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publication today by Scottish Natural Heritage of new detailed descriptions of Scotland’s 42 Wild Land Areas, and its draft guidance for developers.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…

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…

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…

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…

Reintroduced red kite numbers are on the rise throughout much of Scotland, with at least 283 pairs in 2015, but a new Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) report has found the population in the North Scotland continues to grow more slowly than other reintroduced populations. The report updates earlier work and suggests that illegal killing is still considered to be the main reason red kite numbers are not higher in North Scotland. The report, commissioned by SNH and carried out by RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science, found that, although not at risk of decline, the red kite population in North Scotland…