Scottish Wildlife Trust news
Best in show
TWO members of the Trust’s herd of hardy Shetland cattle took prizes at the Shetland Cattle Herd Book Society’s online show this summer. Fleecefaulds Daria, a homebred
Upland habitat around Suilven, Assynt
Wild land, wild habitats
A DETAILED survey of the wild landscape around Suilven and Canisp in Assynt has revealed an exceptional concentration of globally scarce and important upland habitats, including blanket bog, heathland, alpine and sub-alpine plant communities and sub-arctic fellfields.
Sadly, a series of recent and accidentally started ‘wildfires’ around Suilven have destroyed several areas of internationally scarce Atlantic heath habitat.
More positively, the survey
Europe’s largest Marine Protected Area is created in Scotland
THE Trust has welcomed the creation of Europe’s largest Marine Protected Area in Scotland’s seas.
The West of Scotland Marine Protected Area covers more than 100,000 square kilometres – an area larger than Scotland’s mainland – between the Western Isles and Rockall. It is designed to protect features and species including coral reefs and deep-sea sharks from threats such as fishing and seabed mining. More than 30% of Scotland’s seas are protected areas, in line with global targets proposed by the UN, but only one-third of Scotland’s 30 Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas offer true protection from threats such as over- fishing and unsustainable aquaculture. There has also been slow progress on areas to protect mobile species including basking sharks and minke whales, which the Trust campaigned for in 2019.
12 SCOTTISH WILDLIFE NOVEMBER 2020
highlighted how areas of centuries-old peat cuttings have revegetated and now support concentrations of ‘quaking bog’ communities, dotted with white-beaked sedge. This demonstrates how once intensively managed land can recover given time and freedom from disturbance. The survey has been carried out as part of the National Lottery-supported Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape Partnership. Data will be added to NatureScot’s Habitat Map of Scotland – a growing repository for habitat and land use data.
cow, won the dry cow in calf class, while Geldron Faddom, a three-year-old bull bought by the Trust this year, came second in the bull class. The Trust’s Flying Flock of sheep and cattle serves as a vital tool for keeping grassland on our reserves in good condition.
Prize-winning cow Fleecefaulds Daria
Another round at Coul Links
THE Trust is greatly alarmed to learn that a new application for a golf course at Coul Links in Sutherland has been submitted to Highland Council, less than a year after similar plans were rejected by the Scottish Government following our lengthy campaign. “It’s astonishing that this application has
come back in largely the same form, with no evidence that the serious impacts on the natural environment previously identified have been addressed,” said Bruce Wilson, the Trust’s Public Affairs Manager. “We can
only hope that the Scottish Government’s decision in February, and their repeated commitments to tackling the crisis facing nature, draw a line in the sand. Highland Council should refuse these plans at the first possible opportunity.” A former Trust reserve, Coul Links
is covered by various national and international designations reflecting its status as one of the most important places for wildlife in the world. The campaign to save these dunes was supported by tens of thousands of people.
Coul Links
© Laura MacGregor
© Andrew Weston
© Joe Cornish/2020VISION
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