A couple of weeks ago Dave Morris and myself met with Mike Gifford, the Chief Executive, and two of the new directors of Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) at their invitation. Among the subjects we discussed were the proposed mountain coaster, which CMSL has called a toboggan run, but in fact has nothing to do…
Month: June 2026
Two years ago I briefly considered the implications of invasive Sitka for native woodland on Ladylea Hill, in the north east corner of the Cairngorms National Park (see here). This week I spent three days hill walking in and around Glen Livet, in the central part of the northern Cairngorms. I had not spent time…
An article (see here) that appeared in the Helensburgh Advertiser last Saturday 13th June in the name of Dr Heather Reid, the Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), appeared about a month too late. It states ‘nominations are now open’, when they closed on 4th June, and ‘We’ll be hosting…
Eleven months after the largest wildfire ever recorded in the British Isles burned large parts of Dava Moor, hare’s tail cotton grass has expanded to cover much of the exposed peat. Out of destruction a scene of beauty! Carbon emissions from peatland are estimated to add c3.5% to the UK total. Bare peat, some of…
Following my first post (see here) on the muirburn on the North Morar estate on 25th April, after the end of the muirburn season, a reader prompted me to check whether the Scottish Government had been providing public monies to the landowners. On checking the DEFRA Rural Payments database, I wrote a further post showing the…
The Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) takes a very different to measuring the carbon stored in soils and the carbon stored in wood. As my first post in this series explained (see here), the WCC calculator reduces the multiple different types of soil to just two categories, mineral and organo-mineral, and almost completely disregards the evidence…
Looking West down Glen Falloch to Garabal Hill from the West Highland Line May 2026. Glen Falloch, the location of a large part of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s lottery funded…