A huge and highly controversial windfarm in the Monadhliath mountains looks set to go ahead once more after judges overturned the decision of last years’ judicial review following an appeal. The windfarm had originally been given planning consent by the Scottish Government in 2014, but wild land conservation charity the John Muir Trust had challenged the decision, and a judicial review last December judges had found that the government’s decision had been “defective”, overturning the plans. However SSE and the Scottish Government appealed against the ruling, and judges have now overturned the judicial review. The original decision to grant consent…

A male hen harrier chick was satellite tagged today at the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate, following the first successful breeding attempt on the estate by this iconic raptor species in several decades. Four chicks were produced in total and one of these has been tagged as part of the RSPB’s Hen Harrier LIFE project, which is part-funded by the European LIFE scheme and cosmetics company, LUSH. David Frew, Property Manager at Mar Lodge Estate said “It is fantastic news and really exciting to see these birds returning to the estate for the first time in living memory.…

A new marine wildlife visitor centre has been launched in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull by conservation charity Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust – to strengthen conservation action for whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and to develop the Hebrides’ appeal as a wildlife tourism hotspot. The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Centre on Tobermory’s picturesque harbour front was formally opened this month, and will be a learning, training and volunteering hub, as well as providing a major attraction for visitors, including families and children. The building’s transformation has been funded as part of a grant of almost £220,000 from the UK…

An iconic but once derelict mountain bothy in Glen Affric has been transformed into an eco-friendly rewilding base by Trees for Life – creating the springboard for an ambitious 25-year programme of forest restoration which will extend Scotland’s Caledonian Forest towards the country’s west coast. Around 100 people gathered at the remote Athnamulloch Bothy – which lies west of Loch Affric, on the National Forest Estate managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland – on Sunday 29 May to celebrate the building’s £137,000 renovation, which has been funded by generous donations and grants. Broadcaster, writer and Trees for Life Patron Vanessa Collingridge…

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…