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.

lowland heath at the an camas mr site 20100616 1330269574

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).

weevil - magdalis duplicata 20100610 1413431904 

© 2010 BSCG, may be used for reporting purposes with copyright credited.

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.

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.

springtail entomobrya nivalis 20100608 1767498432

© 2010 BSCG, may be used for reporting purposes with copyright credited.

 

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.

slender groundhopper - tetrix subulata 20100607 1995833942

Copyright 2010 BSCG, may be used for reporting purposes with copyright credited.

See more at An Camas Mòr gallery.

green tiger beetle - cicindela campestris 20100609 1871364749

© 2010 BSCG Gus Jones BSCG

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.


bill mcdermott 20100510 1475250691

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.
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 cultural heritage of the National Park."

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