Restrictions on a section of the West Highland Way near Conic Hill will mean a diversion for walkers with dogs during the lambing season. Lambing will be take place between 15th April and 15th May 2012 inclusive and will mean that walkers cannot take their dogs into the field with ewes in lamb, where the West Highland Way comes out of Garadhban Forest. The diversion for walkers with dogs is via Drymen, along the B837 Balmaha Road through Milton of Buchanan to Balmaha from where walkers with dogs can ascend Conic Hill with their dog if want to. Signs will…

The small island where Gavin Maxwell, author of the Ring of Bright Water, lived out the final years of his life is likely to be put up for sale. Eilean Bàn lies beneath the Skye Bridge and is currently owned by Transport Scotland who say that they no longer require the land. Gavin Maxwell moved to the island from nearby at Sandaig, where he had lived with a number of semi-tame otters, and continued to write from the island as well as develop plans for a wildlife park. The island is currently leased to the Eilean Bàn Trust who run…

The National Trust for Scotland is looking for new tenants to take over the running of one of the remotest guest houses in the UK Tighard Guest House is an established bed and breakfast business on the island of Canna. It was built around 1905 and is a two storey detached house with rear kitchen extension which commands an elevated position above Canna Bay. The National Trust for Scotland’s Manager of Canna, Stewart Connor said: “This is a unique proposition for people who enjoy hard work and want to live in one of the loveliest of settings possible. “Tighard Guest…

Celebrations for the planting of the Millionth Tree by conservation charity Trees for Life in Scotland's Caledonian Forest will be launched in March with a two-month lecture tour across Britain by the charity's founder and executive director, Alan Watson Featherstone. From Ullapool to Devon, Alan will travel the length and breadth of the country throughout March and April to inform and inspire audiences with The Millionth Tree lecture tour. Trees for Life will plant its Millionth Tree in May. Alan said: “The lectures will be a celebration, and a positive and inspiring call to action. The story of Trees for…

Forestry Commission Scotland is appealing to people across the area for help in tracing anyone who might have a connection with memorial plaques at Glencoe Lochan. The plea comes as the Commission’s Lochaber team prepare to carry out upgrade work to the Glencoe Lochan trails. This will include replacing some of the benches and picnic tables around the Lochan, some of which carry memorial plaques. Kirsty Mann of the Forestry Commissions Lochaber team said, “Several years ago it was common for us to agree to have memorials sited here but unfortunately many of the benches and tables with plaques have…

Anyone looking for a stunning way to get over the January blues is invited to join one of a series of night time trips to Galloway Dark Sky Park and be star-struck. Forestry Commission Scotland’s Galloway team says that although we’re half way through the 2011/12 observing season (October to April), it’s not yet too late to look skyward and experience something amazing – and profound. Lucy Hadley, Recreation Ranger with the Commission’s Galloway team, said: “Winter, on a clear night,  is the best time to go star-gazing because it gets properly dark early on in the evening. “In a…

The contents of a mailboat launched from St Kilda on 29 July 2011 have been discovered on the Norwegian island of Frøya. The postcards were found by local farmer Knut Wågø, as he walked his dogs on the beach on 2 January 2012. The cards, which had been placed in a traditional St Kildan mailboat, travelled over 600 miles before reaching land. St Kilda, which is owned and cared for the National Trust for Scotland, is the UK’s only Dual World Heritage site, designated for both its natural and cultural characteristics. It is believed that the site was inhabited by…

Highland Council’s planning committee members today deferred their decision on the controversial Allt Duine wind farm and will carry out a site visit in the New Year. Supporters of the Save the Monadhliath Mountains (SMM) campaign who have fought the plans welcomed the pause, although they stressed that this would not distract them from their goal of achieving an objection by the council to the application for the large wind farm on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park near Kincraig. Outdoor author, photographer and former President of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, Chris Townsend, is a spokesman for the…