UKH

The head of the Scottish Gamekeeper's Association, Alex Hogg, has mooted the idea of seasonal closures on Scottish hills, for conservation purposes, and pondered whether some glens should be restricted to organised vehicle safaris, 'as happens in South Africa'.

See UKHillwalking here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/news/item.php?id=68844

Or the Scotsman: http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/close-scottish-mountains-to-hillwa...

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
How about closing the Scottish hills to shooting parties periodically to allow the animals, flora and (tautological) fauna time to recover from people blowing them away?

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

Maybe the gamekeepers could help the recovery by not poisoning the wildlife?

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

The frightening thing is that someone might belive them!

In reply to Welsh Kate:


...not to mention the land management practices that these 'sporting' estates tend to follow.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

To pretend that only hillwalkers are a disturbance to wildlife is misleading and self-serving. He doesn't provide a reference to the 'leading ecologists' so it's difficult to know what they're actually recommending. From an ecological point of view I suspect they would regard his clients as having a similar impact on wildlife as hillwalkers, and that's before they start shooting at it. The management of land for shooting and stalking, whilst having some benefits, nevertheless distorts the natural ecosystem and is damaging to other aspects of wildlife, especially the predators. Whilst nothing has been proved, there must be a strong suspicion that the recent poisonings of kites and other raptors are by gamekeeping interests.

If people are to be banned from the hills to protect wildlife, it is logical that his clients should be among them. He should be careful what he wishes for.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

In fairness to him this seems to be a issue that was discussed in a Q&A, rather than a policy statement. However...

In some specific instances, there might be a case for restricting access beyond the usual bird bans in order to protect particular species, but I don't think this is what Mr Hogg was proposing. Not least because I suspect that for all he might be a very experienced "countryman" he probably doesn't have the detailed knowledge to conserve, say, the bryophyte communities which are vulnerable to trampling and also burning!

My entirely cynical view is that the animals and the vegetation (why do these people always use "flora and fauna" to suggest some sort of ecological credibility?) he wishes to protect are limited to a couple of examles of dwarf shrub and a particular ground nesting bird that depends on them. The red deer certainly aren't at risk from walkers, although they might not be where he left them when he turns up with a client.

Not sure why the thread title has been changed? It originally quoted a "senior gamekeeper".

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

match with the new UKC story headline, I guess.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

Just mailed you Douglas. Nothing sinister. I've attached your thread to the UKH news piece as it made no sense to start a new thread on the same topic. It has taken the article title for consistency's sake

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

OK - fair enough.

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Actually, I'm not sure about the new headline. Whether you agree with him or not, he's not just a punter and has rather more clout with the landowners, even if legislation isn't on his side

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

Was worth reading the posters to the Scotsman just to find one named ' Hen Broon's moustache' !

Dear Mr Hogg,
How about getting rid of 'sporting' estates and 19th century Victorian access attitudes?

regards
drmarten

PS Dream on.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
Release the wolves i say... and the bears!

Rewood and rewild some of our uplands, and get rid of the sheep and Shooting estates.

In reply to Choss:

With you all the way there Choss.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

He'd make a good SNP politician as from Mr Salmond down they mostly seem to suffer from "look after the laird syndrome"!

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

I'd pay good money to close the moorlands for a day to shoot some of these morons and their clients. Now that would conserve some grouse and plenty of birds of prey!

In reply to Removed User:

??????????

Land reform is needed asap.

In reply to John Workman:


+2

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

It's an excellent idea! The gamekeepers will be able to slaughters birds of prey without the worry of being spotted by interfering townies.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

I do feel a tad (F) off with the continual bollocks you hear from hillweakers to the estates. The majority do seem to be trying and like wise there is bad amongst the good. They are in a minority from my experience and most estates are doing good work. At the end of the day were driving gullies up hills, scareing various birds out the heather during nesting and trudging through calving areas for red dear during may to July

In reply to fmck:

These are tricky times there seems a bit of trying to test the access laws by landowners. We need to keep our eye on people like these and the right to roam. We need to work together not go backwards. These rights we have were fought for and need protected.

In reply to fmck:

Don't know if it's posted from a phone, but I'm struggling to understand your post.

In reply to heavy:


Ii is arguable that long term the 2003 act may be an own goal, at least as far as access to open hillwalking country is concerned. Prior to the act there was effective open access (if you were assertive enough) as the landowners only remedy was to show that you had caused damage and to take out an interdict against you specifically. Now that our rights have been defined and in many respects limited (try and find somewhere you can legally light a fire for instance), it is only a matter of time before there are attempts to limit access using the act. Spurious conservation arguments, would for an old fashioned landowner, be a good way to do this.