The Isle of May is celebrating its first-ever Seal Open Day on Sunday, 23 September, opening a new world for visitors used to coming to the island to see its seabirds. Up to 100 grey seals can be seen around the island at any time of year, but their numbers increase in Autumn and Winter when up to 4,000 seals haul themselves onto the rocky shores of the island to have their pups and mate. This makes the Isle of May the fifth largest breeding colony of grey seals in the UK, and the largest on the east coast of…

The pay phone at Derry Lodge, in the Cairngorms (NO 041 934) will cease to be operational from the end of this month. Calls have dwindled from the pay phone as a result of the increased use of mobile phones by the walking and mountaineering community and the age of the line is showing by the frequency of faults. Braemar Mountain Rescue Team was instrumental in getting the payphone installed at Derry Lodge in an era before mobile phones and when the long walk out to the Linn of Dee or even Braemar might have caused serious delays to the…

The Coire Gabhail bridge, used to access routes into the Lost Valley and Gearr Aonach in Glencoe is to remain closed until further notice. Essential repair work is being carried out by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and was due to be completed in mid-august. The NTS now says that ‘unforseen circumstances’ means the repairs are taking longer than the planned 8 weeks and that as the bridge has been removed and there is no safe crossing point where the bridge was, walkers and climbers should use an alternative approach. The alternative bridge is at Coire Nan Lochan (NN…

Walkers are being warned that a bothy in the Cairngorms is soon to shut for a fortnight of repairs. The Hutchison Memorial Hut will be closed from 31 August for two weeks while volunteers from the Mountain Bothy Association undertake a major programme of repairs. The Hutchison Hut is situated in Coire Etchachan at around 2,500 feet. It was built in 1954 with kind permission of the Trustees of the late Duke of Fife as a mountain refuge. The building was paid for by friends of the late Dr A G Hutchison of Aberdeen, who was killed in a climbing…

A diversion on the West Highland Way is currently in place to allow work to clear storm damaged trees. The affected route is in Garadhban Forest just a short way out of Drymen on the Drymen to Rowardennan section of the popular long distance walk. A signed diversion is in place and work may take up to a year to complete. Forestry Commission Scotland is urging local people and visitors to respect any signage they encounter during their visit, which as well as advising of diversions, aims to keep people safe and warn them of a significant public safety risk.…

A road on Mull will be closed for the “forseeable future” according to Argyll and Bute council, after heavy rain caused a landslide and damage to three bridges near Knock on the B8035. 11 hillwalkers and 5 cars were stranded following the landslide on Thursday night, before being rescued by boat. Council leader Roddy McCuish thanked those involved in the rescue, and said that road engineers will assess the damage and look at both short and long term measures to restore the road. The route is the usual shortest access used by hillwalkers heading for Ben More, the only Munro…

A hop-on/hop-off bus service catering for walkers, cyclists, visitors and locals will tour the Breadalbane area this summer. The Ring of Breadalbane Explorer includes stops at Lochearnhead, Killin, Weem, Aberfeldy, Comrie and Crieff. Of particular interest to walkers will be stops at the Ben Lawers Hotel above Loch Tay, and at Amulree allowing walkers to explore Loch Freuchie or the Rob Roy Way. At present the Rob Roy Way has a delightful two-stage optional detour whttps://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/loch-freuchie.shtmlhich is broken at Amulree where the only public transport is the school bus, the new service, with 3 buses a day in each direction,…