YOUR VIEWS: Releasing lynx in Cairngorms is no reintroduction

Vested interests and misleading claims make it difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction.

The contributed articles on releasing lynx (Strathy, 16 th January 2025) include claims that are misleading.

Pollen analysis along with historical and archaeological records indicate it was over 6,000 years ago since 50 per cent of Scotland was covered in trees.

Most of the remains of trees preserved in peat in the Cairngorms have been dated at around 5,000 years old.

Woodlands declined because of climatic changes.

By 1350 (675 years ago) only around 4% of Scotland was covered in trees.

Around 1,000 years ago (1025 AD) there would have been less woodland cover in the Cairngorms than now.

The last ice age retreated from Scotland around 10,000 years ago.

Between 10,000 years ago and 8,300 years ago when Britain became separated from Europe, there are only two places, all in southern England, where bones of lynx have been found before Britain became an island.

Following Britain’s isolation from the rest of Europe, in two places in North Yorkshire some lynx bones have been found dated from between 160 and 455 AD.

In a cave in Sutherland a lynx skull has been identified dating from around 230 AD.

These lynx bones are likely to have come from lynx introduced into Britain during the Roman occupation.

Lynx are unlikely to have been native to Britain.

If lynx had been native, we would expect evidence of their presence between 8,300 and 1,865 years ago (160 AD).

Releasing lynx into Scotland will be an introduction, not a reintroduction.

Lynx are primarily a nocturnal animal, they are unlikely to significantly increase revenues from tourism.

The additional costs to livestock farming from lynx predation will be far more than any tourism gain.

Scotland’s wildlife includes a range of ground nesting birds and smaller mammals such as capercaillie, grouse, blackgame, waders, deer, red squirrels, hedgehogs, shrews and voles that benefit from there being less predators here than elsewhere in Europe.

Introductions and reintroductions should be based on comprehensive and sound scientific evidence including research into the economic and environmental consequences, not on misleading claims made by vested interests.

Jamie Williamson

Alvie Estate Office

Kincraig.

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Don’t let 65 years of music just fade

Relocating and retiring to the strath from Essex seven years ago, after many holidays, I read an article in this worthy publication calling for a new chairperson for the Badenoch and Strathspey Music Festival Association.

Blindly I volunteered not knowing what it entailed. But I passionately believed that music and the arts were vital to children and young people.

They not only provide with them skills and enjoyment but contribute to their development as a rounded human being.

The festival ran over a week in March attracted over 200 entries and covered everything from piano.

Instrumental, traditional, choirs, song and Gaelic staged at various venues down the valley culminating in a winners concert. All was well. Then we struggled through Covid, creating a YouTube chanel which garnered 2000 views in 24 hours and entries online with the adjudicators.

But after that everything went awol. Health and old age forced me to stand down and the committee dispersed.

But hurrah! The Grantown Society under the wonderful watch of Jo Fry have come to the rescue, Strathfest is rising like a phoenix .

I would appeal to all parents, schools and teachers not to let 65 years of music making and tradition die. Entries are cheap ( just a fiver and you get a certificate and professional advice - you might win a trophy!).

Just fill in a form and get yourself to the venue. The festival takes place from February 25 to March 1. All details and entry are at www.strathfest.org

Mary-Ann Connolly

Cromdale.

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Worth their salt?

In April MSPs will receive a rise of £2,300 giving them a basic salary of £74,506. Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone will receive - note I did not say earn - £130,498.

Ministers are well over £100,000. On top of this they will receive gold-plated pensions when they retire or are pushed out.

As can be seen from the state Scotland is in after 16 years of SNP control the 129 MSPs are not regarded as competent politicians but as pigs with their snouts well and truly in the trough.

Roll on the Scottish General Election in 2026.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow.

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Urgent need to extend 20mph in Newtonmore

As a pedestrian, cyclist and car user I am very strongly in favour of 20mph limits in built-up areas as I stated in correspondence last week (Strathy letters, January 16).

The Highway Code gives top priority to the safety of pedestrians so there has to be very compelling reasons for not making the temporary 20 mph limits permanent.

In Newtonmore there is now an urgent need to extend the 20 mph limit to cover Tulloch Homes' Spey Green development on the B9150 – the road to the A9

Eighty new homes are under construction with the first people expected to move in at the end of this March.

Spey Green with its one to-three bedroom houses will be the highest density housing in Newtonmore and likely to add between 250 and 300 people or more to the village’s population which will surely include young children and the elderly.

Currently the 20mph limit on the B9150 starts a few yards before the junction with Station Road, where Spey Green begins, so the whole development is in the 30mph limit on a straight, fast road with potentially tragic consequences.

