Glen Tilt

The public is being consulted about plans to extend the Cairngorms National Park into Perth and Kinross to include the area around Calvine, Blair Atholl and the Spittal of Glenshee. It excludes Struan and Killecrankie.

The twelve-week consultation gives people the chance to tell the Scottish Government where they think the new boundary should be and also how many people from each local authority should sit on the Park Authority after the boundary changes.

The consultation is being run by Scottish Natural Heritage and further details can be found here

Rubh and Dunain, near Glenbrittle on Skye

However a midge expert said that this was likely to be due to local weather conditions each year rather than a general shift of the insects south as a result of climate change. The BBC reported that Dr Alison Blackwell, from Edinburgh University, said that midge levels down south and in Northern Ireland were unlikely to reach the levels found in parts of Scotland.

“Midges need large areas of suitable habitat to reach the kind of numbers we see in the west coast of Scotland, where you get vast peat bogs and similar habitat,” she said. “There’s nowhere in England which would match that.”

Anecdotal reports from Walkhighlands users indicate that midges might have become less of a irritant over the last few years, although strangely some people have been reporting large numbers of clegs which might not have the annoyance factor that midges bring but their bite is much worse.

Lower Leap Falls

The race has been started up again after a six-year absence. Older or more nostaligic readers will remember a terrified-looking John Noakes taking part in the race for Blue Peter in the 1970’s.

Competitors start by hurling themselves off a ledge at the head of the glen, before plunging into the river and later dropping down a 9 metre waterfall at Lower Falls Leap (pictured). In between they must negotiate pinch points called Gurgling Gorge and Leg Breaker. Previous entrants have taken between 20 minutes and an hour to compete the event.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park planners are due to decide on the future of the gold mine at Conoish near Tyndrum soon. Scotgold Resources have ordered specialist drilling equipment from Chile and South America to enable them to start exploratory work at the mine.

The site covers 2,200 square kilometres, very near the Ben Lui National Nature Reserve and regenerating forest areas. Some of the area still bears the scars from the previous work carried out by Fynegold Exploration who used to own the site but the new plans are likely to cover a much larger area. The current company, which is Australian owned, is expected to start drilling in the next couple of weeks. The Company says it hopes to create 60 jobs at the site and that there could be gold worth £70 million to be extracted.

When exact plans are known for the extent of the works a further update will be posted here – for the moment if you want to beat the gold rush, best get down to Tyndrum and start gold panning!

Five people camping at the Glenrosa campsite on the Isle of Arran had to be winched to safety by a helicopter early this morning after a river broke its banks. Heavy rain in southern Scotland meant that the campers became cut off on a mini island created by the river in spate.

The Royal Navy Helicopter was scrambled at approximately 8 o’clock this morning and the campers were airlifted to a local community centre. The rest of the campsite was evacuated and at one point during the rescue operation the campsite owner waded into the swollen water to try to reach the campers but had to turn back.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “This was a close-run event. The water levels were rising rapidly and there was simply no other way they were going to escape.” Other agencies were also involved in the operation, including the local rescue team, the coastguard, police and ambulance service. None of those rescued are thought to have suffered any serious health effects.

The walker’s bridge that provides access on the main routes to Sgurr nan Gillean and Am Bastier has collapsed and can no longer be used. It is possible to wade across above Alltdearg House but local reports suggest that this would be impassable and dangerous after wet weather. Walkers and climbers therefore need to take extreme care when planning routes especially if planning to use this crossing as a return route from the Cuillin. The bridge is at NG483296. Updates on the situation will be posted here.

Collapsed bridge at Sligachan: Photo © Dirk Winter