Rob Edwards

‘Catastrophe’ warning over dead deer

from Sunday Herald, 21 March 2010

Tens of thousands of deer could be facing death by starvation this spring, leaving gruesome piles of dead animals to be discovered in remote glens by walkers, warn deer experts.

The British Deer Society, a charity which promotes deer welfare and management, is predicting a “catastrophe” because Scotland’s long, snowy winter has deprived deer of vital food.

The society has also attacked the Scottish government’s deer agency for failing to clarify the law on “mercy killings” outside the hunting season. This could put stalkers who shoot starving deer to end their suffering at risk of prosecution.

Concern over the plight of Scotland’s one million deer is escalating. Unable to access food for months because of the deep snow cover, they may now be weakened, thin and vulnerable to the cold and wet.

“The ramblers are about to start arriving and they will find heaps of dead deer,” predicted John Bruce, a Scottish spokesman for the British Deer Society. “The deer will come down from the hills, find a quiet glen and then just lie down and expire.”

He pointed out that rain would penetrate deer coats and cool them down enough to finish them off. “If we have rain, we will have a catastrophe,” he told the Sunday Herald.

Sheriff under fire for wildlife outburst

from Sunday Herald, 07 March 2010

One of Scotland’s top sheriffs has come under pressure to quit his leading role in combating wildlife crime after allegedly telling a former police officer concerned about the soft sentences given to wildlife criminals to “get a life”.

Sheriff Kevin Drummond is claimed to have told a police conference on wildlife crime last month that offences against animals weren't even “on the second page” after serious crimes like robbery and assault.

His remarks left delegates, including wildlife crime investigators, shocked and bewildered. They said that Drummond was no longer fit to be involved in the Scottish government’s Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW), and demanded that he go.

The row comes ahead of new government figures expected to show that the incidence of illegal poisoning of animals in Scotland reached a record high in 2009. The figures are due to be published by ministers in the next two weeks.

Drummond, who sits as a sheriff in the Scottish Borders, is chairman of PAW’s legislation, regulation and guidance subgroup. He has run mock trials for the government to help train police and procurator fiscals how to handle wildlife offences.

His remarks came at the end of a major wildlife crime conference at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan on 17 February. Mark Rafferty, a former police wildlife investigator now with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, questioned whether wildlife offenders should be given tougher sentences.

Highland agency under fire for ‘bad practice’ over mountain railway

from Sunday Herald, 28 February 2010

One of Scotland’s leading enterprise agencies will this week be accused of “unacceptable bad practice” for wasting up to £27 million of public money on the doomed Cairngorm mountain railway.

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee will launch a scathing attack on Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for failing to properly control spending on the controversial funicular railway, which has been repeatedly baled out by taxpayers’ money.

In a report, a copy of which has been leaked to the Sunday Herald, the committee will also criticise HIE for continuing to offer an “open-ended commitment” to funding the funicular. It will demand new controls to ensure that more major cost overruns are not incurred in the future.

The funicular railway, which runs nearly all the way to the summit of Britain’s fifth highest mountain near Aviemore, has been plagued with problems since it was first proposed in the early 1990s (see below). Lack of visitors has meant that it has struggled to make money.

There were many years without enough snow for skiers. But even when there has been plenty of snow, like this winter, the railway has been forced to close because it cannot cope with adverse weather.

The funicular has been shut down for 19 days since the start of this year, frustrating thousands of would-be skiers. This weekend it is closed again, with roads, car parks and buildings submerged under huge piles of drifting snow, after falls of up to two metres.

How Scotland’s peat bogs could help save the planet

from Sunday Herald, 28 February 2010

They’re muddy, vast and flat, but they could have a crucial role to play in preventing climate chaos.

The black peat bogs that blanket two million hectares of Scotland are the key to cutting the pollution that is warming the globe, according to expert new research.

A major programme to restore the nation’s peatlands could save a massive 2.4 million tonnes of carbon a year - more than all the planned reductions in emissions from the transport sector. This would enable the Scottish government to meet its ambitious targets to cut pollution.

Peat bogs store a huge amount of carbon. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which brings together governments, environmental groups and scientists, Scotland’s bogs contain over three billion tonnes of carbon.

The problem is that landowners in the past have cut long drainage ditches through the peat for forestry plantations and agriculture. As the peat dries out, the carbon that has been locked up for thousands of years leaks into the atmosphere.

Council accused over Trump school sponsorship

from Caledonian Mercury, 23 February 2010

Aberdeenshire Council has been accused of breaking its own rules on commercial sponsorship by allowing Donald Trump to fund sport and nature activities at a local primary school.

