Call for withdrawal of Rannoch wind farm

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Helen Webster

Mountaineers and conservation groups have written to a Dutch firm calling for it to respect Scotland’s most precious wild lands and abandon plans for an industrial scale wind farm. Eventus BV, through a wholly-owned UK subsidiary Talladh a Bheithe Wind Farm Ltd, has applied to build 24 wind turbines, each 125m tall, together with 12.8km of wide access tracks, buildings and infrastructure, in Rannoch, Perthshire, in one of the most celebrated and beautiful areas of the Scottish Highlands. The application was made the very day the Scottish Government declared that such areas, formally recognised as Wild Lands by Scottish Natural…

Posted in Nature

Clock change increases deer risk on roads

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Helen Webster

As the clocks turn back this evening, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is warning motorists that the risk of collisions between deer and vehicles increase in certain parts of Scotland. Car accidents involving deer peak at this time of year. With night falling earlier, the peak commuting time coincides with deer coming out to feed on grass verges near roadsides. Because of this, SNH, in conjunction with Transport Scotland and Traffic Scotland, are placing warning messages on electronic variable messaging signs. From the evening of Sunday, 26 October to Monday, 17 November, the signs will warn motorists at key locations on…

Posted in Uncategorized

Highland red squirrels may escape deadly pox

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Helen Webster

New research on the spread of squirrelpox has revealed both good and bad news for the ability of the Scottish red squirrel population to survive the deadly virus. The report, commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) suggests that the pox will continue to spread and possibly wipe out red squirrels in areas where grey squirrels already live but that the disease could be kept out of areas where reds dominate and there are no, or very few greys. These areas include the Highlands, parts of Tayside, Argyll, Moray and Aberdeenshire. However in order to contain the virus in Southern Scotland…

Posted in Nature

Prepare for winter as the clocks go back

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Helen Webster

As the clocks go back this weekend it’s time for walkers and climbers to ‘go back’ to their winter kit. With days getting shorter, a head torch is an essential part of equipment. But the end of British Summer Time is also a reminder of other changes in Scotland’s mountains. Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Adviser with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland advises: “Shorter daylight hours, dropping temperatures and the first dusting of snow on the hill are obvious indicators for the hill walker to think about extra kit in their rucksacks. “A head torch – and spare battery – is…

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Iona: Walking Within Small Bounds

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Linda Cracknell

Linda Cracknell is an-award winning writer based in the Scottish Highlands and known for her creative approach to exploring wild places and man’s interaction with them. Walkhighlands will be publishing a specially-commissioned piece emphasising the cultural aspects of the Scottish landscape on a quarterly basis. ‘I think I’ve fallen in love,’ Kate said, less than 24 hours into our enchantment. We were sitting on a small hill on the island’s south east corner, looking north towards the village, the ferry plying to and fro from Fionnphort, the abbey sunlit and watchful beyond. To the south-east the archipelago of islands and…

Posted in Features, Magazine

Shooting the Breeze: the Colin Prior interview

Posted on October 18, 2014 by David Lintern

This month David Lintern interviews Colin Prior, one of Scotland’s finest landscape photographers, in an exclusive interview for Walkhighlands ahead of his upcoming retrospective publication, Scotland’s Finest Landscapes. Let’s start with the project that you’ve been spending a lot of time on of late – The Karakoram, in Pakistan. How did that come about, and what have you been doing this year towards it? My interest in the Karakoram Mountains was originally sparked by a book entitled In the Throne Room of the Mountains Gods, which I discovered in our local library. I could see from the log at the…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Photography

Dates announced for Winter Safety Talks

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Helen Webster

The MCofS has announced the dates for this year’s winter safety talks. These are always entertaining as well as informative and if you’re lucky enough to bag a seat at the Aviemore Mountain Cafe nights you’ll also have the option of a slap up meal. Most of the evenings will be presented by Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Advisor with the MCofS. With a lifetime’s experience in the mountains, Heather has been a professional mountaineer for 25 years and for the last 12 years has been an active member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. The talks will focus on essential…

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Rob Woodall becomes first uber-bagger as Marilyns completed

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Paul Webster

Rob Woodall became the first person to complete the ultimate hill-bagging list – the Marilyns – when he completed ascents of Stac Lee and Stac an Armin on the St Kilda archipelago on Monday. Also in the group was Eddie Dealtry, who became the second person to complete the Marilyns. The Marilyns are the 1,556 British hills to have at least 150m of descent on all sides, based on a list originally drawn up by Alan Dawson in his book, the Relative Hills of Britain, and updated many times since. In the book, published in 1992, Dawson predicted that someone…

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Double boost for Glen Affric conservation projects

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Helen Webster

Plans to protect and restore one of Scotland’s most iconic and beautiful glens, alongside wildlife such as golden eagles, Scottish wildcats and red squirrels, received a double boost last week when charity Trees for Life won funding of almost £80,000 for new forest conservation projects in Glen Affric near Loch Ness. The initiatives will involve the planting of 20,000 trees, opportunities for hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds to gain health benefits and conservation training, and the creation of an eco-friendly wilderness base at a remote mountain bothy. Shona Robison, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games and Sport, announced…

Posted in Nature

Perthshire Council slammed over access failure

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Helen Webster

A council has been accused of failing to uphold access rights to one of Scotland’s most beautiful glens and to the mountains above it. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) has accused Perth and Kinross Council of failing in its duty over an estate owned by Major Alastair Riddell in Glen Lyon. The MCofS, which represents mountaineers and hill-walkers in Scotland, has demanded that the council hold an investigation into its failure and come up with plans to secure proper year-round access. The MCofS says that for many years the owner of the North Chesthill Estate in Glen Lyon has…

Posted in Access issues, News