The Scottish Government has given final approval to a 17 turbine windfarm at Lochluichart between Achnasheen and Garve.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland was one of the bodies who objected to the proposal on the grounds that the turbines would be visible over a wide area and therefore spoil a wild but popular area and due to the likely adverse effects on wildlife, biodiversity, and the disturbance of large amounts of peat currently acting as a carbon store. The MCofS said in their submission that, “the proposed wind farm would be visible from a large number of hills, including the popular Munros of An Teallach, Beinn Dearg, Slioch, Beinn Eighe, Ben Wyvis and Sgurr Mor (Fannaichs), and a variety of other hills in the surrounding area. It would thus adversely impact on the views from a wide variety of hills that are popular with an increasing number of walkers and climbers, many of whom visit the area from outwith Scotland.”

Energy Minister Jim Mather, who also has responsibility for tourism, said the project would help Scotland meet renewable power targets. He commented that, “This is exactly the type of project we need to drive our renewables ambitions for Scotland.”

The National Trust for Scotland, is looking for volunteers with a talent for sewing to make simple bags to help save lost puffin chicks on the Dual World Heritage Site, St Kilda.
 
Every year, dozens of pufflings become disorientated by lights from the buildings on the isolated island of Hirta and end up inland, instead of out at sea. Ranger staff, who live on the island throughout the summer, regularly rescue pufflings by placing them in small, cotton drawstrings bags to keep them safe, take them to the coast and release them out to sea.
 
Now, Property Manager Susan Bain is asking for help from keen sewers to produce more of the bags that are needed to aid the rescue of the lost puffin chicks.
 
St Kilda is an internationally important seabird colony and hosts thousands of breeding puffins from April until August.
 
Susan said, “St Kilda’s seabirds are so important, so we do everything we can to protect their populations. Every puffling is precious and we rescue everyone we can. Our staff take great care to keep any lights to a minimum. Despite this, we always seem to find some stray pufflings around the staff housing. It is really important that we make the release of these birds as stress free as possible. The bags really seem to work well and we need to replenish our stock for the summer season.”
 
Anyone interested in playing their part in providing these rescue sacks for next season’s pufflings should contact Susan Bain on 01463 232034.

Three climbers were forced to spend much of Sunday night in a snow-hole high on Liathach after they became stuck on the Torridon mountain as night fell. In a joint rescue with the Torridon Mountain Rescue team, the three men were airlifted to safety by an RAF Lossiemouth helicopter team at about 3 O’clock in the morning. None of the group required hospital treatment.

The group were believed to be near the Fasarinen Pinnacles on the hardest part of the ridge when they got into difficulty. Unable to carry on, they summoned help and dug a snow hole to provide shelter.

In contrast to this apparently well equipped group, Police criticised a group of charity walkers who had to be rescued after their attempt on Ben Lomond ended in a six-hour search involving the local mountain rescue team and a helicopter. Conditions on the popular mountain were snowy and icy on Saturday when the group started their climb, according to the BBC, wearing tracksuits and trainers. Although the climb was abandoned, two men went missing from the main group and were found separately many hours later, to the east of Ben Lomond suffering from hypothermia.

A Central Scotland Police spokesman told the BBC, “These two men had both been drinking the night before and continued to drink while walking. The weather was terrible with ice and snow. They were not dressed appropriately for walking. If you wanted an example of how to do everything wrong on a walk then this was it.”