Yesterday, like many others I took advantage of the break in weather, and headed for the hills. Along with two friends we traversed the Meall nan Tarmachan ridge above Loch Tay from the main car park in fantastic winter conditions, hard snow, almost no wind and clear skies. Returning along the track…
Tag: NatureScot
There can be few among us, who, when they hear the name ‘Galapagos’ do not have mental images conjured up, of all the wonderful TV documentaries over several decades, perhaps even going right back, as in my own case, to the black and white transmissions of ‘Baby-Boomer’ childhood. The Galapagos are imprinted on our collective…
In Scotland we need to restore our native woodland cover. The Government agrees and wants to see 18,000 ha of new woodland created per annum, primarily through native woodland expansion. Not especially ambitious for an emergency, but perhaps overly ambitious for our antiquated grant system which has, except for the year 2023/24, delivered less than…
Following my recent post on the landscape destruction at Tinto (see here), I wrote to the local office of NatureScot and have had a very helpful response. Staff confirmed that they had visited the site twice, the out of control muirburn had caused significant damage to the Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and that they …
After my two posts on the out of control muirburn on Tinto Hill 9th/10th April 2025 (see here)and (here), I was sent this photo taken by a friend of a friend. I had been meaning to visit the site before blogging about it again all last year but only managed to do so just before New…
Since 2020 there have been a number of peatland restoration projects on the north side of Glenfalloch Estate with more in the pipeline. In the December 2025 there was an interesting article in Scottish Birds, which has also been made available on the Glenfalloch Estate website (see here), about the positive impact this work appears…
[NB this post was revised at 15.30 on 15th mainly to clarify/expand on some points] The Caledonian Pinewood remnant at Coille Coire Chuilc (CCC), on the edge of Cononish Glen near Tyndrum, was first protected in 1949 as part of the Ben Lui National Nature Reserve and then designated as a separate Site of…
In response to my blog post of 10th October (see here) on ‘The near total destruction of a Twinflower population at Creag Bheithe Bheag in the Cairngorms National Park. What went wrong, and what lessons might be learnt for the future?’ I received replies from the CEO of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), Scottish Forestry (SF)…
[Author note. Andy was previously an Ecologist, now retired, working for an NGO in the Cairngorms. He is currently the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) vice-county recorder for East Inverness-shire (https://bsbi.org/easterness)]. Introduction Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) is an iconic and charismatic flower of the Caledonian Pinewood. It is a Nationally Scarce mat-forming creeping perennial,…
A few weeks ago a reader alerted me that there were new unlawful access signs on the Auchreoch Estate, which changed ownership in January 2025, and that they had seen sheep grazing in the Coille Coire Chuilc. Two land-management failures in one! Unfortunately the reader sent no photos – if you see bad stuff, please…
On Monday morning I watched the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board Meeting online (see here for agenda and papers). It should be essential viewing for anyone who cares about what is happening to democracy in Scotland but neither the LLTNPA Board nor the Scottish Government want public to see how they…
Prof Douglas McMillan, a contributor to this blog, sent me this photo taken by a friend of his a week ago, noted that the report of the Deer Working Group highlighted their introduction and spread as a significant problem and asked whether the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has done anything…
Over the last six weeks or so I have written several posts about how Scotland is being burned to bits by land-managers, many of whom carry on with muirburn whatever the fire risk. The muirburn provisions of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act were intended by the Scottish Parliament to change that for the…
On 18th April landowners and land management interests launched a concerted campaign claiming that rather than muirburn being a significant cause of wildfire it was a means of preventing it (see here for BBC coverage). In response I was pleased to have this letter published in the Herald and then when Nan Spowart took up…
The Tinto Hills Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (see here) was not the only protected area to be destroyed by muirburn during the periods of high fire risk this Spring. The muirburn triggered wild fire considered in this post took place in the glen running north from Glenballoch in Glen Banchor which has previously…
Since my post on how muirburn is responsible for a significant number of wildfires (see here) I have been contacted by a number of readers who have provided further information and photographs including what happened on the Tinto Hills SSSI (formerly a Site of Special Scientific Interest but now, in one reader’s words, “a site…
I was provided with this incredible photo through a friend who had been Knoydart 2 weeks ago and, for four days between 2nd and 5th April, had watched a fire on Morar to the south. An alert was raised for Knoydart and the community started to muster and prepare a response. It was not long…
Last Tuesday, on a day when the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had issued very high fire risk warnings for the whole of Scotland, I drove up to Braemar to spend a couple of days in the Cairngorms. The muirburn I had commented on in a post previously (see here) was continuing on both sides…
On 1st April the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) issued a “Very High to Extreme” warning for the period 2nd till 7th April (see here). It advised the public “to avoid lighting fires outdoors across all areas of Scotland during this period.” The NASA global wildfire data base (see here) enables one to check…
Had the muirburn provisions of the the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”) passed a year ago come into force such fires at hat pictured above would be now illegal. Clause 20 of the new Act shifted the current muirburn season, which dates back to the Heather Burning (Scotland) Act 1926, from…
Driving north up the A9 on Saturday Andy Cloquet observed muirburn on five sites between Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore with “an acrid smell over five miles of road” and sent parkswatch these two photos. The ostensible purpose of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”), which was passed by the Scottish Government last…
Last week I visited the Allt Broighleachan Caledonian Pinewood Reserve on the north side of Glen Orchy (and outside the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park) on my way to Glen Coe. It was my second visit, inspired in part by the Caledonian Pinewood Conference which took place last Autumn and which I viewed online…
At the end of August I wrote about the proposal to install a telecommunications in Glen Undalain, the glen which runs south from the campsite at Shiel Bridge towards the Saddle and is part of the Kintail National Scenic Area (NSA). While few people know about NSAs, the designation intended to protect Scotland’s most beautiful…
When the ground is frozen or covered in snow, as it was in the west for much of the week after New Year, it becomes very difficult for red deer to find enough food and they start to rely on the fat reserves they put on in the Autumn. On our first two days in…
Happy New Year! Much of the woodland I have been by or through recently has had sheep in it (see here) as happens at this time of year. When food is in short supply on the moors and open hill sheep will find a way through deer fences or hop over stock fences into woodland. …