Latest news with #Cairngorms
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Consultation on scrapped national park in Galloway cost £160,000
A government body spent more than £160,000 on a consultation process which ultimately ended in plans for a new national park in Galloway being sum spent by NatureScot was revealed through a freedom of information (FOI) request by the BBC - and is only a fraction of the overall spend on the park said the total spent on the consultation had not been finalised, and final invoices would see the total rise "very slightly".The consultation was held between November and February and its findings were used to help deliver a final decision on whether or not a new national park should be created. The Scottish government said it was "absolutely correct" to support the nomination process. Plans for a new national park - to join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - were part of a power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish that agreement collapsed last year, the process Scottish government revealed in May last year that it had spent more than £300,000 in the earlier stages of the search for a national spent a further £28,000 after Galloway was announced as the preferred potential location for a new national park in July it stressed that civil servants worked "flexibly" across a range of matters making it impossible to specify exact costs in terms of their time. The final stage of the process was the extended consultation - both in person and online - across 14 weeks which was carried out by is a full breakdown of how much this cost:Licence for online engagement platform - £23,220Leaflets (printing and posting) - £20,438Gaelic translation - £215.55Event and other materials - £908.39Consultation events (hall bookings etc) - £5,695.96Facilitation consultants - £62,244.92Analysis consultants - £21,808.80Independent review of consultation - £9,900Board costs and subsistence - £7,982.35Staff costs and subsistence - £11,082.58Total spend (at 20 June 2025) - £163,496.55NatureScot said there were still some outstanding costs which would see the figure rise said it intended to put the final cost on its website by early July. The consultation ultimately led to a recommendation not to take forward the plan for a new national park, which proved a contentious in the concluded - in its role as reporter - that from the views expressed the proposal had "not garnered sufficient support locally to proceed".Instead, it recommended the strengthening of the likes of the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, Galloway Forest Park and national scenic described the consultation as the "largest and most challenging" it had ever Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the Scottish government had weighed up the arguments for and against and agreed not to welcomed the decision, saying the area did not need another "layer of bureaucracy".Campaigners in favour, however, said it was a "huge missed opportunity" and a "big loss" for the region. 'Absolutely correct' The Scottish government said the Galloway nomination had met all the selection criteria to be confirmed as the proposed location for the country's third national said the designation process required a "thorough consultation process" which had been independently reviewed by the Scottish Community Development Centre which found it achieved "very impressive levels of public involvement".A spokesperson said: "The consultation collected more than 5,000 surveys and more than 1,000 people attended events to share their opinion."Based on this engagement and the reporter's recommendations we took the decision not to designate Galloway and Ayrshire as a national park."But it was absolutely correct to support the nomination process, thoroughly consider the application and meet the statutory consultation requirements that such a process demands."
The Independent
19-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Beaver kits born in Cairngorms National Park for second year running
Five beaver kits have been born in Cairngorms National Park for the second year in a row – after a 400-year hiatus. The kits have been captured on camera at two separate sites in the park, in the Scottish Highlands, and hopes are high more may be born on other sites. Beavers were first released into the park less than two years ago in a bid to establish a 'healthy, sustainable' population. The Upper Spey river catchment provides an ideal habitat of wetland and lochs, and it is hoped the beavers will restore the landscape, helping combat climate change and boosting biodiversity. In the autumn, a third round of beavers will be released, amid hopes other land managers may offer to have them on their land. Jonathan Willet, beaver project manager at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: 'It's so exciting to see the new kits emerging from the burrow, exploring the habitat around them with their parents and splashing in the water. 'We're hopeful that there may be even more kits at other sites, which we are monitoring closely over the next few weeks. 'Kits usually stay with their family for two years before leaving the family unit to find a mate. 'Those born last year – the first beaver kits in the Cairngorms National Park for 400 years – are now healthy juveniles who will be ready to start exploring and finding mates of their own over the next year. 'It's heartening to see that this year's breeding season has also been a success.' The Cairngorms National Park Authority has a five-year licence with NatureScot, granted in December 2023, for 15 beaver pairs to be released over half a decade. The first pair of beavers were released into Lochan Mor on Rothiemurchus in December 2023, with subsequent releases at sites owned by partners and private landowners.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Beaver kits born in Cairngorms National Park for second year running
Five beaver kits have been born in Cairngorms National Park for the second year in a row – after a 400-year hiatus. The kits have been captured on camera at two separate sites in the park, in the Scottish Highlands, and hopes are high more may be born on other sites. Beavers were first released into the park less than two years ago in a bid to establish a 'healthy, sustainable' population. The Upper Spey river catchment provides an ideal habitat of wetland and lochs, and it is hoped the beavers will restore the landscape, helping combat climate change and boosting biodiversity. In the autumn, a third round of beavers will be released, amid hopes other land managers may offer to have them on their land. Jonathan Willet, beaver project manager at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: 'It's so exciting to see the new kits emerging from the burrow, exploring the habitat around them with their parents and splashing in the water. 'We're hopeful that there may be even more kits at other sites, which we are monitoring closely over the next few weeks. 'Kits usually stay with their family for two years before leaving the family unit to find a mate. 'Those born last year – the first beaver kits in the Cairngorms National Park for 400 years – are now healthy juveniles who will be ready to start exploring and finding mates of their own over the next year. 'It's heartening to see that this year's breeding season has also been a success.' The Cairngorms National Park Authority has a five-year licence with NatureScot, granted in December 2023, for 15 beaver pairs to be released over half a decade. The first pair of beavers were released into Lochan Mor on Rothiemurchus in December 2023, with subsequent releases at sites owned by partners and private landowners.
