AGENDA ITEM 5 APPENDIX 2

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

12 June 2026

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AGENDA ITEM 5

APPENDIX 2

2025/0229/DET

Hab­it­ats reg­u­la­tions appraisal

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HAB­IT­ATS REG­U­LA­TIONS APPRAISAL

Plan­ning ref­er­ence and pro­pos­al inform­a­tion	2025/0229/DET
Appraised by	Scott Shanks, Eco­lo­gic­al Advice Officer (Plan­ning)
Date	28 Novem­ber 2025 Updated 20th Feb­ru­ary 2026. Updated 23rd March 2026
Checked by	Anne Elli­ott, NatureScot Operation’s Officer – Cent­ral Highland
Date	27 March 2026

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INFORM­A­TION

European site details
Name of European site(s) poten­tially affected
1) River Spey SAC (approx­im­ately 750m from development/​300m from site access point)
2) Craigmore Woods SPA¹ (approx­im­ately 1.36 km from development)/ but devel­op­ment is with­in Wood H- Craigmore Woods (see Annex II)
3) Anagach Woods SPA¹ (approx­im­ately 1.43 km from development)/ Wood D – Anagach Woods (see Annex II)
Qual­i­fy­ing interest(s)
1) River Spey SAC
Otter (cur­rent con­di­tion: favourable/​maintained)
Fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel (cur­rent con­di­tion: unfavourable/​declining)
Sea lamprey (cur­rent con­di­tion: favourable/​maintained)
Atlantic sal­mon (cur­rent con­di­tion: unfavourable/​recovering)
2) Craigmore Woods SPA (Caper­cail­lie Wood­land H — Craigmore Woods)
Caper­cail­lie (cur­rent con­di­tion: unfavourable/​declin­ing)
3) Anagach Woods SPA (Caper­cail­lie Wood­land D — Anagach Woods)
Caper­cail­lie (cur­rent con­di­tion: unfavourable/​declin­ing)
Con­ser­va­tion object­ives for qual­i­fy­ing interests
1) River Spey SAC
Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive 2. To ensure that the integ­rity of the River Spey SAC is restored by meet­ing object­ives 2a, 2b, 2c for each qual­i­fy­ing fea­ture (and 2d for fresh­wa­ter pearl mussel):

¹It is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands shown on the map in Annex I has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. Oth­er caper­cail­lie SPAs were con­sidered dur­ing the ini­tial phase of the assess­ment (see Annex 2 – Detailed Caper­cail­lie Assess­ment Ques­tion 3) but detect­able effects were ruled out, so they have not been included in this HRA. Atten­tion has been focused in this HRA on caper­cail­lie woods closest to the devel­op­ment, which in this case is Anagach Woods SPA (Wood D – Anagach Woods) and Craigmore Wood SPA (Wood H ‑Craigmore Woods).

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2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel through­out the site 2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2^d. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion and viab­il­ity of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel host spe­cies and their sup­port­ing hab­it­ats 2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of sea lamprey through­out the site 2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing sea lamprey with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of sea lamprey as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Restore the dis­tri­bu­tion of Atlantic sal­mon through­out the site 2c. Restore the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing Atlantic sal­mon with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Restore the pop­u­la­tion of Atlantic sal­mon, includ­ing range of genet­ic types, as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

2b. Main­tain the dis­tri­bu­tion of otter through­out the site 2c. Main­tain the hab­it­ats sup­port­ing otter with­in the site and avail­ab­il­ity of food 2a. Main­tain the pop­u­la­tion of otter as a viable com­pon­ent of the site

Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive I. To ensure that the qual­i­fy­ing fea­tures of the River Spey SAC are in favour­able con­di­tion and make an appro­pri­ate con­tri­bu­tion to achiev­ing favour­able con­ser­va­tion status

2) Craigmore Woods SPA To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies: Caper­cail­lie (breed­ing) or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained; and To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term:

• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

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3) Anagach Woods SPA To avoid deteri­or­a­tion of the hab­it­ats of the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies: Caper­cail­lie (breed­ing) or sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance to the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies, thus ensur­ing that the integ­rity of the site is main­tained; and To ensure for the qual­i­fy­ing spe­cies that the fol­low­ing are main­tained in the long term:

• Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies as a viable com­pon­ent of the site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies with­in site
• Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the species
• No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the species

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APPRAIS­AL

STAGE 1:

What is the plan or project?

