The new website with deer stalking information for walkers has been officially launched by Cameron McNeish today. The new service will supplement the existing ‘Hillphones’ service. This alerts hillwalkers and climbers about locations at which red deer stalking takes place through regularly updated phone messages from 1 July to 20 October. The new pilot website covers 13 estates in the Hillphones and Blackmount areas with more expected to be added this month.
Hillphones is coordinated and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) and participating estates and covers popular mountain areas in Scotland. It was set up in 1996 and currently covers 12 areas around Scotland including 82 Munros and 32 Corbetts, as well as other hills.
Welcoming the initiative, Cameron McNeish said, “As a keen walker myself, I understand the need for responsible access on the hills. This pilot website will help this to happen and builds on the success of the Hillphones service.
“The estates which have signed up to provide this service for walkers deserve credit too and are a great example of the spirit of co-operation encouraged by the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.”
The pilot website – called “heading for the Scottish hills” – has been developed by SNH along with the National Access Forum which brings together recreation, land management and public bodies to advise on outdoors access.
Andrew Bachell, SNH director of operations south, stressed, “Hillphones is a popular scheme which allows walkers to enjoy their day on the hill and be confident that they are not disturbing stalking.
“The pilot website takes this a step further by exploring a new way of providing this information. We are therefore delighted that the initiative has reached this stage and we would like to thank all the organisations who have worked together, through the National Access Forum, to achieve this. We will review the pilot scheme at the end of the stalking season and decide on the next steps based on the feedback we receive.”
And Hebe Carus, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) access and conservation officer, said: “The MCofS is excited about the launch of the long-awaited web service. A questionnaire of mountaineers more than a year ago showed hill walkers are looking for just such a web-based service.
“We can only promote genuinely responsible access with respect to deer stalking if the information is reliable and easily available and we are committed to ensuring the pilot website is successful – so we need plenty of feedback from walkers who have used the system.”
Finlay Clark, secretary of the Association of Deer Management Groups, said: “We have worked closely with recreation bodies and SNH to develop this pilot website, with the shared aim of helping walking and stalking to take place side by side during the stalking season. We therefore strongly support this new initiative.”
The website takes its name and some of its inspiration from the popular ‘Heading for the Scottish Hills’ book, a collaboration between landowners and mountaineers which was published between 1988 and 1996. For the first time it provided hill-goers with an easy way to identify and contact stalking estates to find out where stalking was taking place.
Access the site here and if you have time please fill in the short questionnaire (not forgetting to mention that you found it on Walkhighlands!).