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The objectives of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group are to stimulate public interest in, and care for, the beauty, history and character of Badenoch & Strathspey; to encourage active conservation of the area through wise use; to encourage high standards of planning and architecture in harmony with the environment.

Registered as a Scottish Charity SC003846.

Cairngorms NP IUCN Category

IUCN Protected Area Management Categories classify protected areas according to their management objectives. The Cairngorms National Park was designated in 2003 the IUCN Protected Areas Category: 5 - Protected landscape (sustainable development area).

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 16 June 2010

BSCG deplore the CNPA decision on Friday 11 June to give the go ahead to 1500 houses on Rothiemurchus estate within the Cairngorms National Scenic Area . We consider this decision, that was for 400 more more houses even than reccommended by the CNPA's own officials, put the developer's interests ahead of the national interest of safeguarding Scotland's most precious countryside.

See articles in P & J and The Scotsman.

Photo: Lowland heath at the ACM site. This is a threatened habitat for which the UK has a special responsibility and is one of the outstanding wildlife habitats habitats that would be destroyed if the ACM proposals are ever given detailed permission (photo BSCG).

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 10 June 2010

A rare weevil discovered by BSCG on the threatened An Camas Mòr site this month. Magdalis duplicata a beetle in the weevil family is associated with Caledonian pine. It is classed as a Notable A. The invertebrate survey for the developer includes no notable beetles. According to the National Biodiversity Network there are records from only four 10km squares in Scotland with 3 of these in the Cairngorms area. The most recent Cairngorms area reports seem to be field observations from Mar lodge Estate in upper Deeside on 7 and 8 July in 2000. In a 15 year study between 1979 and 1993 John Owen recorded this beetle in 4 km squares in Abernethy Forest.

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 08 June 2010

The springtail Entomobrya nivalis photographed on the threatened ACM site. According to the National Biodiversity Network there are no previous records for this springtail in Badenoch and Strathspey. The only previous record for the Cairngorms area in Tayside dates back to 1901. No springtails were recorded in the 2008 invertebrate survey for the developer.

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 07 June 2010

A recent photo of the slender groundhopper /Tetrix subulata/ at its newly discovered Scottish stronghold on lowland heath at the threatened An Camas Mòr site in Strathspey. BSCG is grateful to Buglife (the Invertebrate Conservation Trust ) and the UK Orthopteran recording scheme for assistance with identification of this find. So far this year this species has only been recorded on the ACM site in Strathspey but the first find was at Boat of Garten in 2008 and finds now considered to be this species have also been made since then at the Mossie Grantown -on-Spey and at the threatened School Wood site in Nethybridge.

See more at An Camas Mòr gallery.

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 12 May 2010

Green tiger beetle Cicindela campestris on An Camas Mòr site. This attractive beetle is exceptionally common on parts of this site that is threatened by major housing development. Some 120 species of beetle including 3 nationally scarce species were reported from a survey undertaken in early June and late July 2008 at this threatened site that it can be safely assumed supports even greater invertebrate biodiversity than has so far been recorded. Tiger beetle is an apt name for this predatory beetle, the only member of its family known form the north of the UK. BSCG has recorded tiger beetles at other sites threatened by controversial development including at Carrbridge and Nethybridge.

Details: Written by Administrator; Category: Debates; Published: 10 May 2010

At our Residency Criteria in National Parks talk today Bill McDermott, Chairman of Scottish Campaign for National Parks who worked for many years in the Peak District National Park as an Assistant National Park Officer, said "Despite what Danny Alexander MP was apparently told by the National Park staff, there is no legal reason why the CNPA could not adopt residency criteria. These would restrict availability of new build houses to people living within the National Park or with certain connections to it. Residency criteria would stop the present excessive development that is currently destroying the natural and culteral heritage of the National Park."

Residency criteria are successfully established on the east side of Loch Lomond and English and Welsh national parks.

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Tweets by @bscgscotland

The Cairngorms Need Your Help

In 2015 The Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group celebrated 40 years of speaking up for nature in the Cairngorms. Our efforts have helped ensure that this world class landscape still provides a refuge for Scotland’s rarest and most iconic wildlife, like Scottish wildcat, capercaillie, red squirrel and freshwater pearl mussel. Unfortunately both the outstanding scenery and wildlife that make the Cairngorms so special are increasingly threatened and are costly to defend. Please make a donation to our work today and help protect these treasured landscapes and their wildlife.

BSCG Flickr

See our An Camas Mòr photos on our Flickr.

BSCG deplore the CNPA decision for 1,500 houses on Rothiemurchus estate

Rare weevil discovered by BSCG on the threatened ACM site

Springtail Entomobrya nivalis photographed on the threatened ACM site

Slender groundhopper at threatened site

Green tiger beetle Cicindela campestris on An Camas Mòr site

No legal reason why the CNPA could not adopt residency criteria

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