It is hard to know whether to be inspired or depressed by the battle over vehicular use of “green lanes” which I touched on a year ago in post comparing what was going on in the Lake District National Park and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (see here) The latest newsletter of…
Tag: landed estates
I had not been up Glen Callater for a number of years but last week, after a wet morning, went for a run over Creag nan Gabhar returning down the northern half of the glen. Credit should be given to Invercauld Estate for provision of the car park at Auchallater which is very well used…
On Saturday, I walked with friends up Lochnagar from the old Invercauld Bridge, through the Ballochbuie forest and then across the moor to scramble up the Stuic. Shortly after the start, at a junction, we came across this sign at the start of a road leading off to our right . While apparently intended to…
On Saturday I walked up the Strone road as part of a round of the Monadliath. It is almost three years since I first blogged about the “improvements” that were being carried out on this road and considered the implications for the planning system (see here). The Cairngorms National Park Authority, to their credit, then…
Yesterday, on my way up to Speyside I pulled into a layby and parked behind a trailer loaded with crates. I did not realise immediately but half were packed with adult red legged partridge (you can just see them in the lower four crates on the left). Breeding of red-legged partridge is now a sizeable…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority may have acted promptly against its vice-convener, Gena Blackett, last week for something she said (see here), but when it comes to meaningful actions on conservation, it is not fit for purpose. This post takes a look at the CNPA’s multiple failures when it comes to protecting wildlife as revealed…
While Parkswatch has been critical of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s failure to control Highlands and Islands Enterprise at Cairn Gorm, it has been doing far better in Glen Clova. The two most recent meetings of the Planning Committee have been rightly criticised for approving the planning applications to repair the funicular and install car…
The corona crisis – the lessons of foot and mouth and a beacon of hope in the countryside “lockdown”
[NB this post has been updated. I have been informed that the LLTNPA has not closed the gates to all its carparks but instead police tape has in some cases been placed across them] The Foot and Mouth Crisis We have been here before, although the corona crisis is far more serious. I well…
Following yesterday’s post Spreading misinformation about Glen Feshie and access in the Cairngorms National Park I have been sent two photos. The first (above), was sent from Roy Turnbull of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group to illustrate his comment on my post: “Not only is there now (of course) no restriction of access in…
This extract appeared in a generally informative article about growing interest from the private sector about buying Scottish Estates for their environmental potential. That raises lots of interesting questions, not least whether Agencies like Savill’s who were quoted in the piece, are now are being motivated by the potential to make a quick buck out…
Anyone trying to understand Scotland’s deer problem need only travel between Perth and Braemar and see the herds of deer desperately seeking food and shelter in the snowy wilds. This photo is taken close to the location where Brian Shackleton filmed masses of deer on the move a few years ago (see here). There are…
Until reading the Report of the Deer Working Group (DWG) to the Scottish Government (see here) and (here), I had not realised that the Scottish Government was dishing out public money to landowners to undertake muirburn for red deer. The payments appear to have been introduced by the Scottish Government in 2015 and then, in…
Anyone who wonders why new legislation is needed to regulate deer numbers in Scotland need only study this photograph, taken in Oct 2018, and then read David Lintern’s fine article from 2017 on Walkhighlands “Bare hill of the Hind” (see here). The Walk Highlands article includes a video of a massive herd of red deer…
I was pleased to get this letter into the Badenoch and Strathspey Herald on Thursday in response to their excellent coverage the week before about the potential for camping byelaws to be introduced into the Cairngorms National Park Authority. While it was good to see Grant Moir, the CNPA Chief Executive (above) deny there…
[Postscript – Good News! An hour or so after this was published the CNPA Planning Committee rejected this Planning Application by two votes! Well done them and what a contrast to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority where Board Members rubber stamp whatever is recommended by officers. What the CNPA now needs to…
It seems that the Cairngorms National Park Authority Enforcement Notice against the Glen Clova hotel hill road (see here) has had some effect because at the end of November the Estate notified Angus Council of their intention to construct a new forestry road (see here for planning papers). Not only that, but the Prior Notification papers…
After the criticisms in my last post of the lack of transparency in the planning system, its nice to report that in other areas the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is showing signs of improvement. The LLTNPA’s recent publication of Deer Management Plans for the area is particularly welcome. The impact of deer…
I was sent this photo from David Lintern, the fine outdoor writer and photographer (see here), last night and it prompted further thoughts about the Climate Emergency and the connections between what happening on opposite sides of the world in Scotland and Australia (see here for most recent post on lessons from the Australian crisis)….
The single worst thing about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LL&TNP) stems from its origins as a Forest Park. An absurd proportion of its once-handsome glens have lost all natural character and beauty to curtains of sitka spruce along their lower and middle slopes, often drawn so tightly as to preclude any pleasant…
In December the LINK hill tracks group revealed that the owner of the Glen Clova estate, Mr Hugh Niven, has appealed to the Scottish Government against the enforcement notice which the Cairngorms National Park Authority issued against the new hill road by the Clova hotel (see here) and (here): “It is deeply frustrating that a…
The Werritty report (see here), which was published a week before Xmas, is not disappointing, as some have claimed, its what everyone should have expected. Both the remit for the review and the membership of the review group were wrong from the outset. The question which the Scottish Government should have asked is not whether…
Last week Revive, the coalition for grouse moor reform, issued a new report Untold Suffering about how thousands of animals are killed and trapped on Scotland’s grouse moors. Its one of the scandals of our time that this slaughter takes place even in our National Parks which were set up to protect nature (see here). …
I first came across the newly constructed Gynack flood diversion channel above Kingussie by accident in October 2017, when visiting the three hydro schemes on the river. I have visited three times since, all in poor weather (as is evident from the photos!). On my most recent visit I found that the overflow…
In September the Balavil Estate submitted a Prior Notification to Highland Council to upgrade/create 8 roads AFTER it had started construction work on one of them (see here). By the time of that post Balavil had agreed with the Cairngorms National Park Authority to suspend work on the new road and they had also withdrawn…
My initial focus on the damage caused by the torrential rainfall at the start of August was on Glen Falloch, where I was surprised by the extent of the landslips (see here)and the damage to the hydro schemes (see here). A reader who lives in the Trossachs gently reminded me a few weeks ago that…