It’s a while since I posted one of Adam Watson’s photos, contrasting then with now (see here), but I was reminded of this photo when starting out up Glen Ey late Friday afternoon. (It has featured on parkswatch before in a post by George Allan about the LINK hill tracks campaign (see here)). What you…
Category: Cairngorms
Parkswatch readers will know that the Allt Coire na Ciste bridge was taken out of service in March 2021. CairnGorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) cited winter storm damage as being the reason for its dilapidated and unsafe condition. There’s no doubt that there was storm damage caused during the preceding winter but the bridge had…
Today the Grampian Moorland Group have been mounting an online protest (see here) against the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA)’s proposals to reduce the numbers of red deer in the National Park from around 11 to 5- 8 per square kilometre. The protest is backed by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) (see here) and Scottish…
On Tuesday NatureScot launched its new corporate plan 2022-26 (see here) under the guise of what it described as “an ambitious new plan for nature” (see here). The 16 page document commits NatureScot to delivering the Scottish Government’s recently adopted targets that 30% of Scotland’s lands and seas should be protected by 2030 and 10%…
I am just back from a week ski touring in the Dolomites, a holiday delayed for two years because of Covid. I was last in the area four and a half years ago, after which I wrote a number of posts comparing land and tourism management in the Dolomites, which was declared a World Heritage…
Ten days ago I went to have a look at the (larger) part of the Ralia estate that has been bought by Standard Life but first had to pass through the part of the prorperty that borders the A9 and has been retained by the previous owners. I had been there several times in the…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
I have not so far blogged on the long-awaited (see here) masterplan for Cairn Gorm which Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) published last June (see here). Subtitled “Unlocking the potential of the Cairngorm Mountain Estate”, the masterplan is a vague and poorly drafted document: the operator, Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) is to explore “options…
On 28th December Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) issued this sledging policy on their website and a similar statement on their facebook page. It epitomises everything that is wrong with the current management Cairn Gorm and is unlawful. The statement appeared to have prompted by the bedlam at the patch of snow that has been…
[Update: since posting this I have been contacted by Seafield Estates who have informed me that “there are 20 sheep in Kinveachy, they have not been there long and we have already arranged for them to be gathered and returned to their rightful owner”. They also told me that “There are occasionally sheep in the…
Among the photos of Adam Watson there are a number of Ballochbuie, an important remnant of the Caledonian Pine Forest on the Royal Family’s estate at Balmoral which was overgrazed for years and has now been fenced to keep the deer out. I had not been intending to feature another of Adam’s photos so soon,…
Dave Morris paid tribute to Adam Watson, the great ecologist of the Cairngorms, shortly after his death (see here) but Parkswatch has done little else to celebrate and promote his work and legacy. Over the last year Jenny Aitchison, Adam’s daughter, has been sending me copies of photos he took in the Cairngorms, starting with…
Over three weeks after Storm Arwen, a message about storm damaged paths still runs across the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) website. Click on the link Current path closures and you are taken to two headings, “Temporary path closures” and “Current path closures.” This post takes a look at how the CNPA is ignoring the…