I READ with something approaching horror that there are three proposed projects for seven hydro schemes planned for Glen Etive ("Wild land group firmly opposed to triple hydro scheme plan", The Herald, August 13). Glen Coe and Glen Etive are areas of outstanding natural beauty and are places where I and countless other hikers and hillwalkers have roamed and climbed free of the sights and sounds of industrialisation. Locating hydroelectric schemes in Glen Etive would be, in my opinion, an act of industrial vandalism, and I would entirely endorse the condemnation raised by conservation groups, including the John Muir Trust.
Scotland has paid a heavy price historically by way of inappropriate industrialisation of wild land, particularly unsightly wind farms erected on the back of so-called green agendas and misuse of meaningless words such as "renewables". It's our beautiful little country and we treat it in an increasingly cavalier way. If we don't look after it, no-one will.
Alastair Runcie,
Vivian Avenue, Milngavie.
IF having known Glen Etive as cyclist and hill walker since 1959 marks me out as being of a certain age, it also brings with it some knowledge of the place.
So in adding my opposition to hydro developments in the glen, let me state that I’m no nimby: in fact, I delight in the 21st century.
But what is the actual worth in the proposal to dam three burns for hydro purposes? These are tiny burns … unless of course the steep glens they drain are to have dams constructed completely out of scale.
Glen Etive was and remains a relatively wild place. I’m more than familiar with the Allt Mheuran (which if my rudimentary Gaelic supports me, means finger burn, or branch burn), and I’ve had more than a few dooks in it by the so-called Robbers Waterfall.
But a dam? Nonsense.
We need ti gang warily here, otherwise, we’ll have the 1960s proposal to dam Glen Nevis revisited on us. Or the 1970s pumped-storage scheme at Craigroyston on Ben Lomond.
Gordon Casely,
Westerton Cottage, Crathes, Kincardineshire.
I WAS interested to read that shooting estates were "at the heart" of efforts to boost the number of hen harriers ("Shooting estates highlight efforts to boost hen harriers", The Herald, August 13). It has long been recognised that shooting estates,particularly grouse moors – a favourite habitat of hen harriers – are places where they are least welcome and most at risk.
The comment by David Johnstone, Chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, that hen harriers are sensitive to many factors particularly weather and food supply is true, but could and should also have included nest destruction and shotgun lead.
If there has been a genuine change in the how sporting estates view hen harriers this must be regarded as progress.
Ian McDougall,
3 Comerton Place, Drumoig, Leuchars, St Andrews.
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