The financially-troubled company which runs the Cairngorm funicular railway has been has been transferred to the ownership of Highlands and Islands Enterprise in a deal which will reduce the Company’s debt. Highlands and Islands already owned the land and the railway and will now own the operating company, with the day to day management likely to be put out to tender. The Company has been hampered by massive debt since it built the railway in 2001. Conservations bitterly opposed the building of the attraction because of the impact on the fragile and very rare ecosytem of the high Cairngorms. Campaigners…

The body of a beaver has been recovered from the shore at Eathie on the Black Isle. The dead beaver was found in April and police are now investigating whether it was released into the wild illegally. Once native to Britain, beavers were hunted to extinction more than 400 years ago. It is illegal to release beavers into the wild, although there are plans to release them in Argyll under a licensed scheme. However there have recently been reports that beavers may have been released near Aberfeldy in Perthshire and also in Angus and Fife where damage to trees has…

This Saturday (3rd of May) Tom Pendrey will pack his kayak with food, equipment and a solar panel and set off to paddle the length of the Western Isles to promote sustainable lifestyles. Committed to sustainable living, Tom’s 150 mile journey will leave little trace on the planet. Tom is one of three expeditions that are being sponsored this year by the John Muir Trust’s 2008 Bill Wallace Grant. “Now in its second year the Bill Wallace Grant is for expeditions that raise awareness of and help to conserve wild places,” commented JMT Development Manager Dave Picken. “I wish this…

Walkers on Goatfell, Ben Lomond and Ben Lawers are being asked to play their part in a National Trust for Scotland survey of the Ptarmigan population. The sightings will contribute to a detailed survey to be carried out by the conservation charity this year and will go some way to assessing possible climate change effects on the Trust’s high mountain peaks. The survey will provide reliable population information for one of Scotland’s most popular mountain birds, the Ptarmigan. The data will allow conservationists to examine the changing patterns of the bird’s populations, with a particular focus on any effects from a…