The US property tycoon has helped pay for a football strip bearing his name and a climbing wall for Balmedie school. The school is near where he plans to build his controversial £1 billion golf, hotel and housing resort. 

Trump has also involved children from the school in planting grass on the sand dunes where the proposed golf course is sited. This is despite claims from environmentalists that the grass will ruin the dunes.

“I'm very angry that well-intentioned young people and teachers have been misused for a publicity stunt for the Trump Organisation,” said the Green MSP, Robin Harper.

“If Aberdeenshire Council didn't realise what they were doing they should be ashamed of themselves, but they have been engaged in this controversy long enough to know that this should not have been done.”

Revealed: the crisis of confidence within Scotland’s wildlife watchdog

from Sunday Herald, 21 February 2010

The government agency tasked with protecting Scotland’s precious wildlife and landscapes is in deep trouble, according to internal documents obtained by the Sunday Herald.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has suffered a severe and escalating crisis of confidence and has lost the support of its staff. There is growing concern that nature conservation is slipping down the agenda of senior managers and Scottish ministers.

The latest survey of SNH’s 900 staff reveals that only a third of them had confidence in the organisation’s future, or its top management. And only a little over a half thought that their employer deserved their loyalty.

Although SNH managers insist that things have got better since the survey, insiders and critics say that the malaise infecting the agency has actually got worse. The leadership shown by the SNH board was described by one former board member as “insipid”.

Failure to ban snares splits SNP

from Sunday Herald, 14 February 2010

The refusal of Scottish Nationalist ministers to abide by party policy and ban the snaring of wild animals has sparked growing discontent within the ranks of the SNP.

One party official has resigned in disgust, others are known to be unhappy and several SNP MSPs have signalled their opposition. Snaring, they say, is cruel and inhumane, sometimes forcing innocent animals to slowly strangle themselves.

Snares are thin wire slip nooses used by gamekeepers to trap foxes and other animals to try and prevent them killing pheasants or grouse. The aim is to ensure that there are plenty of birds to be shot by paying visitors.

But animal welfare campaigners say the traps inflict pain and death on other animals that get caught, like badgers, mountain hares and household pets. It is impossible to police their use, they argue.

Following pressure from members, the SNP’s national council agreed a motion in December 2008 calling on ministers to review their decision not to ban snares. But this has been ignored by the government, which instead has just published new rules tightening up on the use of snares, but not outlawing them.

Aberdeenshire council accused of tyranny and bullying

from Sunday Herald, 31 January 2010

A major Scottish local authority has been accused of “tyranny”, “bullying” and “Orwellian corporatism” for attempting to close down dissent and silence critics.

In the wake of bitter controversy over plans for a new golf resort by the US tycoon, Donald Trump, Aberdeenshire council has moved to suppress the rights of rebel councillors.

Powers to raise motions for debate at the council have been severely restricted, prompting councillors to question whether Aberdeenshire is still a democracy.

Aberdeenshire council has been badly divided over the Trump plan, with a small minority of councillors strongly opposed to the billionaire’s scheme to build two championship golf courses, 950 holiday homes, 500 luxury homes and a 450-bed hotel on a unique natural system of sand dunes at the Menie estate near Balmedie.

But the council’s ruling Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, along with Scottish Nationalist councillors, has supported the plan. As a result some councillors have split from the LibDems, and helped form the five-strong Democratic Independent group.

Bid to protect pigeons from hawks ends in fiasco

from Sunday Herald, 24 January 2010

A ministerial attempt to prevent sparrowhawks from killing homing pigeons has ended as an embarrassing fiasco, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

An intensely controversial trial in which hawks were trapped and taken away from pigeon lofts has proved nothing because the number of birds involved was so small and the data was so unreliable.

The final report of the trial, seen by the Sunday Herald and due to be published tomorrow, is bound provoke a storm of claims and counterclaims. But it has failed to resolve any of the major disagreements, and it is not going to be repeated.

Disputes about the conflict between sparrowhawks and homing pigeons have raged for many years. Wildlife groups say that predation is natural, and only leads to the loss of a tiny proportion of pigeons.

The owners of urban doocots, however, insist it’s cruel and damaging. They become deeply angered when they see their birds being torn apart by the avian predators.

New campaign launched to curb poaching

from Sunday Herald, 17 January 2010

It has a romantic image - the canny poacher sneaking out by moonlight to bag a stag on the local laird’s estate, and then scoffing or selling the venison. But it’s a crime, and one that the police are about to crack down on.

