New post Parkswatchscotland: Why the Cairngorms National Park targeting outdoor recreation won’t save the capercaillie https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32690

The new fire byelaw for the Cairngorms National Park is about to begin, banning fires and barbecues between 1 April and 30 September each year 🔥 Read our FAQs for everything you need to know ➡️ bit.ly/4m2ew95

Sad to see him go. A great writer and creator.

A missed summit. Sometimes it hurts, but can still be a glorious day. cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/a...

It's @walkhighlands.co.uk time! And in my latest column I'm taking a closer look at the weirdness that is Fata Morgana. I've only seen this bizarre mirage a couple of times, and this particular sighting was on 27th December on Carn na Drochaide. My brain hurts after writing it though! 😆

Another toilet change at Corrour Bothy in the #Cairngorms. Heavy going in the snow, especially with one MO jet-lagged and one just old, but, hey, you take the good with the not so good.

New post Parkswatchscotland: Recent research, Scots Pine and the montane woodland planting in Coire na Ciste at Cairn Gorm https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/?p=32229

Amazing shapes revealed when the landscape is reduced to winter's black and white. #Cairngorms

Merry Christmas to all who live, work in and visit the Cairngorms National Park. Nice to see 'my' bothy featured in @cairngormsnews.bsky.social 's Xmas post. (Although that snow certainly wasn't there this Christmas.)

Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you. cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...

Fingers crossed for a classic winter - we're long overdue one. Here's a great guide for the off-piste and mountain skiers amongst you. cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/a...

Come on ScotGov, this is unforgivable - and stupid! Funding for paths, etc, has always been part of the agricultural funding farmers could bid for, since 2005. It’s a tiny proportion of the overall farming budget. If land managers can’t get £££, why should they pay for this public good themselves? 😡

A fine night for eight at Corrour with a braw fire thanks to the MOs' coal and two other guests with the foresight (and shoulders!) to take in extra logs. Bothy TV, a wee dram and some great blethers: what it's all about. #Cairngorms #Bothylife

From a lonely place to die to views to die for. The murder of Sgt Arthur Davies. #Cairngorms cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/24/s...

A fascinating paper on recent Mesolithic archaeology in the #Cairngorms. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of the digs & even found a couple of wee flints. Exciting discoveries & interpretations, & who knows what else there is to uncover. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...

Euan Philipps, head of media at Labour Against Antisemitism, adopted a Jewish sounding name to file antisemitism complaints to Labour. The activities of this faux Jewish activist encapsulate the absurdity of the antisemitism hysteria under Corbyn👇 www.declassifieduk.org/how-keir-sta...

A lesson learned and a day of utter joy in the #Cairngorms. cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/c...

One of those perfect days. Several times almost moved to tears by the beauty.

Muirburn should be banned - yet the @snp.org Scottish Government don't even have the guts to enforce the licensing system they claim to have agreed.

I still think the campfire ban in the @cairngormsnews.bsky.social Cairngorms National Park is right, but it's long past time landowners were held to account too and made to behave responsibly themselves.

Just published 🙂 I've been wanting to write about the rut for years but never had the piccies to back it up till last autum 🦌. It certainly helps when it's happening right outside your house.

Given that these people can reasonably be seen as Israel's agents in Britain, surely all members should be charged with both treason and assistance to genocide.

ScotWays is proud to be part of the Scottish Outdoor Recreation Alliance (SORA) SORA’s new 2026–31 manifesto calls for a £50m “Paths into Nature” fund to improve the quality, accessibility, and visibility of Scotland’s paths. Read the full manifesto (link in our bio)

Some recent headlines: "UK hottest summer ever, with drought across much of England" "Deadly floods in Pakistan" "Scientists warn of Atlantic current collapse if we don't stop burning fossil fuels" We can't afford to expand airports in a climate emergency - please sign and share this petition.

Always interesting to catch up with what Mountaineering Scotland have been up to. Read their annual report here. www.mountaineering.scot/about-us/bus...

