“This region represents every wild aspect of the Central Highland scene – wooded lochs, strong rivers, high flat-topped mountains with rock corries deeply inset, wide sweeps of grass rather than the heather of the Cairngorms, peat-hag and bog, broad bealachs and sharp ravines, and good tracks.” So wrote Bill Murray, in his 1962 Highland Landscape,…
Tag: Scottish Government
This short piece is very much a supplementary to my article ‘The Hidden Horrors of Hydro’ featured here on 23rd of August 2018 and of course the catalyst was the more recent (3rdJuly) article on pumped storage in Scotland by Dave Morris (see here). I was minded to do so because the negative profundity of pumped storage…
At the end of June I went for a walk over Conic Hill, starting from Milton of Buchanan and then back along the main road from Balmaha. The first part of the route, which I have followed several times before, takes the West Highland Way through the western edge of Garadhban forest, owned by Scottish…
Following my post on the Loch Lomond South Community Development Trust (LLSCDT)’s registration of interest in Scottish Enterprise’s land at Balloch (see here), their accounts were published on 6th July by Companies House (see here). This was the day before the deadline and these were first accounts to appear since the company was incorporated on…
Just before she resigned as First Minister in March 2023 Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Government pushed through the Scottish Parliament what were described as “radical” changes in planning policy. This included giving the green light to any renewable developments, of whatever scale, that would help to meet UK renewable energy targets, emphasising that Scotland’s 42 Wild…
Eleven months after the largest wildfire ever recorded in the British Isles burned large parts of Dava Moor, hare’s tail cotton grass has expanded to cover much of the exposed peat. Out of destruction a scene of beauty! Carbon emissions from peatland are estimated to add c3.5% to the UK total. Bare peat, some of…
Following my first post (see here) on the muirburn on the North Morar estate on 25th April, after the end of the muirburn season, a reader prompted me to check whether the Scottish Government had been providing public monies to the landowners. On checking the DEFRA Rural Payments database, I wrote a further post showing the…
The Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) describes itself (see here) as ‘the UK’s government-backed standard for creating new woodlands that generate high-integrity carbon credits’ and is managed by Scottish Forestry. The WCC is based on a number of key assumptions which are not explicitly stated: the first is that since trees take CO2 out of the…
Recently, while researching my post on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) local member elections (see here), I came across this revealing post on Linked In (see here): Having been writing for a number of years about how staff at the LLTNPA control board members (see here for example), I should have…
After my post about how the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) no longer provides emails to board members on grounds of national security (see here) a reader sent me a link (see here) about board members on the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA). The LDNPA, like the CNPA, has a new website but seems to…
Last Friday, the day of the Scottish Parliamentary election count, the appeal by the locally elected member for Balloch, Sid Perrie, against the decision of the Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) to suspend him from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) for six months for sending six emails (see here) was due…
Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s plans to build a mountain coaster, first proposed in 2018 and now described as a toboggan run, are now in the news (see here for example). A planning application was submitted to Highland Council on 2nd April and called-in by the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) on 27th April (see…
This post provides a follow-up to the uncontrolled fires I observed on Morar on 25th April (see here). The map shows that so far this year far more land has been burned in the east of Scotland than the west and that most of these fires have been on intensively managed grouse moors in the…
On Saturday I walked up White Coomb in the Borders through the Carrifran Wildwood, the native wood creation project that puts others to shame. Descending from Firthhope Rig I was quite surprised to find this Sitka sapling at about 750m in altitude. Usually once Sitka have reached this size they are very difficult to uproot…
Walking in to Oban bothy over Meith Bheinn from Lochailort on Friday afternoon I did not know that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had issued a warning of extreme risk of wildlife for the West of Scotland (see here). Although squelching over the lower ground, higher up it was very dry underfoot. I had…
Fit adult red deer normally jump over stock fences such as this with ease but accidents happen and become more likely over the winter months as they weaken through lack of food. Part 3 of the recently passed Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 starts by setting out the aims and purposes of deer management. Two…
On 1st April the BBC reported (see here) that Flamingo Land had decided to appeal Scottish Government’s Ministers decision to turn down their proposed Lomond Banks development in Balloch. They are in fact seeking a judicial review. The difference is important because, as I explained after Scottish Ministers made their announcement (see here), a judicial…
Last week this post appeared on the Facebook Callander Discussion Forum about overflowing litter bins in the town (see here). The comments which followed helped explain the reasons why the bins had not been emptied and what is likely to happen when the tourist season takes off: These problems are not new. After fairly extensive…
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires byelaws to be reviewed every ten years. Currently, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) is secretly preparing a review of the camping bye laws, which prompted the creation of this blog, prior to a public consultation later this year. The review should start with some…
Having burned late into the autumn last year, NASA Firms data base (see here) shows Scotland’s grouse moor owners and managers started burning again at the start of March. At the end of this last week the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) issued their first very high fire risk warning (see here) of the…
My most recent post on Abrdn’s mismanagement of the Far Ralia estate for carbon offsetting purposes (see here) included this photograph of a new stock fence erected alongside an old deer fence and across this gate making it unusable. I then notified the responsible manager at Abrdn, who was not aware the gate had been…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board meeting on Monday (9th March) considered a paper on the Standards Commission for Scotland (SCS) decision to suspend Sid Perrie, the locally elected member of Balloch, for six months for sending six emails (see here). Public bodies which come under the aegis of the…
Earlier this week in my post on how the National Lottery now appears to be picking up a significant proportion of funding for Scotland’s National Parks (see here), I stated that Sandy Bremner, Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) had recently been appointed to the Scottish Committee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund. That…
[This post was updated and corrected 6th March – see post on apologies to Sandy Bremner 6th March] The Scottish Government’s budget for 2026/27 included significant cuts for both the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) and the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) (see here for budget documents). Over the course of two…
I was taken by surprise by the Scottish Government’s announcement on Tuesday that it had decided to reject Flamingo Land’s current planning application to build a holiday resort at Balloch five months after the Reporter, Mr Buylla, had submitted his second report on the proposed development (see here). I had thought the Scottish Government had…