This post explains how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority tried to take out the locally elected member for Balloch for daring to raise questions about the Flamingo Land planning process. parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/13/h...

It gives me no pleasure to publish this post, the first in a series of contributions I hope into what has gone wrong in the John Muir Trust (I have been a somewhat sceptical member for over 30 years) but I think it raises important issues parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/12/d...

Graham Garfoot explains how, for the repairs to the funicular to work, 4,868 pieces of metal studding currently holding the concrete structure together have to be maintained at the right tension. What that will cost? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/10/w...

The asking price for Far Ralia in the Cairngorms National Park is now lower than what the abrdn Property Income Trust bought it for - a timely and welcome lesson for others speculating in land on the back of government grants and the Woodland Carbon Code parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/02/f...

When HIE gave evidence to the Public Accounts Committee in September they failed to explain why the repairs to the funicular themselves needed to be repaired. Graham Garfoot explains why we can now anticipate repairs to the repairs to the repairs....... parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/11/01/w...

Prof Douglas MacMillan applies a little science to sporting landowners' claims that muirburn by reducing "fuel load" helps prevent wildfire by mapping the Dava Moor fires parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/30/t...

If Flamingo Land are now offering to sell Drumkinnon Woods for £1 to local communities, why did the Scottish Government ever allowe Scottish Enterprise to offer FL the land in the fist place? The answer is it provided a means to approve the development. parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/27/w...

Victor Clements finds BrewDog's Lost Forest and explains why the site was a better option from a forestry, if not a marketing, perspective than the Kinrara estate they eventually bought parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/24/b...

Why have Oxygen Conservation, BrewDog and Scottish Woodlands covered up that the Lost Forest was way behind schedule when BrewDog sold Kinrara last month? And what will Scottish Forestry now do? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/22/t...

While speculators drive land prices to record levels on the back of carbon markets, abrdn's asking price and valuation for Far Ralia has collapsed and rightly so. This chaos indicates the Woodland Carbon Code either needs scrapped or radical reform parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/20/a...

Why can't the LLTNPA, which still pays for an access team, not quickly take down signs it agrees are contrary to Access Rights? Responsibilty, I believe, lies with the same unaccountable Chief Executive who prevents campaigners from talking to his staff parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/15/a...

The damaging impacts of muirburn and the issues that the wildfire summit in the Cairngorms National Park should have been addressing parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/12/c...

Andy Amphlett explains the system failure to protect an important population of twinflower in the Cairngorms - while the system needs fixing perhaps adding twinflower to the list of plants it's a criminal offence to destroy would help focus minds? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/10/t...

Victor Clements, a woodlands adviser, takes a look from a professional perspective at why BrewDog's Lost Forest went so wrong parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/09/b...

Prof Douglas MacMillan's post earlier this week on the cause of fires in the Cairngorms National Park shows the Scottish Government's sleekit announcement today that muirburn licensing will be delayed for another nine months is highly political parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/08/w...

If you believe what BrewDog did at Kinrara was bad, don't wait to see what is coming - take the time to understand what Oxygen Conservation stands for and protest parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/04/o...

The Cairngorms National Park Authority has become a vehicle for sporting estates to divert attention from the destruction they do by blaming outdoor recreation parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/29/f...

Andy Amphlett shows that rather than restoring montane woodland in Coire na Ciste, which was happening naturally anyway. the Cairngorms National Park Authority have ignored the scientific evidence and planted a mix of trees with no precedent in Scotland parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/28/t...

Before wasting money on tree nurseries and adding to market chaos the Scottish Government should have addressed the fundamental question, should we plant trees or would it be better to create the conditions where nature will do this for free? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/25/s...

The National Park Authority could call the bluff of the new owner of Auchreoch & publicly call on them to put real conservation measures in place, like removing their sheep, instead of unlawfully trying to undermine access rights. The NPA could but won't parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/20/s...

I forgot to post my post about the LLTNPA board meeting last Monday, perhaps because it was so forgettable if not for what it says about the usurpation of power by officials parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/17/t...

Time to blow a raspberry at the Scottish Government? By looking at what plants grow where abroad the full impact of overgrazing on the natural environment in upland areas & the need for fundamental reform of land management in Scotland becomes obvious parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/11/l...

If the Scottish Government was even half serious about addressing the environmental crisis in Scotland it would be considering how to control livestock grazing , learning from abroad, instead of paying landowners to graze sheep & cattle wherever they wish parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/09/l...

Heat, drought, diseases and pests - considering these issues from a wider perspective is essential if we want to tackle global warming and the collapse of the natural world parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/09/03/l...

