Conservationists have a blind spot
Not for the first time the interests of capercaillie have been put ahead of humans when it comes to a major housing application in Strathspey.
The species was extinct by the late 1700s after centuries of forest destruction and hunting but populations were reintroduced from Sweden in the early 1800s.
Numbers rose to around 20,000 birds in the 1970s but within two decades that number had drastically declined to around 1,000 birds.
The pine marten – a native and chief predator of capercaillie eggs and chicks – has been protected in the UK since 1988.
It’s not rocket science is it? But still conservationists look for all other kinds of reasons why capercaillie have been struggling including the disturbance by man.
But we’re no longer hunting them for food and fun, we just want to live side by side.
Public bodies have squandered at least £5 million pounds on trying to recover capercaillie populations in recent years when all the time the answer is staring them in the face.
But they and conservationists refuse to acknowledge that nature has a big part to play in this and look to apportion blame elsewhere to the detriment of our communities.
Interestingly this same week a publicly funded project to wipe out mink – an overseas intruder – to protect native species in the Cairngorms National Park has been shortlisted for a prestigious conservation prize.
Congratulations to Newtonmore couple Richard Else and Margaret Wicks, of Triple Echo Productions, on picking up their second Scottish British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) gong.
It goes to show that media production companies do not have to be based in the Central Belt – never mind London – to make their impact at the highest level
The couple will be the first to credit the experts around them on the achievement – not least the incredible talents of Dave MacLeod and Tim Emmett.
The Great Climb flimed last summer in HD at Sron Ulladale on Harris certainly made for gripping viewing!
