What the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) have discovered at Mar Lodge While away in Lochaber last week I read a very interesting article in the latest Reforesting Scotland journal (Issue 64) on ‘Regenerating aspen: “spontaneous appearance” at Mar Lodge Estate’. The author, the ecologist Andrew Painting, recounts how in 2018, while undertaking fieldwork in…
Tag: conservation
Today’s Herald on Sunday, in conjunction with the independent investigative journalists’ platform the Ferret, looks forward to next week’s COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow. 26 people were asked to contribute their views on a future vision for Scotland (see here). This is what I said: “In the Scottish uplands overgrazing by red deer will…
On Friday, while travelling north up the A82, I stopped by the first roundabout at the start of the Crianlarich bypass to take a look at the landscaping. It provides a lesson in ecology and current forestry practices right next to the road. The A82 Crianlarich by-pass, was completed in December 2014, almost seven…
In March, a Planning Application (see here) was submitted to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) to add five new intakes to the Ben Glas run of river hydro scheme, above the Eagle Falls at the head of Loch Lomond. Parkswatch has covered this scheme before, (see here) and (here) for example,…
In my posts (see here) and (here) criticising the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board for abandoning their decision-making role and allowing senior staff to take control, I was aware of a recent exception to the rule. At the Planning Committee on 30th August (see here for papers) Board Members rejected a recommendation…
Following my post in June about capercaillie and fencing (see here), it is very good to see that the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project has been working with the Seafield Estate to replacing plastic netting on deer fences near Aviemore with wooden droppers. We should not be allowing plastic, whether in the form of netting or tree…
The National Park Partnership Plan is a five year plan which sets out the overarching framework for what happens in our National Parks, the contribution of the various public authorities involved and priorities for action. The current plan for the Cairngorms runs out in 2022 and the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is in the…
On 19th August a firm called Caledonian Building Surveyors Ltd submitted a Screening Request (see here) to Highland Council on behalf of the Pitmain and Glenbanchor Estate Ltd. It asked if an Environmental Impact Assessment was required before they could upgrade and create new tracks and upgrade part of the public road up Glen Banchor…
This post takes a look at the implications of the co-operation agreement and shared policy programme that has been agreed between the SNP Government and the Greens (see here) for National Parks in Scotland. Investment in National and Regional Parks While the SNP said absolutely nothing about National Parks or Regional Parks in their election…
Following my two posts on BrewDog’s proposals to create a Lost Forest (see here) and (here) at Kinrara, plans for peat bog restoration on the estate appeared on Highland Council’s planning portal (see here). In April the Scottish Government issued new planning guidance on Permitted Development Rights (see here) which required peat bog restoration schemes…
Watching the torrential rain showers in Glasgow over the last ten days, I have been wondering about what impact they have been having in hills, both in our National Parks and more widely. Erosion is a natural process but the impact of increased heavy rainfall due to climate change on eroded slopes such as that…
A ding-dong battle On Thursday an organisation called Rewilding Britain issued a news release (see see) highlighting the destructive impact of grouse moor management in national parks in the north of England and the Cairngorms and which urged: “ministers to show real leadership by creating wilder national parks and setting up core rewilding areas in…
This post looks at two further examples of the use of plastic tree tubes (see here and here), this time on the western side of the Cairngorms National Park, argues that their use is completely unjustified and it is time they were banned completely. The use of plastic tree tubes in the A9 dualling project…
If BrewDog’s description of Kinrara as a “Lost Forest” is appropriate for the Strathspey part of the estate (see here), it feels even more apt as you descend the Burma Rd past scattered pine trees towards the River Dulnain. But then, after you cross the Allt nam Muireach, you realise the pines are not so…
I have stretched the meaning of the “Cairngorms” in this series of posts, half of which have featured land west of the A9, and I am going to stretch it even further in two posts which take a look at Brewdog’s proposals to create a “Lost Forest” on the Kinrara estate which they bought earlier…
A week after walking up by the Allt Fionndrigh off Glen Banchor to look at the extensive landslips there (see here), Dave Morris returned to look at the impacts red deer are having higher up the hill. He was surprised to find that the track, which had been completely covered by debris washed down by the…
Storms and construction work While my own walk round Cairn Gorm on my week in Speyside was affected by a heavy shower (see here) , I hate to think what might have happened had the torrential downpours which occurred in Grantown and Glen Banchor a few days before before (see here) had hit the mountain….
At the June meeting of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), Board Member Ronnie Erskine repeated the suggestion he had made in March, that they should prepare to showcase the work they are doing for the Climate Change summit that begins on 31st October. The political need to prepare for the COP…
Rothiemurchus Estate has been split in two since it sold off the Caledonian Pine Forest in its middle section to Forestry Commission Scotland, as it then was, for £7.2m in 2016 (see here). The upper part, which extends to the head of Glen Einich, is sandwiched between the landholdings which have formed Cairngorms Connect and…
Late last Friday afternoon I went for a walk up Glen Banchor and over Creag Liath, via the track by the Allt Fionndrigh. The track featured on Parkswatch 18 months ago due to the Glen Banchor and Pitmain estate’s plans to extend it for the purposes of grouse moor management (see here). All the ground…
The contrast between good land management and bad land management on the western side of the Cairngorms National Park and the impact this is having on the climate and environmental crises is quite stark. I spent the last week on Speyside, collecting evidence about what is happening on the ground while out and about enjoying…
Just over a month ago the Cairngorms National Park Authority announced (see here) that the Invercauld Estate had left the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership “following the discovery of a poisoned golden eagle on their land.” This post takes a look at the implications for the Cairngorms National Park Authority and for land reform more generally….
There is another side to the hullabaloo that the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) raised three weeks ago about a pregnant red deer hind that had been shot out of season on Skye (see here). Last week (see here), on the edge of the Fannichs, I saw and smelled more dead red deer than I have…
It has been known for some time (see here) that significant numbers of capercaillie, black grouse and red grouse die in collisions with fences each year, with some studies suggesting up to 1/3 of capercaillie die in this way. While the focus in Scotland has generally been on deer fencing, all fencing kills, a fact that…
It’s now three years since the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) approved the new planning application (see here) for the financial gamble that is the Cononish goldmine. After it was reported in December that the mine was fully funded until 2022 and the first gold from the mine had been poured (see…