Conference: Newcastle, 17 March - Identifying the opportunities for and threats to the British Uplands

The full title of the conference is: "Identifying the opportunities for and threats to the British Uplands: what are the policy and research priorities?".  More information

Key aims are to:

1. Facilitate an evidence-based discussion on the future of the British uplands in what can be a contentious policy and management topic;
2. Establish the viewpoints of important stakeholders regarding the future of the uplands post-Brexit;
3. Identify the top policy and research questions  by collecting data through facilitated discussion and to determine where there is consensus; and
4. Use the workshop data to guide future BES policy work in the British uplands (potentially a first publication immediately post-workshop), and to consider a future event.

Lead organisers: 

Darren Evans (Newcastle University), Des Thompson (Scottish Natural Heritage), Jamie Newbold (Aberystwyth University), Davy McCracken (Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

This Valentine’s Day, love your bog…

Photo: Scottish Land & Estates

See the blog post by Anne Gray of Scottish Land & Estates.  She provides some useful background to  why the appropriate management of peatland has become more important, recently.

Review of the Muirburn Code

The latest draft of the revised Muirburn Code is being circulated widely as part of setting up the practitioners' workshops, and it is available through the dedicated website.  This online version is continuing to evolve and some significant changes are likely as part of the development process.

The first workshop took place on 7 February (Lauder) (see the report on the Muirburn Code blog) and further workshops are planned on 16 February (Skye) and 21 February (Huntly).  A final workshop will take place at Battleby (Perth) on 14 march.  After which a version of the code to present to the Scottish Government will be developed.