Another one of those thought-provoking ecosystem observations, this time from Ireland, which if taken up could see the grey tree rats exiled from these islands altogether. I kid you not!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/how-to-eradicate-grey-squirrels-without-firing-a-shot-pine-martens
Something perhaps to consider and debate with the community forest at Stronafian …
Should it be Grey or Gray – given the source of these pests? I am not sure …
Not sure we need to say much more, except that our sensational selection of six Scottish chocolates were made as a special commission for us by the excellent Caramiche Chocolatiers who can be found in Dunoon in a gorgeous haze of chocolateness … Chocolates helping restore a castle in Scotland – wonderful!
There’s the Dunans Dram, the Castle Cranachan, Wild River Raspberry, Highland Honeybee, the Laird’s Retreat and the Lady’s Secret …
Now at our website, ScottishLaird.com, but hurry, we have only very limited stocks!
Delighted to finally post about something we have known about for quite a while now. The application to the Coastal Communities Fund has been successful. Between them, Jim McLuckie and Margaret have created a £330K project which will see the Cowal Way propelled to its rightful status as one of Scotland’s Great trails. CGDT will be recruiting and employing a project manager and a path ranger – details to be published at the CGDT website on or before Friday.
This project has been in gestation for a long time now and illustrates how far in advance the Trust has to work. This project began with the incorporation of the Cowal Way into CGDT in early 2013, was moved on significantly by the study our TSIS intern Catriona Phillips produced later that year (Catriona also created the CowalWay website), and really only came to fruition with Margaret and Jim’s input into the CCF application over the last 8 months. A huge effort by all and well worth it!
Here’s the official Press Release:
Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust (CGDT) has just received the welcome news that its funding application to the Coastal Communities Fund for the Cowal Way, has been successful.
An award of some £330,000 has been made to the Trust to manage, market and upgrade the Way – the long distance footpath that runs the length of the Cowal Peninsula from Portavadie on Loch Fyne to Inveruglas on Loch Lomond.The Way links the communities of Tighnabruaich, Glendaruel, Strachur, Lochgoilhead and Arrochar, each with its own heritage, scenery and tourism related businesses, and the Trustees of the CGDT agreed two years ago to take on the whole of the route as a tourism project for the area.CGDT Trustee, James McLuckie said the Trust is delighted with the award and looks forward to the Cowal Way becoming a real economic asset to the area.The first steps in the project will be for the Trust to employ both a Project Manager and a Path Ranger for up to two years with the aim of upgrading the Cowal Way to the standard required for inclusion as one of Scotland’s Great Trails (SGT). Achieving this will complete the SGT link from the Mull of Kintyre (Kintyre Way) to Fort William and beyond (West Highland Way) and achieving the classification of SGT should greatly increase the footfall on the Way .Both employment posts will be advertised from this week, on line and in the local press (see adverts in this paper) with the aim of starting employment by March and beginning route improvements in the Spring.
This winter has been very hard on the grounds at Dunans. We’ve seen so much intense rainfall that the paths, like last year, are a quagmire. Some relief was afforded by the freeze of last week, but the problem is deep-seated and is about what is happening to the climate overall.
In early January the amount of rainfall led to a large landslip in the ravine, effectively blocking any access to the Laird’s Island. This map, which will be familiar to Lairds and Ladies shows the exact location in relation to Castle and Bridge.
Finding a way to bridge this gap in our path network might prove impossible, given the dynamic nature of the landscape – see the video of the river from Sunday for an idea of the type of flow we receive on an ordinary day …
We’re hopeful that some form of bridge or boardwalk will be possible, but before then we’ll have to wait for the ravineside to settle – and frankly, we are not sure when that will be. We are therefore also looking at alternative pathways, particularly to aid our tours… We’ll have more on this as we work out solutions in time for opening in late March in time for Easter!
Here’s the video:
In the Guardian today:
In a recent private conversation under the Chatham House rule, one of the world’s most senior industry leaders, who is considered to be at the more moderate end of the spectrum, insisted that we are going to burn all the world’s hydrocarbons despite the consequences.
His reasoning is that a growing population in the developing world needs energy to raise living standards, that renewables will not become a dominant energy source till the end of the century and that politicians don’t have the courage or power to limit production.
Reminds me of the recent Horizon special “What’s the Right Diet for You?” whereby two groups of dieters were given slices of cake at 700 calories per slice. One group were told that this was a special dieter’s cake with c. 200 cals. The others were told the truth. After the cake-baking session each group were left with a bunch of cake and a cup of tea. What happened? The ones who had been told the truth ate 8 times more cake than the ones who’d been lied to. The lesson being that if you think you are still on track for the right number of calories in your day, you won’t go on to really bust the limit like the others did. As one of the group who had been told the truth said, “We’d all planned to go for a curry this evening as we’d stuffed our chances of keeping to our limit …”
Seems to me our politicians govern our appetite for hydrocarbons with legislation, and they’re being told the truth. What happens when, as is certain now, we pass 400 ppm of carbon in the atmosphere. In this analysis, they’re just going to metaphorically chuck their hands up and say, “Right, might as well go for a curry chaps, we’ve really blown it now …”
The problem is, that although this is based on pop psychology, I can see it happening all too readily. All these tipping points and limits only give us targets we’re going to miss on the conventional diet of boo-yah politics and industry misinformation.
Is there any hope?
Well, if you want hope you need to vote for parties who aren’t going to give up and go for a curry (allow fracking for example), you’ve got to vote for parties who are going to stick to the diet whatever happens, and make sure the others do too – and just like those who are on a weightloss diet, we do know who the best to parties are to put our a break on our collective appetite, don’t we?
(Picture from the Guardian article and is by Murdo Macleod/Murdo Macleod)
Over the last year, as you’ll know if you have been following us, we’ve put in place a variety of surveys, plans and consultations which will help us realise the restoration of the castle. Over Christmas David Wright helped us take a small step further by installing a safety fence around the castle.
Now most safety fences are metal temporary things which have a habit of falling over at the drop of a hat – or weather bomb as the British press likes to call them. There’s a great example of how not to do it along Loch Fyne at St. Catherine’s.
Our safety consultant, Gillian Clark of GMO Consulting therefore recommended a post and rails fence, one that would look relatively benign in the context of the castle, and provide a proper visual and physical barrier to the building.
The results are great – the main photo above shows how the fencing is not particularly visually intrusive, and the ones below the detail of how we fenced and gated the front and side. You’ll notice we have left an area for the signage to remain, so our tours will remain safe behind the fence, but their view of the building won’t be obscured.
We went out at midday a couple of days ago for a walk. Felt like walking in a subterranean world. Extraordinary.
Acts of violence have no place in any of the world’s religions.
Acts of satire are essential to vibrant and free democracy.
I am Charlie.
GMGeomatics reported last week, and these are the results. I think you will agree that the detail here is astounding! I’ve included the legend to ensure you get all the detail. One thing I really like, is the movement from hot colours (high) to cool colours (low) – a nice intuitive visual touch.
The full pdf will be available on the Lairds and Ladies Archive.
We had a lot of fun putting together our Dunans Rising tartan range this year, and here’s the final batch – all available at the revamped ScottishLaird.com in time for Christmas!!