So thrilled and moved to receive this for my birthday. It's a lovely piece of art in its own right, but especially important to me because I've known Corrour Bothy for almost 60 years and been privileged to help look after it for almost 20. #CorrourBothy #Cairngorms

Police saved the UK from 890 retired and disabled terrorists and a mannequin this weekend

To think this was mostly bare hillside when I was a kid - and even until very recently. Top marks to the National Trust @n-t-s.bsky.social and dedicated staff at Mar Lodge Estate.

So, the American Dream turns out to be the American Nightmare.

How can you not sing our governments praises? Upholders of decency! Protecting us against dangerous terrorists like these. Probably the most moral government in the world.

Good grief, that was a struggle. Didn't even know it was a word. Wordle 1,516 5/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Lucky for my liberty that life isn't all binary choices. Because, given the choice of supporting 'my' government or Palestine Action, there is no way I would or could support my* government. (*Which, of course I now recognise as a foreign occupying power.)

@cairngormwanderer.bsky.social Just been reading your old blog post about the Smith-Winram Bivouac, and its history. Should anyone be interested, the Jock Nimlin article referred to here (and entitled 'Mountain Howffs') can be accessed via: simrich.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/SMCJ/Number%...

How many people does it take to clean a bothy toilet in the middle of the #Cairngorms? More than you'd think! cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/08/05/a...

This country needs a serious attitude change. This weekend we removed 2 sleeping bags, 1 cheap tent and assorted smaller rubbish from a bothy in the #CairngormsNationalPark, and I picked up further litter on the way out. But it's not just the countryside: open your eyes to what's in towns!

Why are we so rubbish? Good question and great article by @countrysideben.bsky.social. Litter really gets me down, including on my local path (despite regular voluntary efforts). I can only pick up any glass to stop it getting broken and damaging paws & bike tyres. Some people just don’t see it.

Great weekend at Corrour Bothy in the #Cairngorms, preparing the toilet storage area for waste removal and doing maintenance work on the toilet. Thanks to a great crew of volunteers for all their hard work.

Note to self: when removing a grapefruit-sized wasp nest from the tight confines of a bothy toilet, don't assume that because it looks damaged there are no wasps there. ... There were.😬 ... And quite upset as it turned out.

Well this is the third time I've sent "STOP SMS" to @vodaphone123.bsky.social over a number of months. Will this time stop them sending text messages tome? I'm not holding my breath. Bloody #spam.

Seems it's six years since I was last at the Barns of Bynack in the #Cairngorms. Always worth another trip though @frankhennessy.bsky.social

No flashes of inspiration, but a nicely pleasing steady progression. Wordle 1,492 5/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A very good point, with not enough illustrations. I've often looked in amazement at prehistoric cave and bone art etc and marvelled at how well those guys actually SAW the animals they depicted.

It was one of those days that was an absolute delight from start to finish. The landscape, the flowers, the peregrine encounter and even a mountain rescue fly-past... A cracking day in the Cairngorms! cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2025/07/07/b...

@wildflowerhour.bsky.social Some starry saxifrage. Not a great pic, but a rather too sensational situation which required concentration not to fall off, so please excuse. High on the side of Coire Etchachan in the #Cairngorms on Saturday.

Nice tribute to the great Clifton Chenier. I first heard of him in the late '70s, when cajun and zydeco were virtually unknown in Britain, and he made me an instant convert. I reckon in pre-CD and internet days I could have had one of the best cajun collections in Scotland.

Don't think I've ever got all the letters right but all the places wrong. Wordle 1,474 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I've recently become involved with this wee charity (better late than never) & am struck by how much they do with so little. If you've ever walked in Arran, then you've walked on a path they have funded/maintained. It costs just a tenner to become a member: www.arran-access-trust.org.uk/membership/

I do support Palestine Action. And the only people who need to be jailed for supporting terrorism are members of this morally corrupt UK government with their support of genocidal Israel.

A skyline walk has a particular satisfaction. Started up Ben Starav to see if I still could and just kept going, to go over Glas Bheinn Mhor and (out of sight to the left) Stob Coir' an Albannaich. A magical day, but, oh my, have my legs paid the price!

There's a brand spanking new course available, developed by Rewilding Europe and hosted by The Open University 🎓, called 'Introduction to Rewilding'. It's totally *free*, can be joined from anywhere in the world 🌍, and completed at your own pace! Find out more here: lnkd.in/es3vS6qA