Help capercaillie
The 1837 restoration of the capercaillie involved numerous nationalities: unnamed Swedes enlisted by Welsh naturalist, Llewelyn Lloyd; landowner Lord Breadalbane; his English friend Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton; and an Irish and Scottish gamekeeper, Lawrance Banvill and James Guthries. Today, having been driven to extinction in Scotland’s Loch Lomond Park, capercaillie face development and disturbance pressures in their last pinewood strongholds in the Cairngorms National Park.
In 2009, Scottish Government Reporters advised that School Wood, Nethybridge should not be allocated for housing. The current threat to this Ancient Woodland Inventory site originated from the investment interests of Swiss-based multinational Zurich/Eagle Star.
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Hide AdAllowing development in such irreplaceable woodland between core woods for capercaillie would undermine recent European-backed efforts to restore the fortunes of this beleaguered bird.
With others, the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group are urging the Cairngorms Park Authority to refuse development at this important site.
Gus Jones
Convener Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group
Nethybridge
Inverness-shire