Using the arguments used to approve the mega fish farm at Loch Long, nowhere in Scotland is safe from industrialisation while Ivan McKee is planning minister & he will approve the Flamingo Land development. Time to restore democracy to planning parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/08/31/s...

This post explains how and why core path planning in Scotland, intended as a means to enable people to enjoy access rights, has become a meaningless bureaucratic exercise and what needs to change parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/08/28/t...

Back from Italy and once again there is lots that Scotland could learn about how to protect and restore the natural environment, most notably the right of ordinary Italians to hunt on private land parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/08/25/l...

Sporting landowners will remain happy with the Cairngorms National Park so long as it supports projects which make no ecological sense, do little or nothing to further conservation and does nothing to challenge the way they mis-use the land parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/25/t...

How public land and resources are still being abused to support Flamingo Land's proposed development at Balloch. What will it take for Kate Forbes and Mairi Gougeon to intervene? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/24/t...

Stobo Hope is a test case for much that is wrong with Scottish Forestry and forestry in Scotland. This post critiques the claims being made on the developers new website, claims that are being used across Scotland to justify the unjustifiable parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/23/s...

When Oxygen Conservation bought Glen Lednock with a massive loan from Triodos bank they failed to explain they would need to build a wimdfarm to pay it back. Felicity Martin explains why the proposed planning application is so wrong parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/21/g...

When are the Scottish Government & our National Parks going to look at what land speculators - aka investors - are actually doing on the ground as a result of their obsession with tree planting targets and courtesy of the Scottish Forestry grants system? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/18/a...

The Lomond and Trossachs National Park's approach to both deer control and control of non-native species is fallow and shallow parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/15/f...

The recent decision of the Shares Rural Network programme to reduce the number of phone masts in total not spots has been driven by financial interests rather than any concern by government about Scotland's landscape parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/10/u...

Allowing Flamingo Land to write the legal agreement which is supposed to protect the public interest at Balloch represents complete capitulation to development interests & is like letting private suppliers of goods and services write their own contracts parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/08/f...

The management of the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service who have no systems in place to monitor muirburn & appear completely unconcerned about its impacts should now explain if it reduces fire risks as claimed why have the fires on Dava Moor been so big? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/07/01/k...

The power of Scottish Ministers to call-in planning applications should provide a safeguard against failures to protect the public interest but in the case of Flamingo Land is part of the problem, undemocratic, unaccountable & a misuse of power parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/29/i...

Time to stop the sales of what should be public land in Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, SE to Flamingo Land, FLS to private forestry interests and RSFS at Cashel - this post argues there is an alternative at Cashel, transfer the land for free to NTS parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/27/t...

It doesn't appear that anyone in government knows how many sporting estates, like Gkencalvie, burn the land to increase deer numbers or have thought through how they will implement the Scottish Government's commitment to end this damaging practise parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/25/m...

The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park's spending and management priorities for outdoor recreation are completely wrong, focussing on it's own interests rather than the visitor infrastructure the public needs parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/23/t...

It says something about Highlands and Islands Enterprise that not only does it channel endless public funds to support its business subsidiary at Cairngorm Mountain but, as Graham Garfoot explains, allows it to commit daylight robbery too parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/18/h...

I forgot to advertise my latest post on Strathyre and the failure of Scottish Forestry & Forest and Land Scotland to consult the local community while I was away climbing last week. It's good to see it's attracted a range of interesting comments parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/11/c....

The story of how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority and Scottish Government are aiding and abetting the Flamingo Land development at Balloch gets worse and worse parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/10/p...

After their weak objection to the Flamingo Land Planning application, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Authority board members will be told tomorrow by senior staff who backed this development from the start to throw in the towel. What National Park? parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/06/f...

The National Forest Estate, owned by us, should be exemplifying good practice in relation to the management of access rights and core paths but under Forestry and Land Scotland is doing the opposite with the tacit consent of the National Park Authority parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/06/02/f...

FLS & the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority are failing to fulfil their obligations to maintain paths on Ben Ledi and other hills funded by the National Lottery. As a result those paths are falling to bits & the investment wasted parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/05/30/f...

The judgement issued by the Supreme Court last week has positive implications for outdoor recreation across the UK & should make it harder for those who have been trying to undermine access rights in Scotland, including both our National Parks, to do so parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/05/26/t...

Flamingo Land promised net zero for their development at Balloch but it's owner now backs Reform UK which is committed to scrap net zero. Every reason for the Scottish Government to call in the appeal which I consider here parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/05/21/t...

HIE's decision to close the funicular to "fine tune" the repairs during May, often the best weather month in Scotland, may appear stupid but not if HIE knows the funicular will never be fixed and the repairs neverending parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/05/17/h...