YOUR VIEWS: ‘Boost to estate’s coffers but failing the environment’
Regarding the recent stories about Muckrach Estate and their new Woodland Creation scheme in the Cairngorms National Park.
They state the estate will - "lead by example and create native woodland habitats encouraging a diverse mix of wildlife to the area and support the site's breeding populations”.
Planting up to 1.0 million trees, this will serve to offset a significant amount of carbon generated by the business Calthorpe who own Muckrach received a £2,581,220 grant from Scottish Forestry for this woodland scheme.
It all sounds so perfect and wonderful on paper but in reality this forest creation is having a serious and adverse effect on the local wildlife already.
An Environmental Impact Study was carried out before the grant and permission to plant was given.
The 27 kilometres of deer fencing was supposed to have suitable markings to help alleviate bird collisions i.e. orange plastic netting, wooden droppers or chestnut paling.
Instead, Muckrach have used bamboo canes to mark the fence which are not suitable.
The attached picture shows a dead male black grouse killed after hitting the fence which had not been marked at this time.
Black Grouse are one of the fastest disappearing birds in the British Isles and for that reason are Red Listed on the Birds of Conservation Concern. This means they are in the highest category needing urgent action to save them.
Unfortunately, Muckrach have mounded over one of the black grouse lekking sites.
Mounding is when a tracked machine digger takes a scoop of soil, peat or earth and turn it over so a tree sapling can be planted.
The black grouse are doomed on Muckrach.
The UK at one time owned nearly 75 per cent of the world’s heather moorland.
With modern farming machinery and cropping systems, birds which used to nest on farms like curlews and lapwings have mainly disappeared from these areas and their last stronghold is moorland and wetlands which Muckrach had.
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Thankfully they still nest on crofts. Scotland holds something like 15 per cent of the world’s population of curlews and they are also Red Listed.
Lapwings are orange listed. Both curlews and lapwings were prolific in numbers on Muckrach but this woodland creation will affect them. Muckrach gave assurances vermin trapping would continue to keep the numbers of vermin such as foxes and crows to a minimum to help these waders but this has not happened.
Mountain hares are a protected species but for some reason Muckrach decided not to rabbit net the fencing to stop hares coming into the new woodland and eating the new trees.
There is already a considerable loss of trees due to hares eating them.
The hares even found the tree saplings in the sacks ready for planting and have been eating them.
All work on Muckrach whether fencing, machines mounding or tree planting is supposed to finish by mid March and the end of March at the latest to stop disturbing nesting birds.
In 2023 work was still going on in mid-May.
This year a digger disturbed a woodcock sitting on a nest of four eggs mid April. The digger came to within 60 centimetres of the nest making another mound. The hen bird abandoned her nest.
Hares will have to be killed under licence from NatureScot to save the trees but Muckrach should have to rabbit net the fence first to stop more hares coming in.
Studies have concluded it can take 40 years for that one tree to replace the lost carbon when the ground was mounded to plant it.
If there is a climate emergency just now, why would you produce 1.0 million mounds releasing all that carbon in one go?
Rewilding is not all it is made out to be... Wildlife-Rewilding-Dewilding.
Calum Campbell
Grantown.
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An ode to Barbie
The two recent poems by Barbie Miller which have appeared in the Strathy have inspired to pick up my own pen.
Thanks to the pen of Barbie Miller,
If sometime the winds of change could be stiller,
could you offer a localised literary thriller
on what we should do with our hard earned silver?
From days of old the stories abound
of pots of gold stashed underground
in river banks, lochs and secret places -
The knowledge remained with family members
instead of computerised passwords control,
yet losses and scamming persist, so tough to thole.
Small or large riches necessitate trust,
can ever there be a financial tryst
that’s secure and endures without fears or fuss?
Una Cochrane
Edinburgh
(Ex-Kingussie).
* * *
It will not be long until the robots do the shop
The realisation that we have become reliant on the use of electronic boxes shows how far everything has progressed over the years.
You can’t help wondering where it will all end up.
On Saturday nights when I was young we sat down in front of a highly polished metal range to keep warm, as] we listened to the McFlannels, Tammy Troot’s exploits in the burn and the Scottish dance music coming out of a wet and dry battery wireless.
My father and I took the wet battery for charging to a wooden hut down beside the old bridge in the wood, where Mr Mathews took on the delicate job.
On New Year’s Day I would be in charge of the wind-up gramophone, changing the needle and playing the records of Jimmy Shand or Bobby Macleod to entertain all the first-footers.
Jackie Gilbert, who had the little wireless shop on the High Street introduced us to the radiogram, so my winding up chore eventually came to an end.
If you had no radiogram you took your record to Bertie Walker, the local cobbler, where you could play it on his gramophone as he put studs into your boots.
The local picture house would play your record at the interval on their sound system as you enjoyed your ice cream.
You can now sit a little box on the table and ask it to play the Clash at Clashmore Hall by Leonard Brown’s Scottish Dance Band and you can have your own ceilidh in the comfort of your own home.
I get excited oln a Thursday as I get to go on Dial A Bus to do the weekly shop, escaping from the house for one hour.
This will all come to an end when a little robot goes to the Coop for me and does all my shopping, delivers it to the house and puts it all away - and all for the payment of a little squirt of WD 40.
Leonard Grassick
Coppice Court
Grantown.
* * *
Mr Whatshisname has to up his game for SNP
When I look at a ballot paper I like to know a bit about whom I am voting for, in addition to their party allegiance.
l like to vote as much for the person as for the party: so though no supporter of the SNP I voted for Kate Forbes at the last Holyrood election as I was sure she had the ability and integrity needed for Scotland-and Badenoch.