In an attempt to combat a steep rise in poaching wildlife, police forces across Scotland, backed by the government and landowners, are tomorrow going to launch a major new campaign.

They are calling on members of the public to inform on those who illegally kill deer, steal salmon or use dogs to hunt wild hares. They are criminals and their time is up, the police will warn.

Official figures from the national wildlife crime unit show that the number of deer poaching, fish poaching and hare coursing incidents leapt from 181 in 2008 to 328 in 2009.

Hare coursing has increased by 120 per cent, while fish poaching has increased by 75% and deer poaching by 47%. Some of the rise is attributed to the economic recession forcing people to find other ways of trying to make money or find food.

Disturbing split within green groups over power line

from Sunday Herald, 10 January 2010

The bitter five-year battle over whether or not to string giant pylons 137 miles down Scotland’s spine has ended with a split in the environmental movement like no other.

On one side are those who care passionately about wild land and protecting the country’s stunningly beautiful landscapes. They include Ramblers Scotland, the John Muir Trust and the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland.

On the other are those who strongly believe the sacrifice is essential to give the nation a clean, safe and climate-friendly energy future. They include Friends of the Earth Scotland, WWF Scotland and the Scottish Green Party.

The fractures between these groups have been visible for some time, particularly in the sometimes heated arguments over wind farms. But the intense dispute over the new power line from Beauly, west of Inverness, to Denny, west of Falkirk, has blown the cracks wide open, with disturbing implications.

The environmental movement in Scotland may never be quite the same again. These are, after all, groups that in the past have formed powerful joint alliances, successfully opposing the proposed superquarry on the isle of Harris and highlighting the fatal flaws of the Cairngorm mountain railway.

Cold could kill bumblebees

from Sunday Herald, 10 January 2010

Bumblebees could become one of the less expected casualties of the cold snap, triggering a “pollination crisis” in the summer, conservationists are warning.

Butterflies and beetles could also be killed by prolonged deep frosts, causing environmental problems. On the plus side, though, gardeners might benefit from the death of plant-eating slugs and snails.

The threat to insects comes on top of the dangers faced by birds and other  wildlife, denied access to food by frozen water and soil. According to farmers, as many as a million sheep are also at risk on the hills, where they could be totally submerged by snow.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust, based at the University of Stirling, says that queen bees hibernating underground are now vulnerable to a “mass die-off” because of the extreme cold.

With temperatures plummeting to below minus 20 degrees centigrade in some areas, the queens may not have burrowed deep enough to escape freezing to death.

Whale-watching bid to stop Trump

from Sunday Herald, 03 January 2010

A bid to buy council land for whale-watching could stymie plans by the American tycoon, Donald Trump, for a luxury golf resort in north east Scotland.

Local campaigners are applying to buy a small plot of rough ground owned by Aberdeenshire Council which Trump says is essential for his controversial development. They are hoping to prevent the billionaire from getting the land cheaply.

Trump has been granted planning permission to develop the 1,411-square-metre coastal plot at the Menie estate near Balmedie, but he does not yet own it. It is one of several properties in the area which he needs to acquire to enable his £1 billion hotel, home and golf complex to go ahead.

But Sue Edwards, a local environmental campaigner, has written to Aberdeenshire Council saying that she is interested in buying the land to help the Seawatch Foundation, a conservation charity which monitors cetaceans at sea.

Trump’s golf complex would deprive people of access to the sand dunes at Menie, she argued. “We will loose an excellent viewpoint for whale and dolphin watching midway on the long stretch of dunes between Forvie and Balmedie,” she said.

Aberdeen by-pass could be halted by bats

from Sunday Herald, 06 December 2009

One of Scotland’s most controversial road developments could be stopped in its tracks by a few colonies of roosting bats, and waste £51 million of taxpayers’ money, say campaigners.

Rare soprano, pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats have been discovered in the International School of Aberdeen, which is due to be demolished to make way for the new Aberdeen by-pass.

But the bats are protected under European law, making it illegal to destroy their roosts, unless suitable alternatives are provided for them nearby. According to experts, that means it will be “impossible” to knock down the school.

A decision by the Scottish government on whether or not to give the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route the green light is now overdue. Ministers have been considering a secret report from last year’s public inquiry since July.

But the government has already promised to pay £51 million to help the international school relocate. This will turn out to be a colossal waste of money because of the bats, according to the local group, Road Sense, which is opposed to the Aberdeen by-pass.

The bugs and birds that will suffer from global warming

from Sunday Herald, 06 December 2009

They live high in the mountains, love the cold and will be among the first to die as the globe warms. And there are millions of them.

