BY CALUM CAMPBELL Let’s cut straight to it. The Cairngorms National Park is shouting from the rooftops about a 30% increase in capercaillie numbers this year. They’re claiming their £12-13m Emergency Plan is working. But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find something rather inconvenient. Kinveachy Estate – which is part of Seafield and Strathspey estates – saw their capercaillie numbers leap from 25 to … Continue reading Greenwashing Lek Counts?
BY BERT BURNETT RSPB, We Warned You As the smoke continues to drift across the A9 and the acrid smell of scorched Caledonian pinewood lingers in the glens, we must take stock of the reality that has unfolded in the Cairngorms over the past week. Over 10 square kilometres of one of our most fragile and treasured habitats has been reduced to ash. More than … Continue reading Burning Questions
BY PHIL MARKS The Return of the Capercaillie to Seafield & Strathspey In the ancient pinewoods of Kinveachy and Castle Grant, a sound that had grown dangerously faint is echoing once more. This spring, the misty clearings of the Seafield & Strathspey Estates have resonated with the distinctive calls of 43 male capercaillie, a notable increase from the 25 recorded last year. In the hushed … Continue reading A Fragile Dawn
BY CALUM CAMPBELL There is a particular strain of environmentalist for whom the Scottish Highlands represent nothing less than a crime scene. They gaze upon the heather-clad hills and see a “devastated countryside” — a forest felled by human wickedness, kept treeless only by the tyranny of deer and sheep. There is only one problem. They are talking rot. Dr James Fenton, a retired ecologist, … Continue reading A Very Moorish Idyll
BY BERT BURNETT This recent article Scotland: The Big Picture (SBP), which uses Slovenia as a model for potential lynx reintroduction in Scotland, is a textbook case of advocacy masquerading as objective analysis. It presents a seductive but profoundly misleading comparison, one that exemplifies a growing concern: you simply cannot trust these narratives when they peddle a partial story, economically with the truth to suit … Continue reading Lies, Legerdemain, and Lynx
BY BERT BURNETT A spectre is haunting the Highlands—and it is not the ghost of rebellions past. It is the sleek, corporate spectre of the ‘mega-laird’, armed not with claymores but with spreadsheets, investment portfolios, and a publicly-stated aim to “save the world”. As highlighted in a recent opinion piece by Dr. Josh Doble, these entities—billionaires, asset managers, and firms like Exeter-based Oxygen Conservation—are acquiring … Continue reading The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds
BY SIMON MACFAUL It’s a story that perfectly captures the cognitive dissonance at the heart of modern Scottish conservation. Across Europe, from the sun-drenched forests of Spain to the scrublands of Portugal, a quiet, antlered revolution is underway. Conservationists are strategically releasing herds of deer into vulnerable landscapes. Why? Because these animals, through their careful browsing, naturally reduce the dense, dry undergrowth that acts as … Continue reading The Scottish Paradox: Vermin Here, Vanguards There
BY ROGER WATSON Just a ten-minute walk from the noise and tourists on Princes Street, on the fringes of Edinburgh’s New Town, sits a haven of tranquillity steeped in military history: The Royal Scots Club. I was introduced by a former military colleague and have been a lucky member for several years. Though I live a long way from Edinburgh, the Club has become my … Continue reading The Royal Scots Club
BY CALUM CAMPBELL The recent wildfires in Moray have left a trail of destruction, with stories circulating and facts still emerging. What’s clear is that lessons must be learned—and acted upon—to better handle such disasters in the future. While many are more qualified to speak on this, here are my thoughts. How the Fires Started The Coastguard, during an exercise near Carrbridge, fired a flare … Continue reading Wildfires in Moray: Lessons Learnt?
