Nature

Edinburgh: a half green city

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Ben Dolphin

A friend of mine once told me of the time she was showing a Parisian client around Edinburgh and how, as a proud Reekie resident, she made a point of taking her visitor to all the best vantage points and sights. At the end of the day, eager for his opinion on the city, she asked him what he thought. To her surprise the man remarked that he had never seen such a tree-less, park-less, stone clad city. As someone who knew Edinburgh’s parks and greenspaces very well I was as taken aback by the story as my friend was…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Gamekeeping and mountaineering bodies voice landscape fears

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Helen Webster

Two unlikely allies have joined together to press Scottish Government to develop a land use policy which protects Scotland’s world-renowned landscapes, and ensures access for recreation. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association and Mountaineering Scotland have written a joint letter to Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham MSP, concerned at the potential impacts fragmented policy may have on Scotland’s rare open landscapes. Both organisations fear a lack of joined up thinking could see the loss of internationally rare landscapes as Scottish Government pursues a policy of large scale afforestation without a blueprint to preserve its celebrated vistas. In the letter to Ms Cunningham the…

Posted in Access issues, Nature

Conservation partnership calls on Highland Council to safeguard its Ranger Services

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Helen Webster

Four conservation charities in the Highlands have called upon Highland Council to maintain its Ranger Services which are believed to be under threat as a result of budget cuts. RSPB Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the John Muir Trust have joined forces to highlight the importance of the Ranger Service to Highland communities, schools and the region’s tourism businesses. The charities believe the Council’s Ranger Services play an important role in engaging people in the natural environment leading to substantial associated benefits in terms of the tourist spend in Highland and health and welfare…

Posted in Access issues, Nature

Trust welcomes SNH work to explain value of Scotland’s Wild Land Areas

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Helen Webster

The John Muir Trust welcomed the publication today by Scottish Natural Heritage of new detailed descriptions of Scotland’s 42 Wild Land Areas, and its draft guidance for developers. John Muir Trust Chief Executive Stuart Brooks said: “We applaud the work that SNH has carried out to create vivid and detailed descriptions of each individual wild land area, which examine landscape, ecology, geology, archaeology and current human activity. “They will help bring to life Scotland’s most beautiful, wild and remote places – turning lines on maps into real places. “We hope these descriptions will serve as much more than an aid…

Posted in Nature

Mountaineering Scotland objects to Glen Etive phone mast

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Paul Webster

Mountaineers have called on Highland Council to reject a bid to site a phone mast right next to the road down Glen Etive, one of Scotland’s most famed and beautiful glens. Telecomms company EE has sought permission to site a 10m-high phone mast and ancillary structures at the roadside in the glen, at a prominent corner near the southern end of Buachaille Etive Mor. Mountaineering Scotland has objected to the planning application, arguing that the mast – and two others being considered for the glen – would be visually intrusive in a landscape that has featured in tourism publicity and…

Posted in Nature

Bare hill of the hind

Posted on January 14, 2017 by David Lintern

Are deer eating us out of house and home? David Lintern weighs the evidence in the latest battle for the heart of the beast. Red Deer may be Scottish icons, but they represent much more than a shortbread tin version of our beautiful country. They are at the heart of an ongoing struggle over land use and ownership, symbolic of our nature both wild and tamed, and are emblematic of the often-ambiguous relationship with the ground under our feet. And lest we forget in a sea of tourist (card)board cutouts and political metaphors, they are also real, physical animals… over…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Walkers invited to Wild Film Festival

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Helen Webster

Walkers are being invited to discover the hills, coasts, moors and woodlands of Dumfries and Galloway as part of the new Wild Film Festival Scotland (WFFS). The themes of the festival to be held in Dumfries from 24-26 March, are amazing journeys, wild places and rewilding – which will be celebrated through outstanding film, photography and discussion. At the same time the organisers, led by a group of local conservation charities, are encouraging visitors to spend time exploring one of the country’s less familiar but most beautiful regions. The festival will feature high-profile speakers such as Springwatch presenter and documentary…

Posted in Nature, News

Beavers are back for good

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Paul Webster

The Scottish Government has announced today that the Eurasian beaver is to be formally recognised as a native species, 400 years after being hunted to extinction in the UK. The two lead partners in the Scottish Beaver Trial – the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust – have warmly welcomed the decision. Returning beavers to Scotland’s lochs and rivers is the first formal mammal reintroduction in UK history. Today’s announcement is a major success story for conservation, and the culmination of nearly two decades’ work, said the two partners, adding that they are delighted to…

Posted in Magazine, Nature

Rob Roy Way windfarm inquiry starts

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Helen Webster

The John Muir Trust will be giving evidence to a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) into the Crossburns wind farm, which will be heard this week (15-18 November) in Aberfeldy Town Hall. The PLI was triggered when Perth & Kinross Council unanimously agreed to oppose the 25-turbine development on the hills above Aberfeldy close to the route of the Rob Roy Way. The JMT also lodged an objection because of the cumulative impact of wind turbines on the Highland Perthshire landscape, whose wild qualities attract visitors from all over the world. With two major wind farms already spread across the area…

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Return of the reds gives hope to iconic species

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Helen Webster

An innovative project to boost the number of the UK’s red squirrels by relocating individuals to woodlands they cannot reach by themselves is taking a major step forward this month. Conservation experts at the charity Trees for Life will carefully relocate red squirrels from Inverness-shire and Moray to forests near Kinlochewe and at Plockton, where the species is currently absent despite there being suitable habitat for squirrels. The Red Squirrel Reintroduction Project aims to establish 10 new populations in the northwest Highlands, significantly increasing both the numbers and range of the red squirrel in the UK. “We are giving red…

Posted in Nature