At a minimum the 20mph limit should to extended out to the current 30 mph limit just beyond the Newtonmore Grill.

Ideally the new limit should start around the Elian shinty pitch.

This new limit should be properly signposted.

At present bizarrely there is no sign on this road to show where the 20mph limit starts.

Jim Budd

Newtonmore.

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Imposing speed cuts is latest hit to democracy

In a recent Strathy article there was a lot of good comments on the consultation and roll-out by Highland Council of the proposed extension of 20mph zones.

You may remember the original appearance of workers replacing the 30mph signs with 20mph signs during the Covid lockdowns.

They appeared over the whole of the UK within weeks and at great expense, probably into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

But I can’t remember any consultation, maybe because I was locked away…

They appeared at the same time as the consultation on the closure of local banks and look what happened there. Mass bank closures.

I don’t know if everyone is aware the Scottish Government is also currently carrying out a public consultation on the speed limits on our single and dual carriageways, bringing HGVs up to 50mph and reducing all the other vehicles.

Readers can see more details on this link: https://consult.gov.scot/transport-scotland/national-speed-management-review/ .

Now to the science - and it’s not rocket science. Everyone knows that if you reduce your speed then it takes longer to get to where to you are going and that can cause frustration amongst other things.

The longer motorists are on the road the more emissions they create.

The slower they drive the lower the gear that the vehicle is driving in, therefore more revolutions of the engine and again more emissions.

Is it common sense for exhaust emissions to go up?

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Policing services are struggling, financially, logistically and internally because of reductions in personnel.

Gradually, the police have been unable to fully service the requirements around our schools that already have 20mph zones, and also the current speed limits in built up areas.

The solution is to give them extra money for the additional work but there is no chance of this.

Instead the very, very expensive speed monitoring cameras will, like a 21st Century Big Brother plague, be installed ubiquitously.

They will miraculously find the millions of pounds for this!

What about the potholes, the care homes, the hospitals? The list goes on... I do not remember any of the lower speed restrictions being in a manifesto at either council or government level and personally they would not get my vote.

Whatever your thoughts, please engage in both consultations on these very important matters.

Mark Duncan

Aviemore.

* * *

Replacing bread and wine at Inverallan kirk

Correspondent Gus Jones is of course entitled to air his views on the provision of solar panels on the roof of Inverallan Church in Grantown (Strathy, January 2) but they are based on environmental beliefs and not on scenic views of a historic religious building in a rural area.

My own concerns, though, are based on all the alterations which will force religion into a back seat, or pew, in favour of ‘activities’.

My fears arose from a recent funeral at the church where, while we stood at the door waiting for the hearse to move away, we were pushed aside by a parent and two children who showed no respect for the bereaved as they rushed into the building for ‘children’s activities’.

I was left with the mental image of a sign ‘Cafe’ over the door, and the menu covering the hymn numbers and the bread and wine replaced with coffee and custard creams.

I have always been interested in religious buildings, right from my time as a joiner with CP Lawson & Sons, joiners and funeral undertakers, which gave me plenty of scope to appreciate both the inside and outside of religious buildings, especially on my holidays.

The majestic York Minster roof is unbelievable and you would simply never be allowed to alter it.

A visit to the Knock in Ireland, where there are 50 coaches in the car park every day, is an unforgettable experience.

Another inspiring place is the little English church where William Wordsworth attended and is buried along with other members of his family,and is unmissable.

The paving stones bear messages relating to the family and eveyone made you reluctant to stand on them.

Our own Cromdale Church is just as fascinating as you can learn of the time when it was under siege.

These religious buildings are seriously inspiring.

My first sight of the impressive Inverallan roof was in 1930 when I was christened with holy water taken from the well down beside the sawmill and bathing pool.

I was just in a shawl knitted by my granny but I never complained that the chuch was cold!

May I take this opportunity to pay my own welcome to our new minister - and hope that her Sunday morning service menu is not an edible one…

Leonard Grassick

Coppice Court

Grantown.

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Highland Council at it again not listening to views of residents

As several people have noted, the Highland Council recently opened a five-week consultation regarding whether the 20mph restrictions should be made permanent.

The clue here is "five-week consultation" - so why are there strips of red tarmac with large white numbers on them already appearing.

There is a plethora of them on Newtonmore Road into Kingussie?

Obviously Highland Council is, yet again, taking absolutely no notice of locals, must be intending to totally ignore any input to the 'consultation', and this latest example is really taking the mickey.

And they keep bleating that they have no money...

Jan Morse

Kingussie.

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