Rel­ev­ant sum­mary details of pro­pos­al (includ­ing loc­a­tion, tim­ing, meth­ods, etc)

Erec­tion of Agri­cul­tur­al Stor­age Shed (ret­ro­spect­ive applic­a­tion) on land 31m SW Of No 1 Keep­ers Cot­tage, Revack Estate, Grantown-on-Spey.

The devel­op­ment site is with­in an area of wood­land classed as Plant­a­tion on Ancient Wood­land Site (PAWS) that is recor­ded on the Ancient Wood­land Invent­ory as ancient, of semi-nat­ur­al ori­gin (ref ANSO-1750).

The devel­op­ment has involved the per­man­ent remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.33 ha of PAWS wood­land (appar­ently Scots pines and larch) without a felling licence from Scot­tish Forestry. There was extens­ive excav­a­tion and earth works to level the site pri­or to the con­struc­tion of a large build­ing. The devel­op­ment site is close to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge.

The devel­op­ment site is loc­ated with­in wood­land that is part of the Craigmore Woods/​Wood H caper­cail­lie wood­land (see Annex II).

Remain­ing ancient wood­land dir­ectly to the south and west of the site has Scot’s pine, birches and row­an with an under­story of blae­berry, cow­berry, bell heath­er, hard fern etc. There is European larch in the wood­land to the north of the development.

It has been con­firmed by the applicant’s agent that no eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys or pre-com­mence­ment checks were under­taken by an eco­lo­gist pri­or to com­mence­ment of devel­op­ment on the site.

A 0.3ha block of ancient wood­land approx­im­ately 160m north of the devel­op­ment site has also been removed and developed as a car park/​stor­age area (again without a Scot­tish Forestry felling licence), and exist­ing tracks through the Revack Estate woods appear to have been upgraded (without plan­ning per­mis­sion) using excav­ated mater­i­als from the devel­op­ment site.

An addi­tion­al 1.2ha block of Sitka Spruce and Nor­way Spruce approx­im­ately 250m to the south-east of the devel­op­ment has been felled. This felling was under­taken with a Scot­tish Forestry felling licence (FPA ‑11931, approved Janu­ary 2025), and includes a restock­ing con­di­tion. These addi­tion­al forestry oper­a­tions and remov­al of wood­land hab­it­at may have cumu­lat­ive impacts.

Update: The applicant’s agent has stated that site clear­ance and con­struc­tion activ­ity took place in Novem­ber 2024 and that a visu­al check for pro­tec­ted spe­cies was under­taken by the Estate Man­ager pri­or to tree felling. Excav­ated mater­i­als from the site were used in anoth­er area of removed ancient wood­land approx­im­ately 160m to the north, and to upgrade paths in the south of the forest.

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STAGE 2:

Is the plan or pro­ject dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation?

1) River Spey SAC

No, this pro­ject is not dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation

2) Craigmore Woods SPA

No, this pro­ject is not dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation

3) Anagach Woods SPA

No, this pro­ject is not dir­ectly con­nec­ted with or neces­sary for the man­age­ment of the European site for nature conservation

STAGE 3:

Is the plan or pro­ject (either alone or in-com­bin­a­tion with oth­er plans or pro­jects) likely to have a sig­ni­fic­ant effect on the site(s)?

1) River Spey SAC

Atlantic sal­mon, sea lamprey, fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel, otter: No LSE (Decem­ber 2025 Update). This is based on the dis­tance of the devel­op­ment site from the River Spey, and state­ments from the applicant’s agent regard­ing the loc­a­tions where excav­ated mater­i­als from the site were stored/​utilised. No water­course dir­ectly con­nects these sites with the River Spey. This reduces the likely risk from pol­lu­tion impacts on the water envir­on­ment, hab­it­ats, des­ig­nated spe­cies and prey spe­cies. There­fore, no LSE, and this site is not con­sidered fur­ther in this assessment.

