HOW absolutely charmed one is to read that Balmoral has been honoured with an award by Wildlife Estates Scotland (Campaigners hit out after Balmoral wins nature award, News, December 14).
Red deer may be nibbling a few young Caledonian pines, much to the annoyance of environmentalist Drennan Watson, but we must preserve the stalking. Anyway, the grouse have never flown better than this year; a day on the moors is such a privilege. One must keep up appearances - people expect it of us. It may just be a horrid rumour, but I heard that a trouble-making land rights campaigner is suggesting a community buyout for Balmoral. Turn the castle into an old folks' home? Outrageous - how far can this nonsense go?
Iain R Thomson
Cannich
IN his article on the relationship between the Cairngorms National Park and grouse moors, Rob Edwards ignores all the benefits of what is a very positive collaboration (Hunting estates 'harming wildlife' to boost grouse, News, December 14).
The article makes the incorrect assertion, under a picture of a black grouse, that increasing numbers of grouse come at a significant environmental cost. The reality is that black grouse, a rare and endangered bird which is red-listed and a Biodiversity Action Plan species, is thriving on grouse moors in and around the park precisely because of that management. It is just the same for other increasingly rare birds such as the curlew and the lapwing - in other parts of Scotland where there is no management to protect them, their numbers have crashed by around 50% in the last two decades, yet on grouse moors they continue to thrive. This is well proven by peer-reviewed science, which demonstrates that curlew, lapwing and golden plover breed three times better where foxes, mustelids and crows are controlled. The Cairngorms National Park understands this but it seems that opponents of grouse shooting wilfully ignore it.
Tim Baynes, Director
Scottish Land & Estates' Moorland Group
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article