Scotland’s largest conservation charity, the National Trust for Scotland, is urging its members to support a legal challenge being made against the Scottish Government. The NTS is contacting its 320,000 members to ask them to lend support to the John Muir Trust’s campaign to have a decision by the Government to allow a city-sized wind farm to be constructed in the Highlands quashed – a decision that was made in the face of objections from the Government’s own advisors. The John Muir Trust (JMT) is taking its case to the Court of Session in early 2015 with the objective of…

Six reports looking at the trial reintroduction of beavers at Knapdale in Argyll have been published showing generally positive effects of the trial including increased visitors to the area and manageable effects on other plants and wildlife. The reports will be used to prepare evidence to help the Scottish Government decide whether to permanently introduce beavers to Scotland. The reports consider the health of the beavers and their effect on aquatic plants, woodland, scheduled monuments and public health as well as the socio-economic costs and benefits of the trial. They set out the findings over the five years the Scottish…

A scheme is being launched in the Lochinver area of West Sutherland in a bid to crack down on recent illegal pearl fishing. Investigators in the Riverwatch initiative, part of the LIFE + Pearls in Peril Project, have found three incidents of illegal pearl fishing recently in different rivers in West Sutherland. Pearl fishing is an extremely destructive process that devastates populations of vulnerable pearl mussels. The critically endangered mussels are long-lived and vulnerable to illegal acts of fishing. They have a fascinating life cycle, and their presence in water means it is of a high standard and therefore likely…