) that they are planning to offer satellite enabled, low data rate calls…
Three weeks ago I described the enormous wildfire which burned Morar, the area of land south of the Knoydart peninsular and west of Mallaig, between 2nd and 5th April (see here). I referred to the history of such fires in the area and explained how although almost everyone in the local community knows who is…