2) Craigmore Woods SPA

Breed­ing caper­cail­lie – Yes, LSE: Dis­turb­ance to dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie mov­ing between known leks in Anagach Woods and Craigmore Woods with poten­tial impacts on the meta­pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in Badenoch and Strath­spey. Dis­turb­ance of nest­ing female caper­cail­lie dis­pers­ing from Craigmore Woods SPA, and per­man­ent loss of sup­port­ing hab­it­at for for­aging birds and breed­ing females in a caper­cail­lie wood­land with con­nectiv­ity to the SPA.

3) Anagach Woods SPA

Breed­ing caper­cail­lie – Yes, LSE: Dis­turb­ance to dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie mov­ing between known leks in Anagach Woods and Craigmore Woods with poten­tial impacts on the meta­pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in Badenoch and Strath­spey. Dis­turb­ance of nest­ing female caper­cail­lie dis­pers­ing from Anagach Woods SPA, and per­man­ent loss of sup­port­ing hab­it­at for for­aging birds and breed­ing females in caper­cail­lie wood­land with con­nectiv­ity to the SPA.

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STAGE 4:

Under­take an Appro­pri­ate Assess­ment of the implic­a­tions for the site(s) in view of the(ir) con­ser­va­tion objectives

2) Craigmore Woods SPA

-Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie) with­in the site:

There has been no devel­op­ment or dir­ect loss of wood­land hab­it­at with­in Craigmore Woods SPA, how­ever the devel­op­ment is with­in the bound­ary of Wood H — Craigmore Woods (see Annex II), which is a caper­cail­lie wood­land with con­nectiv­ity to Craigmore Woods SPA. It is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. There­fore, the loss of wood­land hab­it­at at this site may indir­ectly impact the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Craigmore Woods SPA.

The devel­op­ment site is with­in 1.5km of Craigmore Woods SPA and approx­im­ately 3.2km from a known caper­cail­lie lek in Craigmore Woods SPA. It is also with­in 1.5km of Anagach Woods SPA and 3.3km from a known caper­cail­lie lek in Anagach Woods. Male caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 5km from lek sites, while female caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 30 km from lek sites to suit­able areas of wood­land for nest­ing and rear­ing chicks. There­fore, the devel­op­ment site is well with­in the dis­pers­al range of both male and female caper­cail­lie from Craigmore Woods SPA and Anagach Woods SPA.

Caper­cail­lie wood­lands includ­ing Wood H – Craigmore Woods, are recog­nised as being import­ant for sus­tain­ing the meta­pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in Badenoch and Strath­spey, and may provide func­tion­al hab­it­at con­nectiv­ity for for­aging, breed­ing and dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie mov­ing between caper­cail­lie SPAs and oth­er caper­cail­lie wood­lands. Revack Woods is a con­nect­ing wood­land between Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPAs with suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at of Scots pine, blae­berry and bog wood­land. Evid­ence of male caper­cail­lie and nest­ing female caper­cail­lie has been recor­ded from Revack Woods with­in the last 10 years (latest 2018), includ­ing records from approx­im­ately 930m and 1km from Revack Lodge in 2016 (Ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Car­o­lyn Robertson, CNPA Cairngorms Nature Man­ager and Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer).

This devel­op­ment will res­ult in an increase in the level of human activ­ity sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site, which was formerly ancient wood­land. Loss of ancient wood­land hab­it­at and increased human activ­ity asso­ci­ated with the devel­op­ment may res­ult in a slight increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using Revack Woods. This may affect the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Craigmore Woods SPA by dis­rupt­ing the exchange of caper­cail­lie between Craigmore Woods SPA and Anagach Woods SPA.

How­ever, due to the pro­posed usage of the devel­op­ment site for stor­ing machinery and estate equip­ment, it is con­sidered unlikely that this devel­op­ment will res­ult in an increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity with­in Craigmore Woods SPA that would impact the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in that site (see Annex I Detailed Caper­cail­lie Assessment).