Government scientists have discovered more than 200 different species of spiders and insects living over 1,000 metres in the Scottish highlands. Because they depend on icy conditions, they will suffer as temperatures rise.

This means, the scientists say, not only that the bugs could disappear, but that the mountain birds which feed on them could starve, and the environment could be disrupted.

“These species are like the canaries in the mines, and will warn us what is happening,” said Iain MacGowan, an expert from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the government’s wildlife conservation agency.

“They are in the front line of climate change and at the bottom of the food chain. If they go, there will be implications for the birds that feed on them, like dotterel and ptarmigan, and for the wider ecosystem.”

New move to protect golden eagles

from Sunday Herald, 29 November 2009

Golden eagles, one of Scotland most iconic birds, are going to be given greater protection against persecution and disturbance, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

On Tuesday the environment minister, Roseanna Cunningham, is expected to announce proposals to create six large new ‘special protection areas’ for eagles in northern and western Scotland.

This will give the government more powers to help prevent the soaring birds of prey from being poisoned or shot by game keepers. It will also encourage landowners to site potentially damaging developments like wind farms more carefully.

“Scotland is an internationally important stronghold for the golden eagle but their future is finely balanced due to their need for large, undisturbed spaces in which to live,” said Cunningham.

“We are keen to find a balance between access, conservation and development to ensure that all sectors can benefit from and enjoy the countryside.”

Nature agency under fire for 'inconsistency'

from Sunday Herald, 22 November 2009

The government’s conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), has come under attack for allegedly making contradictory decisions in different parts of the country.

Although it objected to a crematorium near Melrose in the Borders because it would spoil a national scenic area, it raised no objection to a development of 1,500 houses in the Cairngorms national scenic area near Aviemore.

This is “extraordinarily inconsistent”, say environmental groups, who are fearful that SNH is weakening the protection it gives to important landscapes and wildlife areas by allowing damaging developments to go ahead.

The Scottish Campaign for National Parks has written to the chairman of SNH, Andrew Thin, criticising the agency’s decisions. “Things seems to have changed in recent times,” said the campaign’s chairman, Robert Maund.

“We no longer feel able to rely on SNH to provide consistent advice and, where necessary, firm objections on development proposals which can do serious damage to the landscape and sensitive habitats.”

Probe into top planner's 'collusion' with Trump

from Sunday Herald, 15 November 2009

 

An investigation has been launched into allegations that one of Scotland’s senior planners has breached her professional code of conduct by “colluding” with the American property tycoon, Donald Trump.

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), which represents 22,000 planners in the UK, is examining a complaint that Dr Christine Gore, director of planning for Aberdeenshire Council, failed to act with integrity and independence while handling Trump’s application for a £1 billion luxury golf resort.

But the council has strongly defended Gore’s behaviour and promised full co-operation with any investigation. It accused Trump’s critics of promoting “misinformation” to win publicity for their cause.

The investigation comes as a new opinion poll released today shows that three-quarters of Scots are opposed to any plans Trump might have to use compulsory purchase to evict families to make way for his luxury leisure and housing development. This contrasts with the strong local support that Trump claims for his scheme.

Unmasked: the billionaire tax-exile behind Hunterston coal plan

from Sunday Herald, 18 October 2009

The man behind a controversial plan for a new coal-fired power station in Scotland is a billionaire tax exile backed by Saudi oil money.

John Whittaker, a publicity-shy property developer who heads the Peel group of companies, is promising to go ahead with a new plant at Hunterston in North Ayrshire against furious opposition - and despite having lost his major investor last week.

Campaigners now fear he could now turn to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for help, and are launching a court action in London this week aimed at preventing the bank from investing in socially or environmentally damaging projects.

Investigations at Companies House have uncovered over 100 different firms registered under the Peel name. The group has assets valued at over £4.5 billion, including Clydeport, Mersey Docks, the Manchester Ship Canal, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the Trafford shopping centre in Manchester.

Peel’s boss, 67-year-old Whittaker, was born in Bury, Lancashire, but now lives on the Isle of Man, where most of his companies are registered to help reduce taxes. He runs his businesses with the help of his four children, Mark, James, Kate and John.

Report on Cairngorm funicular fiasco due

07 October 2009

A much-anticipated report on one of Scotland’s longest-running public funding fiascos is likely to cause a stir this week. On Thursday, Audit Scotland is due to publish the results of its investigation into the Cairngorm mountain railway.

The funicular railway, which runs nearly all the way to the summit of Britain’s fifth highest mountain near Aviemore, has been plagued with controversy since it was first proposed in the early 1990s. Lack of visitors meant that it has been struggling to make money.