Last weekend the Sunday Mail ran an article (see here) on the Standards Commission Hearing (see here) which declared Sid Perrie, the locally elected member for Balloch, guilty of bullying for sending six emails raising concerns about conflicts of interest in the handling of the Flamingo Land Planning application. As a consequence the Standards Commission…
Author: Nick Kempe
I have been meaning to write about the Altan native woodland scheme, just to the south west of Loch Glascarnoch, since I through it in 2018 and 2021. Many hillwalkers will have used the track through the scheme which provides the quickest access to the eastern end of the Fannichs and the Corbett, Beinn Liath…
Yesterday, like many others I took advantage of the break in weather, and headed for the hills. Along with two friends we traversed the Meall nan Tarmachan ridge above Loch Tay from the main car park in fantastic winter conditions, hard snow, almost no wind and clear skies. Returning along the track…
This is the first in a series of posts which looks at what forestry grants to large landowners to plant trees has done for native woodland in Scotland based mainly on the evidence I have seen on the ground over the last few years. It provides lessons for our National Parks, not least because of…
Yesterday I went to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) headquarters to hear the Standards Commission judge Sid Perrie while he is off sick with stress as a result of how he has been treated. Sid is the locally elected member for Balloch and had sent six emails trying to challenge the…
[This post was updated and corrected 12/2/26 to reflect the fact that the costs of creating new plantations are not fully met by Scottish Forestry grants] On Thursday Oxygen Conservation announced (see here) that they have been awarded £3.3m in forestry grants to plant a large chunk of the Invergeldie Estate north of Comrie. …
This post explains how the Code of Conduct for public life in Scotland, as applied to local authorities and quangos, has developed in the last 20 years and is now being used to do the opposite of what the Nolan ethical principles intended. The Nolan Principles and the Codes of Conduct in Scotland As a…
The BBC Scotland Outdoors radio programme broadcast from Cairn Gorm on 17th January (see here) included a piece on the montane planting project in Coire na Ciste. You would not know from listening to it on BBC sounds (here between 48-54 minutes) that there had been any controversy about the project, both because the Caledonian…
The predictable happened yesterday, the strong south east winds blowing across Cairn Gorm deposited large quantities of snow in the lee of the entrance to the tunnel at the top of the funicular blocking it. It took considerable efforts on the part of at least four CairnGorm Mountain staff working with shovels (see here) to…
Last Wednesday I published a short post (see here) informing readers that Dave Morris, Gordon Bulloch and I were giving evidence that morning to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee (PAC) on the funicular railway at Cairn Gorm. The short notice and whether you were available to watch at the time didn’t matter as anyone…
Following my recent post on the landscape destruction at Tinto (see here), I wrote to the local office of NatureScot and have had a very helpful response. Staff confirmed that they had visited the site twice, the out of control muirburn had caused significant damage to the Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and that they …
Following “Parkswatch’s” submission to the Public Audit Committee (see here), the authors were delighted to be asked to attend the Committee to give further evidence. Three of us are doing so today (Wednesday 14th January) (see here). You can watch the session, which is due to start around 11am, live or afterwards on the Scottish…
In May 2015 (see here) Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Minister then responsible for tourism, opened a new viewing tower, dubbed An Ceann Mor, at Inveruglas on the west shore of Loch Lomond. The tower was the fourth and final structure to be installed in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park as part of the…
After my two posts on the out of control muirburn on Tinto Hill 9th/10th April 2025 (see here)and (here), I was sent this photo taken by a friend of a friend. I had been meaning to visit the site before blogging about it again all last year but only managed to do so just before New…
My thanks to a reader who, following my post on the board games at the Loch Lomond and Trosssachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) (see here), alerted me to some further shenanigans which I had missed. Seven out of the eighteen board members of the LLTNPA are nominated by local authorities in the area. After a…
On 3rd December Historic Environment Scotland (HES) submitted a planning application (see here) to the City of Edinburgh Council which includes a proposal to erect a new “temporary” barrier across the Radical Road below Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh. The closing date for comments (see here) is Tuesday 13th January. There have apparently been seven comments…
Since 2020 there have been a number of peatland restoration projects on the north side of Glenfalloch Estate with more in the pipeline. In the December 2025 there was an interesting article in Scottish Birds, which has also been made available on the Glenfalloch Estate website (see here), about the positive impact this work appears…
At the end of November the Scottish Government advertised (see here) the position of the five ministerially appointed Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) board members who will retire at the end of October 2026. The timetable for appointments is tight: applications close on 5th January, interviews will be completed by 2nd February…
This is my fourth post looking at how the Ethical Standards Commission has investigated the complaint made by Heather Reid about six emails which Sid Perrie, the locally elected member for Balloch, sent between 26 and 28th August 2024. As I explained in my first post (see here): “After the arrangements for the special board…
[NB this post was revised at 15.30 on 15th mainly to clarify/expand on some points] The Caledonian Pinewood remnant at Coille Coire Chuilc (CCC), on the edge of Cononish Glen near Tyndrum, was first protected in 1949 as part of the Ben Lui National Nature Reserve and then designated as a separate Site of…
Under “news” on the Balloch and Haldane Local Place Plan website (see here) it is reported that “over 40 people” came along to share their ideas at the consultation events held on 28th and 29th November. The population of Balloch and Haldane according to Scotland’s last (botched and not to be trusted) census is 5997. …
I had intended to include two more photos in my recent post on Coire Coire Chuilc (see here) to illustrate just how daft some managers who claim to be conservationists are when it comes to managing access. While walking through Coille Coire Chuilc, having ignored the exhortation from the Auchreoch Estate’s ” Pines and Wildlife…
This email from Heather Reid, Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), is not included in the Ethical Standards Commissioner’s report into her complaint about six emails Sid Perrie sent between 26th and 28th August 2024 (see here) and (here). When Dr Reid submitted her complaint on 29th August, in an attempt…
I visited Coille Coire Chuilc (CCC), the second most southerly Caledonian Pinewood in Scotland near Tyndrum and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), on Tuesday. The main purpose of the visit was to look at the state of the pinewood with two other people but also wanted to check whether the unlawful access sign…
The legacy of BrewDog and Scottish Woodlands at Kinrara (2) – the Caledonian Pinewood on the Dulnain
I have delayed this second post on the Lost Forest because I wanted to use what has happened at Kinrara to illustrate the arguments I and a number of others made in a paper published in the latest edition of Scottish Forestry: “Caledonian Pinewoods. A Conservation Framework” (Volume 79 No 3 Autumn/Winter 2025). Vicky Allan has…