A report published on 17th December 2015 by the RSPB details statistics on illegal killing of birds of prey in Scotland over the period from 1994-2014. It makes for uncomfortable reading. The key statistic is perhaps this: of all the confirmed poison abuse incidents in Scotland 57% were on grouse moor estates and a further … Read more
The controversial decision by the Scottish Energy Minister to approve the application for the 67 turbine wind farm in the Monadhliath Core Area of Wild Land (CAWL) in June 2104 resulting in the subsequent remove of this area from the final Wild land map by SNH has been overturned by Lord Jones in a Judicial … Read more
WRi have developed an interesting animated info-graphic with the John Muir Trust showing the spread of visual impact from industrial wind farms across Scotland from 1995 to 2015. This can viewed on YouTube. Further information is available via the JMT web pages.
A further two wind farm proposals have been rejected by the Scottish Government, partly on the grounds of landscape and visual impacts on Wild Land. These are the Carn Gorm proposal on Ben Wyvis north of Inverness, and the Glencassley and Sallachy proposal in Caithness.
The Talladh a Bheithe wind farm application has today been ruled ‘not competent’ by Ministers/ECU and now shows as ‘Withdrawn’ on the ECU website at http://www.energyconsents.scot/CaseDetails.aspx. WRi submitted evidence on behalf of the John Muir Trust showing that the application would have marked impacts on wild land quality in the Loch Rannoch, Ben Alder and Loch … Read more
Steve Carver appeared in a panel debate on Rewilding together with George Monbiot, Paul Lister, Charlie Burrell, Colin Tudge and Edward Darling. The event was held in Frome on 22 October 2015 and chaired by Simon King and organised by Jessica Rothwell of Voice of Nature (see: http://www.voiceofnature.co.uk/). The whole debate can be seen online at: … Read more
Steve Carver, Director of the Wildland Research Institute has been filmed together with WRi Member Karina Aguilar, as part of a film aimed at saving the La Primavera Biosphere Reserve from urban development in and around Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The video can be seen on YouTube (In Spanish with subtitles for Steve!). See: https://youtu.be/GkwIRwI2KPQ
Jonathan Carruthers-Jones, an existing WRi member, is to take up a PhD position at Leeds starting in October 2015 under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie (Innovative Training Network – ITN) scholarships allocated to George Holmes. His proposed work will examine the connections between the representation and preservation of wild spaces and species in the pan-European context; will … Read more
An updated second edition of the Vision for a Wilder Europe (2015) document is now available. This is the edited, fine-tuned update of the WILD10 product presented to the EC and Council of Europe during the plenary proceedings of WILD10.
Wild camping when practiced carefully and sensitively and in the right place with due respect for the landscape is a pleasure we ought to cherish. But it can cause conflict when numbers get too big, is concentrated in popular areas and is (sometimes) accompanied by antisocial behaviour. An article by Cameron McNeish in response to … Read more