Question: how does France (along with many other European countries) manage to have so much more woodland than Scotland and “do” forestry without fencing and planting? Answer: they control grazing by large herbivores, whether livestock or deer, using completely different legal mechanisms than exist in Scotland The fundamental failing with the legislative proposals in the…
Tag: climate change
Following many months of speculation, the long-trailed Earba pumped storage hydro scheme proposed by Gilkes Energy for Ardverikie Estate is now the subject of a formal planning application on the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit (ECU) website. Since it was first proposed, the installed capacity of the Earba scheme has doubled from 900 MW to…
On Thursday the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill (WMMB) (see here for text) was passed by the Scottish Parliament. Judging from the responses of some of the main proponents and opponents of the Bill one could be fooled into thinking will usher in major changes to how grouse moors are managed. On the one hand…
Conservation and the welfare of the public: the Wallabies and Fallow Deer on the Loch Lomond islands
In December the Planning Committee of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) unanimously approved the planning application by Mr and Mrs Young to build a luxury holiday lodge on Inchconnachan (see here for committee report). Initially the application had included a proposal, based on advice from NatureScot, to remove the wallabies from…
While staying in Newtonmore over New Year I heard that Storm Gerrit, which had hit Scotland on Boxing Day, had caused some spectacular damage in the lower parts of Glen Feshie. On my last day I went to have a look, little expecting that I would also get a post on sheep and woodland out…
I had not attended a Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) board meeting in person since before the Covid lockdown but on 11th December once again took the train to Balloch. Having just written a post on The fundamentally useless National Park Authority and its useless National Park plan it was very decent…
This post takes another digression from National Parks to consider what this crushed house says about the failure of the planning system to respond appropriately to the risks posed by climate change. It took a couple of days but the national tabloids have picked up on the story, first featured in the P & J…
Having been blogging and trying to raise awareness about landslips for the last four years, it was great to get some wider coverage in the last week. First I was asked to speak about landslips with Craig Dalzell on Common Weal’s policy podcast (see here). I am convener of Common Weal’s Care Reform Group but…
Since writing about the consequences of the extreme rainfall which fell in Cowal (see here) and Glen Kinglas (see here) on 7th October, I have been sent some further photos which provides an opportunity to add to some of the arguments I made in those posts. While I saw the extent of the extensive flooding…
The headwaters of the River South Esk, which flooded Brechin last week with such destructive effect, lie in Glen Doll in the Cairngorms National Park. The River South Esk then flows down Glen Clova, where it is joined by the River Prosen, before leaving the Cairngorms massif and turning in an easterly direction through Brechin…
According to BEAR Scotland, the consortium of private companies who manage trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland, around 160mm of rain fell in 36 hours around the Rest and Be Thankful two weekends ago and caused eleven landslips (see here– news release dated 11th October): “One small landslide at the Rest and be Thankful….
Living as we do on the western edge of Europe, in its windiest country notorious and one that is notorious for its wet weather, I had tended to assume that Scotland bears the brunt of the storms that cross the Atlantic. After the Met Office had issued warnings for Storm Alex at the end of…
While governments across the world fail to implement or row back on actions to reduce our carbon emissions and respond to climate change, CO2 fuelled hot air wreaks increasing havoc. The same heat that is causing more hurricanes in the Caribbean at the end of each summer often drives the tail end of those storms…
A month ago the Scottish Government advertised the position on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board vacated by the former Convener, James Stuart, at the end of January. No hurry there! The deadline for applications was Monday and the advert has since been removed from the public appointments website but the…
Scottish Forestry has revealed in correspondence that it has awarded £2,559,303.91 (£200k more than I had thought) to Abrdn for tree planting at Far Ralia. It also sent a copy of the approved plan (above) which appears the same as that issued for consultation. Scottish Forestry has therefore approved the plans submitted on behalf of…
On 28th July the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) lodged a response to the Flamingo Land Planning Application (see here) which could scupper a large part of the proposed development: “The outputs of the FRA [Flood Risk Assessment] (illustrated in Appendix G) [see map above] indicate the majority of Zone B – Riverside and part…
The owner of Akre trees, who has family connections with the Ralia Estate (see here), not only claims to have advised Abrdn on their purchase of “Far Ralia” but to be behind the native woodland project for the estate (see here). Akre also appears lined up to carry out the planting should Scottish Forestry give…
The recreational, environmental and planning disaster in Coire Cas and HIE’s ownership of Cairn Gorm
Some people might at first sight find the new mountain bike tracks running down the lower part of Coire Cas attractive. Certainly Cairngorm Mountain Scotland must have thought so when they posted this aerial photo on their Facebook Page. In landscape terms and from the air the sinuous curves of the tracks certainly look better…
[This post has been updated to clarify the difference between the River Spey SAC and River Spey SSSI] While not nearly as bad as it was (see here), the consequences of the engineering works in the Allt Mhor/River Gynack continue to flow down in the River Spey river system. Silt has now been washed down…
It is almost two years since my last post on the Cononish goldmine (see here) and five since the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) granted it planning permission. Since the mine was first mooted there has been a steady stream of “news” stories from the owners, Australian Company Scotgold Resources Ltd, about…
I have visited the Vanoise National Park, several times over the years, including last summer during the drought that brought Autumn early to the mountains (see here). I was back there last week at the end of a skiing holiday which finished early due to illness and bad weather. Skiing back down into Pralognan from…
On Wednesday NatureScot, formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, issued a news release (see here) about how they had entered a partnership with the Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium (the company that in in a partnership with National Parks across the UK called “Revere). They described this as: “a ‘national first’…
Balloch is a village nested in woodland as the online map (above) from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA’s) Trees and Woodlands Strategy 2019-39 shows (see here). In my view, any plan to improve the “visitor experience”/tourism at Balloch should start from the fine views from the loch shore, the remaining…
A week ago the Ferret (see here) exposed how the Tulchan Estate, on the northern boundary of the Cairngorms National Park, was being funded both to restore damaged peatland and to burn moorland in the same small area. A similar scandal is happening on King Charles’s grouse shooting estate, Delnadamph, on the upper reaches of…
After the first three questions in NatureScot consultation on National Parks, which are about whether to turn them into vehicles for “green finance” (see here), the fourth is about the role of local communities (see here). The introductory text to the section claims that our National Parks “provide exemplars of community engagement” but contain no…