Just a few dispersed mink may be left in Lewis and Harris as the long-running drive to rid the islands of the non-native predator reaches its final stretch. The Hebridean Mink Project (HMP) has run since 2001 with the aim of protecting internationally important populations of wader birds from the fur farm escapees. In that time 2,200 mink have been trapped and removed from Lewis and Harris and Uist. The project uses so-called ‘mink police’, small waterproof units attached to the live catch cage traps which are activated when a mink is trapped inside, These mink police units automatically communicate…

Concerted action is needed to ensure a secure future for the Scots pine, which has been declared Scotland's national tree, leading conservation volunteering charity Trees for Life said today. The charity is warning that higher priority must be given urgently to the conservation of Scotland's pinewoods which have recently taken a battering from winter storms. Trees for Life’s Executive Director Alan Watson Featherstone said: “Declaring the Scots pine – bastion of the Caledonian Forest and one of the world’s most beautiful trees – as a national symbol sends a signal to the world that Scotland values its trees as an…

Grazing animals, particularly deer, are a bigger threat to Scotland's woodland than development, according to a new comprehensive survey. The Native Woodland Survey of Scotland has taken Forestry Commission Scotland eight years to complete, from planning to final report. It is the most detailed study of Scotland's woods to date. It has found that a third of Scotland’s native woods show significant damage from grazing animals, particularly deer, and that up to 14 per cent of Scotland’s ancient woodland has been lost since the last survey was completed. Carol Evans, director of the Woodland Trust Scotland said: “The Native Woodland…

A rat on the Isle of Rum is being tagged and its travels round the island logged via satellite in one of the first projects of its kind anywhere in the world. Researchers on Rum National Nature Reserve (NNR) are keen to move closer to understanding the impact of brown rat behaviour on nearby colonies of the Manx shearwater seabird. The work will be carried out by Sean Carlisle, a PhD researcher from Anglia Ruskin University. Rum is owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The island is home to around a quarter of the world’s breeding population of…

The Scottish Beaver Trial, the first ever licensed reintroduction project for beavers in the UK, has won Britain’s Best Conservation Project in the 2013 BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards. The Trial was up against two other conservation projects in this category: a basking shark tagging project aimed at understanding the world’s largest fish and a campaign against the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are having a detrimental effect on bee populations. A partnership between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Scottish Wildlife Trust, the five year study is now in its final monitoring year and fieldwork is scheduled to wrap…

A wind farm proposed near Ben Wyvis in Easter Ross would be “an unacceptable escalation of wind farm development in the area” – in the view of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS), which has lodged an objection with Highland Council planners to the Woodlands Wind Farm proposed for a site between two hills near Dingwall, adjacent to the Ben Wyvis massif. ABO Wind UK Ltd has applied for consent to construct five wind turbines, three of 125m blade-tip height and two of 110m blade-tip height, at Woodlands Farm, Dingwall. While of limited impact on views from the summit plateau…

A Scottish Natural Heritage report considering the options for decommissioning and restoring the sites of redundant wind farms has claimed that leaving the windfarm infrastructure in place would be a positive result for recreational interests. The report – which considers options for windfarms reaching the end of their 25 year useful lifetimes, including “repowering” the sites with new wind turbines, removing all evidence of the windfarm and restoring the site, or simply leaving the redundant infrastructure in place. When comparing the advantages and disadvantages of restoring the sites to their former condition, the report claims that leaving the unused windfarm…