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Country diary: Sometimes the shy visitors are the most welcome
As I walk beside a quiet lochan at the hem of the Cairngorms, a goldeneye family speeds into view. The mother is sleek, with russet crown and yellow eye, while her chicks are tousled fluffballs, but matching her in pace and the comical thrusting of the head. With her, they leap into a dive. Moments later, all re-emerge in a carpet of waterlilies, losing any sense of urgency as they meander through the pads. Overhead, gulls wheel and tip, corvids feather the air and a grey heron makes a flappy circuit. Below, four tufted ducks turn in languorous circles, dipping and shaking their glossy heads to full effect in the sunshine. In contrast, sand martins perform aerial circus stunts all across the loch, careening about in their crazy, dippy flight, glancing off the water and catapulting into the air. Round to the right, something has irked the greylag geese, and the sound of ruffled feathers grows into wingbeats and an outraged honking as they rise and circle and land again. A flotilla launches into the water, fuzzy brown goslings in tow, everybody still a-cluck about something. Meanwhile, a dumpy little bird has been cutting a silver path across the water on the far side, but diving every time I train the binoculars on it and resurfacing far away. Gradually, it paddles closer and I catch enough glimpses to discover that it is a little grebe. The smallest and least flashy of the European grebes, also called a dabchick, is fairly common across the UK's inland waters, but no less charming. Its distinctive summer markers are the coppery cheeks and throat, the pale gape at the bill and the 'powder puff' rear feathers. Both parents build a raft nest, incubate the eggs and feed the chicks, sometimes carrying them on their backs. It is generally shy and spends more time in long dives than flying. Today, though, in an inexplicable change of character, it suddenly lifts its skirts and tears across the lily pads as if running for its life. There is no apparent cause. It plumps down again on the other side, shakes its tail feathers and spirits underwater. The lochan ripples and resettles. All is well. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Is this the world's toughest job... catching tiny ANTS at 1,700 sq-mile beauty spot?
IT'S a task that makes looking for a needle in a haystack seem easy – hunting down a tiny insect in a vast area of Scottish wilderness. Yet as part of a remarkable project to save one of the country's rarest creatures from extinction, trackers are now being challenged to scour the Cairngorms National Park in search of the narrow-headed ant. It may not have the same profile as other at-risk animals such as the rhino or panda, but conservationists believe the half-inch long ant deserves to be protected – as it plays a surprisingly large role in the well-being of our ancient pine forests. In Scotland, narrow-headed ants are known to nest in just a handful of places in the Cairngorms, while the UK's only other recognised population is found at a single site in Devon in the south-west of England. And despite previous conservation schemes, its numbers are declining at a worrying rate. Now the body which runs the 1,700 square-mile Cairngorms National Park wants to reverse the insect's fortunes by setting up a captive breeding programme. The park authority has set aside £50,000 to hire experts to carry out an 'ant captive rearing project' that will last for up to three years. The aim is to establish at least 50 'farmed' colonies and build up large populations of the creatures in captivity – before later releasing them into new sites in the wild. The first major hurdle, however, involves being able to track down and capture enough of the ants to start the breeding programme. Cairngorms conservation officer Hayley Wiswell said: 'This work is ground-breaking and could completely change the fate of the species in the UK. 'But finding the nests can be challenging. They're about the size of half a football, sometimes even as small as a fist. 'They're made with pine needles, twigs, heather, moss and grass, so they're really well camouflaged. 'And they're found in woodland among pine or birch trees, on lumpy, mossy ground with lots of hummocks, hollows and deep heather. Sometime you don't see them until you're on top of them.' To set up the colonies, the trackers will need to find queens and males from different nests. Ms Wiswell added: 'You have to sit by the nest early in the morning on a cloudy but mild day – and as they come out, you have to pick them off the surface really quickly. It's tricky because the queens in particular are really fast – you have to sneak up on them and grab them.' Caution is needed as the ants can deliver a sharp, pin-prick bite. The narrow-headed ant – scientific name Formica exsecta – is black and red, with a characteristic notch in the back of its head. It builds a distinctive domed nest typically containing around 1,000 individuals. Males are up to 10mm long while queens are slightly larger, at around 12mm. Queens and males from different nests will be put together in a netted cage to mate before being moved to 'ant modules' – purpose-made enclosures that replicate an underground nest's tunnels. The aim is for the queen to start producing eggs which will then seed the captive colony. The ants will be kept in their modules under close supervision for 12 months until they are self-sufficient enough to survive in the wild. Ms Wiswell added: 'Nobody's done this before – it's really experimental.' Despite the difficulties, she explained that the tiny ants offered huge benefits for the environment. 'They are a keystone species, doing all kinds of things in the ecosystem,' she said. 'They're highly predatory and prey on herbivorous insects like caterpillars which can defoliate plants. They also interact with the soil because their nests are largely subterranean – earthworms, for example, are significantly more prevalent around ant mounds. 'They also pick up and disperse plant seeds throughout the environment. And of course they provide a food source for lots of other animals, like badgers and pine martens.' Nests have been identified on the Mar Lodge Estate, a national nature reserve that covers 70,000 acres in the Cairngorms and is run by the National Trust for Scotland. The recruitment advert for trackers says: 'The species is considered to be vulnerable. Captive breeding is considered to be the next step to securing the future of this species at Mar Lodge Estate, near Braemar, and to expand the population on Deeside. 'This work is still very much experimental, and as such methods for captive rearing will need to be tested. ' Anyone taking on the task of tracking the narrow- headed ant is advised they should have access to a 4x4 vehicle, or be willing to mountain bike, walk and camp overnight in remote locations.