BY IAN MITCHELL Angus Martin and the Mull of Kintyre For once I shall abstain from thought about the restless-spirited denizens of the dark side who run this country, both nationally and locally, and concentrate instead on a trilogy which celebrates the beauty of life in one of the few parts of Scotland where outdoor life is still largely free of environmental corruption. That part … Continue reading The Sound of Silence
The next President of the United States is 78, and has already been shot at once while under secret service protection. He happened to turn his head as the bullet flew past him, which almost certainly saved his life. What if the next assassination attempt is successful? The chances are small but, given American history, not that small. Seven of the 46 presidents to date … Continue reading James David Vance – Who Is He Really?
BY IAN MITCHELL Kintyre, a region renowned for its stunning natural landscapes, is facing a significant threat from the expansion of wind farms, some towering as high as an eighth of a mile. This rapid development, perceived by many as environmental vandalism, is being driven by the Scottish government and executed by profit-driven power firms from around the globe. Critics argue that Scotland’s breathtaking beauty … Continue reading Kintyre’s Environmental Vandals
BY HAMISH GOBSON Climate change and the political utility of a “Crisis” Anyone who has followed the development of the windfarm industry in Scotland will have been struck by the effort which the Scottish government puts into further impoverishing both underprivileged city dwellers and all rural ones. The former suffer from artificially high power costs, and the latter from that plus the desecration of their visual environment … Continue reading “Crisis”
BY EFFIE DEANS For the past week nothing of any worth has been written about Alex Salmond. De mortuis nil nisi bonum is a maxim that applies even to Nicola Sturgeon, but if it applies even to your greatest enemy it makes for very dull reading. But the problem with Alex Salmond is that there is already too much mystery without adding yet more statements … Continue reading Salmond Created the SNP’s Failure
BY EFFIE DEANS During the day of the referendum in September 2014 Alex Salmond (R.I.P) thought Yes had won. Polls and momentum were with the SNP. David Cameron was panicking. We might have woken up to a world where Alex Salmond was the First Minister of an independent Scotland in March 2016. In that case would he have been investigated and eventually charged with sexual … Continue reading Did Sturgeon Want a Criminal to Lead an Independent Scotland?
BY HAMISH GOBSON As the power of the nationalist wreckers in Holyrood declines, so the prospects for a comparable programme of socialist wrecking in Westminster rise. Many’s the Todday teacup whose soggy leaves have compared Keir Starmer’s greed with that of the seagulls outside the Snorvaig chip shop. My own fronds have been even more outspoken, giving “gannet” whenever the words Reeves and Rayner are … Continue reading How the SNP Dallied with “Participatory Dictatorship”
BY EFFIE DEANS Scottish nationalism was decisively defeated in July 2024 when only 30% of Scottish voters chose to support the SNP and it won nine seats. Alba won 11,000 votes. But there are those who wish to revive the corpse with a form a necromancy called setting the goal posts for a second referendum and turning Scotland into Northern Ireland. The truth however is … Continue reading Reviving the SNP Corpse
BY CALUM CAMPBELL Scotland’s forestry and woodland creation schemes are coming under scrutiny, with growing concerns about the harmful impact they are having on already endangered wildlife. This is your chance to push for change in the way these schemes are regulated and implemented, to protect our natural heritage for future generations. A case in point is the Muckrach Estate near Grantown-on-Spey, which recently received … Continue reading Forestry and Woodland Creation Regulation
BY EFFIE DEANS For nearly three hundred years Scotland was quite happy to be part of the UK. The rise of the SNP happened for two reasons. One was Conservative rule in the 1980s, which Scots resented because we voted Labour. The other was the Scottish Parliament, which was both a response to Thatcherism and enabled the SNP to gain power in a way that … Continue reading Tis Ten Years Since
BY HAMISH GOBSON Ever since Nicola Sturgeon crashed and burned, and Humza Yousaf promised to emigrate, the question of the Union has gone off the boil in Scotland. The Westminster election earlier this year demonstrated that conclusively. But there are still lunatics in the Holyrood asylum so a study of the Scottish source of the Union idea is welcome. Parochial nationalism gives many people who do not … Continue reading The Scottish Origins of the United Kingdom