But the latest SNP flier for the new Westminster constituency which Badenoch has joined tells me nothing about the SNP candidate other than his name which I have already forgotten.
Before considering voting for someone I would want to know not just their party but their age, occupation, place of residence, interests and ambitions for Scotland and for Badenoch.
So I doubt if Mr Whatshisname will get my vote when the general election comes--unless he tries very much harder.
Peter Mackay
Dunachton Road
Kincraig.
* * *
Over 1m visitors but soon no High Street bank in Aviemore
Well the sign is up at the Bank of Scotland in Aviemore. Is the battle lost?
After a lot of emails to and fro, it is obvious that a decision has been made regardless of community needs…. I can say this because I have found out a lot whilst researching this.
It was decided by Link, (British Interbank Network) to have a UK wide cash review done in 2019 and the Community Access to Cash pilots ran between 2020 and 2021.
Hold on, I hear you say, that was when the world was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic; when no-one was allowed to travel, work – except from home, go outside, go to funerals,weddings and the best one is, we were all encouraged to the point of being heretics, to stop using cash and go online!
Even though there had been no research done on this.
But the truth is that nothing will hold up this agenda and on the 1st January 2022, the review published its recommendations.
In December 2022, Bank of Scotland (BoS), Aviemore was visited by a Link – Senior Community Assessment Manager.
There was no community engagement at the time citing confidentiality and business conflicts.
The subsequent confidential report supported that the Aviemore branch be closed and ATM facilities replaced.
In the findings it was obvious that most of the reference data was from online sources.
In the local census data it shows that Aviemore has a resident population of around 3,500 but there is an unaccounted huge number of properties as holiday homes and transient employee population.
It would appear that one of the hold-ups and one of the reasons for possibly retaining banking services was the BoS, Night Deposit Safe, which was used by many local businesses.
Also the local Post Office did not have the capacity to deal with this increase in business services.
It would now appear however, hence the ‘To Let’ sign, and from the word on the street, that a UK Retailer operating in Aviemore, has come forward to provide, Cash Deposit ATM facilities, during opening hours.
Unfortunately this compromise solution will only put the staff at the local Post Office under greater pressure, so be patient and if you are there buy some fudge and help support the shop.
From the ‘Link’ website the criteria for ATM and Banking Hub Services are quite strict, but I note from their list of new Banking Hubs that there is discretion that has seen Brechin, Auchterarder and Kirkcudbright, to name but a few, get new banking services.
So what does Aviemore have that these other areas don’t… some one million to 1.2 million visitors every year.
As a Bank of Scotland customer for more years that I can remember I am sad at seeing it close.
However if a new bank opens in Aviemore I will open an account…
There is however some good news for Post Offices. The contract to supply limited over the counter services for ‘Banks; is under review and up for renewal and it looks like the Post office will demand huge increases in the transactions charges from banks.
So lookout for these charges being passed on. We did not ask for the banks to close.
Mark Duncan
Aviemore.
* * *
Is the ‘Bank of Grant’ the way ahead for finances?
I suggested to the Cairngorms National Park Authority recently that they cold look in to the setting up of a Credit Union or community bank because of the closure of all our high street ones in Badenoch and Strathspey.
It would meet one of the four main aims of the CNPA as listed in their five year plan namely ‘to promote sustainable economic and social development of the area’s communities’.
For anyone who has not seen the comedy movie "The Bank of Dave" then I suggest you watch it to see how this was done in Burnley in Lancashire.
On our recent Lynx Study trip to Switzerland I discussed this with CNPA chief executive Grant Moir and even suggested if he was the leading force we could call it ‘The Bank of Grant’ in his honour.
It may sound a fanciful idea and many accuse me of having some wild and unconventional suggestions but can anyoneout there think of a better alternative to save our face to face banking.
Ruaridh Ormiston
Kingussie.
* * *
Spending on more MSPs would be a real waste of money
Alison Johnstone, the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, recently said that after 25 years and an increased workload the Scottish Parliament should consider increasing the number of MSPs.
In Wales the number of members in the Senedd was increased from 60 to 96 at a cost of at least £17.8 million a year plus pensions plus expenses.
MSPs past and present have been paid far more than their ability deserves plus eye-watering expenses and a gold-plated pension scheme all from Scottish taxpayers, many of whom struggle to pay their bills.
MSPs have resigned in disgrace but came out of it financially better off thanks to the taxpayer. MSPs salaries range from £72,192 to £176,780.
The Scottish Government has squandered enough of our taxes over the last 25 years so If MSPs want additional MSPs then they should reduce their salaries to pay for them and the numerous new office support staff.
Clark Cross
Linlithgow.
* * *
Harness the benefits of our nuclear power
Alon with the others in Scotland, Hunterston's nuclear power station, still being decommissioned after a working lifespan of nearly half a century, provided almost a third of our electricity needs reliably and, compared with wind turbines, without unacceptable environmental damage.
The French have safely depended largely on nuclear power for years and sell some to us in the UK.
The objections of the Highlands Against Nuclear Power pressure group and the SNP's policy of exclusion of nuclear power sources surely represent an avoidable own-goal.
We already store low-grade radioactive waste, adding to which cannot fatally compound the risks, judged acceptable here for many decades.
‘Green’ and net zero policies, whether wisely or not, are demanding huge increases in electricity supplies to meet the needs of, for example, domestic and industrial purposes and predominantly electric vehicles on the roads.
It might not seem acceptable to the SNP to change their energy policy but, with elections in the offing, they would surely be sensible to review their position in this vitally important area.
Charles Wardrop
Viewlands Rd West
Perth.
