The shambolic organisation of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board meetings was again (see here) evident last Monday. While it right that the LLTNPA has decided to continue broadcasting its meetings live following the end of lockdown, unfortunately the quality of the sound at this meeting was even worse than the quality…
After Storm Arwen, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) issued a news release in December titled “A shot across the boughs” (see here) in which it stated that “we will be dealing with the impact of November’s storm for months, and even years, to come, it is a timely reminder that we are right to pursue…
On Sunday I was on Speyside, had 40 minutes to spare and decided to go for a run from the outflow of Loch Morlich to have a look at the work that is being done in the McAlpine plantation by Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) as part of Cairngorms Connect: Not far along the track…
This post considers Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL)’s second planning application at Cairn Gorm, to create new mountain bike trails in lower Coire Cas. The application (see here for planning papers), as I will explain, is as poorly documented and thought through as the first, which was to create two new roads on the mountain…
On 25th February Forestry and Land Scotland and Forestry England issued a joint news release (see here) announcing that they had acquired the Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC)’s majority stake in Camping in the Forest (CITF) which manages three campsites in prime locations in Scotland’s National Parks: at Glenmore in the Cairngorms; Cashel on Loch…
“Monachyle Wood”, at the west end of Loch Voil in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, is being marketed by John Clegg, part of Strutt and Parker, at offers over £6,250,000 for 621 hectares (see here). The history of this plantation provides a good example of public sector financial mismanagement in favour of private…
Paying for a full page advert in the Herald may not be the best use of public money but by lending its name to this the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) is campaigning for a change that would benefit the natural environment. That is a very welcome change in approach – even…
The planning application for the Carn an Fhreiceadain radio mast Following my post in October on the proposal by the Pitmain Estate to erect a 6m high radio mast on the summit of Carn an Fhreiceadain, just outside the Cairngorms National Park boundary (see here), a number of people and organisations (including North East Mountain…
I had not intended to leave it two months before featuring another of Adam Watson’s photos (see here). He took this photo of the upper part of Coire Cas shortly before the Lurcher’s Gully Public Inquiry in 1981 at which he presented scientific evidence about the impact of ski developments at Cairn Gorm. Ten…
I have been spending a few days in the Lake District National Park where the use of plastic tree tubes appears even more widespread than in Scotland’s National Parks. A short walk up Raven Crag, above Thirlmere, provides a good illustration of the stupidity of what is going on. (As an aside, everywhere you walk…
Two separate planning applications have been submitted on behalf of Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) to create new roads and tracks at Cairn Gorm both of which are currently being considered by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA). The first is for two new hill roads (see here for papers), the second is to develop…
One reason I walked up the Ardchullarie path last week (see here) was that I had wanted to take a look at the state of forestry road above. I had blogged about this in March 2021 after Jane Meek had sent some horrendous photos (see here). One year on the road looks as bad as…
On Friday the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced a swingeing increase (see here) in the fees it charges campers: from £3 to £4 or 33% per night for anyone wanting to camp in a permit area – places without any facilities – in one of the camping management zones; and from…
Inchconnachan, the Loch Lomond island, has been in news recently because of the proposals to get rid of its wallabies. This is linked to the planning application (see here) that has been submitted by the new owners, Kirsty Young and her husband Nick Jones, to develop luxury tourist accommodation on the island, part of the…
On Monday I went for a wander around Glen Ample from Loch Lubnaig in Strathyre, starting at the car park used by hillwalkers for the popular round of Stuc a Chroin and Beinn Each. I had not walked the first part of the route, between Ardchullarie and the Ardchullarie hydro (see here), for many years….
On 15th April 2021 the Balavil estate submitted a prior notification (see here) to Highland Council to create 2.6km of new forestry “tracks” around Creagbui, 3km northwest of Kingussie and north of the A9. This is the seventh planning application/prior notification for new roads on Balavil in the last six years. The Cairngorms National Park…
It is now three and a half years since Historic Environment Scotland (HES) closed the Radical Road below Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh and it was good to see the BBC pick up the story last week (see here). HES has also been in the news recently (see here) and (see here) because of its proposals to…
[Editor’s note: this article follows John Urquhart’s proposal for an alternative high level route above Loch Lomond (see here) and my follow-up post on the discussion of the A82 upgrade at the December LLTNPA meeting (see here)]. If Loch Lomond Park and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) had been given £400m to spend on transport…
Following my post on Fires, hypocrisy and access rights I was alerted that Highland Council, rather than fulfilling their statutory duty to uphold access rights, had themselves been putting up “No Fires” signs. These signs are contrary to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC) which was approved by the Scottish Parliament: The meaning of “Wherever…
There is an interesting article in the December edition of Scottish Birds, the quarterly magazine of the Scottish ornithologists club, about nuthatch colonisation on the Glenfalloch Estate at the head of Loch Lomond. The authors, who work for Alba Ecology Ltd, have been undertaking annual breeding bird surveys of the area since 2015. They report…
Background to the planning application A planning application (see here) has been submitted on behalf of the Pitmain Estate by Caledonian Building Surveyors Ltd for a new 4.83 “forest track” around the back of Newtonmore. This would would provide a direct road link between the single track public road up Glen Banchor and Pitmain Lodge…
John Sinclair sent parkswatch more photos of the Allt Charnan two days ago. The water is not as cloudy as it was last month, when it featured in my post on the environmental damage that is being caused by the construction of the seven hydro schemes in Glen Etive (see here): But two days ago…
Following my post Fires, hypocrisy and access rights in which I had described seeing a wall of fire as I crossed over Slochd into the Cairngorms National Park, a reader sent me a couple of photos they had taken the same day. The photo featured above is looking over to Slochd from the south: if…
[NB My apologies, I have corrected an error in the first version of this post and have used Assynt in the title, which I cannot change without destroying weblinks, when it should have said Coigach – see comment below] While staying near Ullapool last week I came across this sign, which was new to me,…
I was away up near Ullapool last week. Driving up the A9 the snow had helped pick out the muirburn in Glen Truim, north of the Drumochter and Dalwhinnie. Much of the hillside below the telecommunications mast, which is on land that appears to be owned by the North Drumochter Estate, would quickly regenerate as…