Loch Lomond waterbus service extended for 2016

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Helen Webster

The popular Loch Lomond waterbus service has been extended to take in additional locations around the world-famous loch, meaning visitors now have even more choice when exploring the area. Due to popular demand, the waterbus will now operate a new service between Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch to Inchmurrin and Inchcailloch, giving people the opportunity to explore two of Loch Lomond’s most popular islands. Furthermore the Inchmurrin service includes a morning tea/coffee and scone, or soup and a sandwich at lunchtime, depending on what time you sail. Situated only 50 minutes by train from Glasgow, Balloch is the southern gateway…

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Win a year’s worth of premium whisky to taste

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Helen Webster

With Father’s Day coming soon, we’ve teamed up with the wonderful Whisky Tasting Company to bring you the chance to win a year’s supply of premium and rare whiskies to taste – worth £235! A specialist in premium whisky gift sets, the Whisky Tasting Company has unique agreements with whisky brand owners throughout Scotland & Wales, presenting premium, old and rare whiskies from almost all of the country’s distilleries in our beautiful whisky gift sets. All you need to do is to fill in the form below, including the answer to the question “From which Scottish City is the long…

Posted in News, Walkhighlands news

Human “Wolves” to help restore woodland

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Helen Webster

Project Wolf – a unique new conservation programme in which volunteers replicate the natural disturbance effects of Scotland’s extinct predators – has been launched in the Highlands near Loch Ness by Trees for Life. Project Wolf is being trialled at the charity’s acclaimed Dundreggan Conservation Estate in Glenmoriston, Inverness-shire, lying to the west of Loch Ness. It involves volunteers operating in teams of three ‘wolves’, regularly walking through the ancient woodlands during the night and at dusk and dawn, creating disturbance that will keep deer on the move. “Grazing pressure on young trees by too many deer, today undisturbed by…

Posted in Nature

Scottish Land Fund allows Moffat to buy local hill

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Helen Webster

A Dumfriesshire community is poised to take control of its local woodland, thanks to a £171,622 Scottish Land Fund award. The award to Moffat Community Woodlands is one of the first to be made from the newly re-launched Scottish Land Fund. Moffat Community Woodlands will use the funding to purchase 33.4 hectares of land on Gallow Hill, which overlooks the town of Moffat. The group intend to work with the Forestry Commission to replant the land with a broadleaf woodland and begin the process of returning the hill to the way it looked when Moffat was a renowned Victorian spa…

Posted in Access issues, Nature

Full nest for Perthshire ospreys as third chick hatches

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Helen Webster

The nesting pair of ospreys at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve near Dunkeld have hatched their third chick of 2016. Volunteers at the reserve got their first glimpse of the chick just after 1pm today (Monday 23 May). It follows the first chick which hatched on the afternoon of Wednesday 18 May and the second, which came in the early hours of Friday 20 May. The nesting ospreys have continued to bring back salmon and trout to feed their growing brood. The webcam trained on the nest and supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery…

Posted in Nature

Tick Tock its that time of year again

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Helen Webster

With winter hardly gone from the mountains, mountain safety experts are advising walkers and climbers: “Tick the Munros – just don’t let the Munros tick you!” Those perennial pests of the Scottish hills and countryside are back. And while the physical and mental health benefits of hill walking are well known, walkers should still be aware of an almost invisible danger. Ticks are small arthropods (related to spiders and scorpions) and are common in vegetated areas in the Scottish hills. They are particularly suited to mild damp climates and therefore thrive on the west coast mountain regions of Scotland. Aside…

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Highlands – Scotland’s Wild Heart begins on BBC tonight

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Helen Webster

A new 4 part BBC series begins tonight at 9pm on BBC1 Scotland (later on iplayer). “Highlands – Scotland’s Wild Heart” is narrated by Ewan MacGregor and will paint a dramatic portrait of his homeland’s wildlife. With spectacular photography and incredible behaviour, the series showcases the Highlands “as never before”. Here’s a preview of some of the landscapes and wildlife that will feature in the series… Watch the trailer:

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Entries open for Mountain Writing Competition

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Helen Webster

The excitement and intensity of mountaineering has always inspired great writing – and now the Mountaineering Council of Scotland is looking for authors to blend their writing skills with their mountain experience for its long running literary competition. Entries are now open for the MCofS annual Mountain Writing Competition, which seeks out the best writing – prose or poetry, fact or fiction – to emerge from the climbing and walking scene. And, with more and more people taking art in outdoor activities, there should be no shortage of climbers and walkers ready to put their experiences into words and share…

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Weekend avalanche forecasts continue for Caingorms and Lochaber

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Helen Webster

Due to recent heavy snowfall, high accumulations of snow and low temperatures on the mountains, the SportScotland Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) will continue to provide a forecast for the Northern Cairngorms and Lochaber this weekend. SAIS said there was currently the potential for avalanches on steep east-facing slopes. The SAIS told the BBC “Late winter snow conditions above 1,000m (3,280ft) on north through east to south facing slopes in the Cairngorms and Ben Nevis and Aonach Mor areas may present a hazard. Additionally, isolated snow fields remain on north to east aspects above 750m (2,460ft) in most areas and will…

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Walkers warned to prepare for winter in Scotland’s mountains this May Bank Holiday

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Helen Webster

May Bank Holiday is approaching fast, but the high mountains of Scotland are still hanging onto winter after an unseasonably cold spring. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) and British Mountaineering Council (BMC) are joining forces to recommend hill walkers north and south of the Border be prepared to deal with late-lying snow conditions when they head for the Scottish hills this weekend. This spring has been unseasonably cold, with a northerly airstream and accompanying cold conditions affecting the whole of Scotland. This has resulted in some of the best skiing and winter climbing for several years. It looks like…

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