A wake for the wild 

Today, when the polling stations shut, whoever wins the Scottish elections, the one thing that is certain to continue at an accelerating pace is the destruction of Scotland’s wild places. The Highlands of Scotland are well on the way to industrialisation on a vast scale.

Energy policy is dictated largely by Westminster & the European Union but the Scottish Parliament is on a crusade to go for more and more adventurous targets for wind. This blog has pointed out over the last four months that wind power stations are horribly inefficient, produce electricity at very high prices and are only in existence because of the massive subsidies paid by the consumer.

The National Grid cannot cope with the fluctuations in the power delivered by wind at present and so with three times as many turbines planned than we have installed already, Scotland stands every chance of having major power blackouts.

However, once you have signed up to having energy supplied by wind power it’s pretty obvious that the best sites for the turbines are where it is windiest; which is on top of the hills. These wind power stations will blight the Scottish landscape for ever, with hundreds of miles of access tracks, whole chains of pylons and cables and millions of tons of concrete buried in the landscape, not to mention the thousands of 400 feet high whirling turbine blades. The damage these turbine blades will do to Scottish birdlife is unforgiveable in itself.

One example of the hundred or so planning applications that have gone through for these wind power stations, is Dunmaglass in the Monadhliath Mountains. This seems to epitomise the rabid decision making behind many of these schemes: The Dunmaglass Estate is right next door to Coignafearn, where the enlightened owner, Sigrid Rausing, has for quite some time been encouraging Scotland’s iconic Golden Eagles to make their home. You can track Cullen, a young female Golden Eagle’s daily movements by clicking HERE. You will see that Cullen’s days are surely numbered when the Dunmaglass turbines are erected.

We have to face the fact that Scottish Wild Land will be utterly destroyed. The sense of the wild that we seek out will be gone forever; finished. Dead.

On Tuesday 17th May, a few friends and I will be walking peacefully the few miles into the Monadhliath, carrying a coffin; a symbol of the death of Scotland’s Wild Places. We will be passing Dunmaglass Lodge itself and carrying the coffin up to the point of the highest turbine, about 2,500 feet up in the beautiful, wild Monadhliath Mountains.

There will be a few words said over the coffin in memory of a once beautiful wild land. This is a chance to enjoy, perhaps for the last time, a wonderful wild place and reflect and celebrate together the glory of the Scottish Wilderness which is now, sadly, destined to be gone forever.

If you would like details of how to take part in this peaceful “Wake for the Wild” please email me and I will send you the details. Please come and support us.

My email address is alan.sloman@ntlworld.com