While the central Pyrenees has many beautiful natural mountain lakes, there has been significant hydro development for over 100 years and many lakes have been created or extended by dams. We came across hydro schemes on many days of our two week walk, even in remote places. In an interesting article (see here –…
Category: Loch Lomond and Trossachs
The French Pyrenean National Park and the Ordesa and Mont Perdido National Park are much smaller than our two National Parks in Scotland but surrounded by large buffer zones where the National Park influences what activities take place and how land is managed. In the National Parks themselves there is no permanent human habitation and…
The Ordesa gorge is one of the great natural wonders of the Pyrenees, a sort of European version of the Grand Canyon but carved out by ice not water. It was designated as Spain’s first National Park a hundred years ago in August 1918 and since then has also been designated a World Heritage Site…
Between 18th and 21st September the Cairngorms National Park Authority are hosting the Europarc conference (see here) for “protected area professionals” . The theme of this year’s conference is “reconnecting young people with nature”. All attendees are being encouraged to bring a young person as part of the International Year of Young People and my…
I am away for a two week walking holiday through the Pyrenees and, while I have scheduled a few pieces for the first week, am then going to take a complete break. I’d like to thank regular readers for your support and comments and apologise that I have been unable to cover half the issues…
Remember the main way the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority sold the byelaws as being necessary? Multiple photos of abandoned campsites which on closer examination turned out to be the same few campsites photographed from different angles. I will only post 1 photo of the abandoned tent here but there was other detritus…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority local member elections, which takes place by postal vote, were counted on Thursday. While the LLTNPA has only published the names of the successful candidates (see here) the full results can be found on the Stirling Council website Election results-2018. This post takes a look at the results…
Three months ago, following the felling of over 100 trees by Drumkinnon Bay in Balloch I asked the question what was going on (see here)? In mid-June the police arrested a man from Alexandria in connection with the felling (see here) but there have been no further announcements about whether he was acting on someone’s order…
Loch Venachar used to be popular with anglers (it was once one of the best pike Lochs in Scotland) and provided one of the best places to camp in the Trossachs. With the introduction of the camping byelaws the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park considerably reduced the number of places where people were allowed…
The gulf between the rhetoric of the Scottish Establishment on the need for community involvement in planning and reality has created a massive crisis for the Flamingo Land Planning Application at Balloch. This post takes a look at people’s response to the Flamingo Land application, considers the key issues and the implications of what…
Yesterday I was out running with my daughter over the hills west of Glen Shee, trying to avoid the rain further west, as part of preparations for her first mountain marathon. We headed out over the Cairnwell, across Carn Gheoidh and then descended north west of Carn Binnein to the Allt Elrig heading for…
Yesterday I was invited to the official opening of a new campsite at the head of Loch Katrine by James Fraser, whom I know through the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, but was unable to attend. I had visited the site twice during construction and believe there are lessons here about what can be achieved, …
Close up, the track to the three Allt a’ Chuillinn hydro intakes, which form part of the Derrydarroch hydro scheme in Glen Falloch, does not look too bad. Its been significantly narrowed since construction, the sides covered with vegetation and a central strip of vegetation placed down the middle. Its quite a pleasant walking…
Back in February I reported the locked gates and signs (see here) on either side of Derrydarroch powerhouse and bridge over the River Falloch to Simon Jones, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority senior manager responsible for access. Walking past last Sunday I noticed that a new stile had been put in enabling…
I attended the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board Meeting in Brig O’ Turk yesterday. A cynic might conclude that, with the Flamingo Land Planning Application lodged, this was to get as far away from the people of Balloch as possible but there was not a mention of any special Board Meeting to…
Tilhill Forestry is changing its approach to access A few days after my post on forestry industry signs and access rights, I was contacted by Kirsty Adams, Head of Health and Safety at Tilhill Forestry asking to speak because “Tilhill Forestry are currently running a public awareness of safety in the forest project and one of…
“As the National Park Authority, we aren’t responsible for collecting all litter in the Park but we are working to tackle this issue across the area as best we can. We are doing this by trialling different approaches to managing litter on our own sites………………………” In May the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
Reviewing our National Parks Ten days ago, writing in the Sunday Telegraph (see here) or (see here for Guardian article), the Westminster Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, who currently has no powers to speak of in Scotland, announced a review of National Parks in England chaired by Julian Glover: “The goal of Julian’s review is not…
Scotland’s own “Windrush” problem? Following my post on parkswatch and the GDPR (see here) this post takes a look at the civil liberties and governance issues which have been created by the Loch Lomond and Trossach’s National Park Authority’s collection and processing of data under the camping byelaws, itself the outcome of the byelaw enforcement…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority elections In a positive step for democracy, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has announced the candidates (see here) who have been nominated to stand in the elections to the National Park Board which will be determined by postal vote on Thursday 5th July. I…
The Tourist Season in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park is now well under way as is the Camping Management Byelaw regime. There appear to have been fewer Camping Byelaw Exemption Applications this year than last but that has not stopped the tents! Interestingly some of applications appear to remain as “awaiting decision”, either…
The implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation and Parkswatch and the LLTNPA Anyone is who a member of an organisation or who subscribes to blogs is likely to have been bombarded recently with communications about the new General Data Protection Regulation which came into force last week. Parkswatchscotland is a blog, not an organisation, …
Last week, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority validated an application for planning permission in principle for the Riverside and Woodside sites at Balloch (see here). This is a massive application, the details of which I will come back to in further posts, which has been submitted in the names of both Flamingo…
Following my post last week on forestry and access (see here), Andy Gray sent Parkswatch a couple of photos he had taken on Saturday 12 May 2018 when he and his family had decided to enjoy an ascent of Cruach Tairbeirt, the small hill above Loch Lomond which is most frequently accessed between Tarbet and Arrochar. On…
The section of the Speyside Way between Kincraig and Speybank is a beautiful walk through oak and birch woodland, with a scattering of aspen, hazel and rowan. Though not far from the pinewoods of Glen Feshie, somehow the very occasional pine looks out of place. The strip of woodland along the river is regenerating…