Work will start on Donald Trump’s controversial Aberdeenshire golf course today. Last Tuesday Councillors gave the go-ahead to one stage of the planned £1 billion resort and work is expected to begin on the golf course and associated developments such as a driving range, today. The golf course and plans for a hotel and hundreds of houses within a gated community will be built partly on land designated as a SSSI at Menie, just north of Aberdeen. The plans already have outline planning permission following a public inquiry, but Councillors are due to make the final decision on the rest…

Another batch of sea eagle chicks have just been flown in to Edinburgh as part of a reintroduction project for the east of Scotland. The 19 white tailed eagle chicks were welcomed at Edinburgh Airport by Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham. The five-week old chicks will stay at a secret location in Fife until they have developed their flight feathers. The RSPB is running the project and has previously introduced sea eagles successfully in the area, following a much longer and successful project on the west coast which began in the 1970s. Ms Cunningham said, “The white tailed sea eagle was…

The John Muir Trust (JMT) has launched two petitions to urge the UK and Scottish governments to give greater protection to the country’s last remaining wild land. The petition in Scotland calls for wild land to be protected by a new environmental designation. The petition for the UK calls for National Park areas to be expanded and created to cover the best areas of wild land. Helen McDade, head of policy at the JMT, said: “We aim to use these petitions to send a clear signal to the government that many thousands of people care passionately about wild land and…

Fears are mounting for the future survival of the UK’s oldest breeding female osprey. The 25-year-old bird, which has significantly outstripped the average eight-year lifespan of an osprey, began showing signs of poor health last Friday night (18 June) and continued to decline over the weekend as it became unable to open its eyes, stand over its chicks, and stopped eating. The bird had astounded wildlife experts when it returned to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve for the 20th consecutive year this March. As the demise was watched by Scottish Wildlife Trust staff along with…