Had this appeared three days earlier I might have thought this was an April fool except the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) doesn’t do humour. There were lots of comments like the one above (see here) on this announcement but such feedback, which shows what the public really think, is never publicly…
On 16th April the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced on Facebook (there is nothing on its “news” pages) that it had taken over the management of the campsite at Sallochy from Forest and Land Scotland which had threatened to close it (see here). The campsite has played a crucial role…
After writing about my walk along the Radical Road on 1st April [belatedly published on Parkswatch two days ago – Ed] (see here), I was passed an update (see here) from Historic Environment Scotland (HES), an incredible piece of corporate-speak. I am sure HES believe what they say but this is only because they are…
1st April 2025 Walking home from Holyrood, on a perfect evening, in the clearest air, cool and sunny, I decided to take the scenic route. The north end is still barricaded off with ugly green Cold War barriers, chestnut paling fencing and random signage, all within sight of Parliament. This reminds MSPs how the ‘Right…
I was provided with this incredible photo through a friend who had been Knoydart 2 weeks ago and, for four days between 2nd and 5th April, had watched a fire on Morar to the south. An alert was raised for Knoydart and the community started to muster and prepare a response. It was not long…
Last Tuesday, on a day when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had issued very high fire risk warnings for the whole of Scotland, I drove up to Braemar to spend a couple of days in the Cairngorms. The muirburn I had commented on in a post previously (see here) was continuing on both sides…
Its not just grouse moor managers in eastern Scotland who have been ignoring the warnings from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) of very high fire risk (see here) and (here) but also some farmers/crofters and stalking estates on the west. Richard, who sent this photo, commented that it looked like the firea bove got…
On 1st April the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) issued a “Very High to Extreme” warning for the period 2nd till 7th April (see here). It advised the public “to avoid lighting fires outdoors across all areas of Scotland during this period.” The NASA global wildfire data base (see here) enables one to check…
Had the muirburn provisions of the the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”) passed a year ago come into force such fires at hat pictured above would be now illegal. Clause 20 of the new Act shifted the current muirburn season, which dates back to the Heather Burning (Scotland) Act 1926, from…
This post comments further on the heavily redacted replies to Mr Gordon Bulloch’s FOI request of 05/12/2024 about the 2023 closure of the funicular. Email 1, sent on 23rd August at 23.17, was considered in the first post in this series. The emails are between the various parties involved:- Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE); Cairngorm…
One of the main justifications for the UK Government spending £500m to erect telecommunications mast in Total Not Spots, which include many of the important landscapes in Scotland, was for safety purposes. Two days after Ofcom announced it intends to license mobile phone operators to use satellites for standard calls (see here), which will eliminate…
Unacceptable telecommunications masts (26) – the case for masts in Total Not Spots has now collapsed
In November David Craig explained how advances in smart phone technology meant that any masts erected under the UK Government’s Shared Rural Network programme to eliminate Total Not Spots would soon become obsolete (see here). On 25th March Ofcom issued a set of proposals for consultation which would remove the regulatory block to that happening…
On 19th March the Herald revealed (see here) that Scottish Forestry, having suspended grant payments to BrewDog after it was revealed many of the trees in the Lost Forest had died, has now paid them £1.2m and agreed to pay a further £1.5m for the project. This post takes another look at the scandal in the…
A couple of hours after my post on FLS yesterday (see here) I received a response from FLS to a Freedom of Information request I had submitted on 24th February about the Sallochy campsite. I can find no acknowledgement from FLS of that request in my emails so the timing of their response is interesting! …
I came across this scene yesterday at Forest and Land Scotland (FLS)’s car park in Glen Righ near the Corran Ferry. It exemplifies our public authorities’ failed approach to visitor management in the countryside. It is so bad it is hard not to laugh. Telling people to do things without providing appropriate infrastructure – in…
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT)’s announcement earlier this week that they had purchased the Inverbroom Estate (see here) should be another nail in the coffin for so-called green finance. Tucked away in their news release is a very significant statement: “Following the purchase, the Trust has announced several ambitions for the site, from the regeneration…
On 5 December 2024 Gordon Bulloch submitted a two part information request to Highlands and Islands Enterprise. 60 working days later and only after a Review request he received a few highly redacted emails to the first part of his request which was for: All reports and associated correspondence concerning the decision to stop operation…
Following my post yesterday on King Charles’ muirburn at Delnadamph (see here), I am very grateful to Jamie Mann, an investigative journalist at the Ferret, for alerting me to NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) database (see here). FIRMS records satellite observations of fires, however caused, across the world. Satellite technology now has…
On 27th February I was sent this photo of muirburn on King Charles’ estate of Delnadamph, which has no deer and is managed intensively for grouse shooting (see here). The reader commented it was very windy that day, as is evident from the near horizontal plume of smoke. That was confirmed by the forecast for…
Yesterday with almost no notice the funicular at last re-opened. Highlands and Islands Enterprise, in a news release issued on Wednesday (see here) claimed that “all safety-critical matters have now been concluded” – not exactly the same thing as stating all the safety concerns that caused them to close the funicular in August 2023 have been…
A couple of week after the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA)’s approved byelaws, which seek to criminalise the generalise public for lighting a fire ANYWHERE in the National Park between 1st April and 30th September (see here), the Herald published this story about two 80 year old lottery millionaires from Kent. The contrast in approach…
Last week the Scottish Government published the fourth piece of legislation this Parliament ostensibly intended to improve how we use and manage land in the countryside, including National Parks – the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill (see here for papers) This follows the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, passed a year ago and…
With little sign of the Scottish Government implementing the provisions of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 and while the Cairngorms were aflame from muirburn (see here), the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) Board on 14th February approved new fire management byelaws and a draft “Integrated Wildfire Management Plan” for consultation with land…
Driving north up the A9 on Saturday Andy Cloquet observed muirburn on five sites between Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore with “an acrid smell over five miles of road” and sent parkswatch these two photos. The ostensible purpose of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”), which was passed by the Scottish Government last…
Last week I visited the Allt Broighleachan Caledonian Pinewood Reserve on the north side of Glen Orchy (and outside the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park) on my way to Glen Coe. It was my second visit, inspired in part by the Caledonian Pinewood Conference which took place last Autumn and which I viewed online…