It is noted that the devel­op­ment site extends to 0.33ha, at the edge of a sig­ni­fic­antly lar­ger block of pine wood­land (>250ha). There­fore, the remov­al of ancient wood­land here will res­ult in the loss of

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approx­im­ately 0.13% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at. It is also noted that the devel­op­ment site is close to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge, where there will have been an exist­ing level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site, which in the past may have inhib­ited caper­cail­lie from using the wood­land close to Revack Lodge.

There may be cumu­lat­ive impacts from oth­er recent forestry activ­it­ies with­in the Revack Estate, includ­ing the remov­al and felling of wood­land at loc­a­tions near to the devel­op­ment site and from the upgrad­ing of forestry tracks through­out the Revack Woods.

The felling of 1.2ha of com­mer­cial Sitka Spruce plant­a­tion south of the devel­op­ment site was under­taken with a Scot­tish Forestry licence and will be restocked. How­ever, the per­man­ent remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.33 of ancient wood­land to the north of the devel­op­ment site was not car­ried out under SF licence or with a plan­ning applic­a­tion. The recent track upgrades through Revack Woods have been under­taken without plan­ning per­mis­sion, and there­fore their extent is cur­rently unclear, how­ever they are likely to be asso­ci­ated with increased human activ­ity in the woodlands.

There­fore, cumu­lat­ively, there has been the per­man­ent remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.63ha of ancient wood­land from a block of >250ha, which is approx­im­ately 0.25% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at in Revack Woods (north­ern sec­tion of Wood H- Craigmore Woods).

While there has been a loss of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at with­in a caper­cail­lie wood­land, and there is likely to be a slight increase in the level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site, which may res­ult in some increased risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using these woods, it is con­sidered unlikely that this will res­ult in a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Craigmore Woods SPA.

There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

-Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie); Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie):

No devel­op­ment has occurred with­in Craigmore Woods SPA and there­fore there will not be an impact on the dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie with­in the SPA. The struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie with­in Craigmore Woods SPA will also not be impacted by this devel­op­ment. How­ever, the devel­op­ment has res­ul­ted in the remov­al of wood­land hab­it­at with­in Wood H- Craigmore Woods (see Annex II), which is a caper­cail­lie wood­land asso­ci­ated with Craigmore Woods SPA and oth­er caper­cail­lie SPAs. It is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. The wood­land hab­it­ats present with­in Revack Woods/​Wood H- Craigmore Woods are likely to provide for­aging and nest­ing hab­it­at for caper­cail­lie asso­ci­ated with Craigmore Woods SPA, and to provide func­tion­al hab­it­at con­nectiv­ity for dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie asso­ci­ated with the SPA and Anagach Woods SPA to the north of the devel­op­ment site.

Recent caper­cail­lie hab­it­at sur­vey work (2021) has been under­taken with­in the area of Revack Woods owned by Scot­tish Wood­lands, which found that the wood­land con­tained a good amount

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of hab­it­at suit­able for caper­cail­lie, and human activ­ity appeared to be rel­at­ively low in that area. (Ref: Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer).

As there has been no dir­ect loss of hab­it­at, or impacts on the dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­at, and sup­port­ing pro­cesses with­in the bound­ary of Craigmore Woods SPA it can ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive has been met.

-No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie)

As stated pre­vi­ously female caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 30km from lek sites to find suit­able wood­land hab­it­at for nest­ing and rear­ing chicks. The ancient woodland/​PAWS hab­it­at pre­vi­ously present with­in the devel­op­ment site is well with­in that dis­tance. It is also with­in the dis­pers­al dis­tance for male caper­cail­lie from leks (max dis­pers­al is 5km). There is evid­ence of both male and breed­ing female caper­cail­lie with­in Revack Woods with­in the last 10 years. The most recent records are from 2018. (ref: Per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Car­o­lyn Robertson, CNPA Cairngorms Nature Man­ager and Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Officer) sug­gest­ing that the wood­land with­in and sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site may have been used by dis­pers­ing or for­aging adults, and by nest­ing females. How­ever, there has been no recent sur­vey work with­in the area of wood­land owned by Revack Estate, and there­fore it is not pos­sible to con­firm wheth­er a caper­cail­lie lek is present, or wheth­er females reg­u­larly nest close to the Revack Lodge. There are caper­cail­lie records from Craig Revack in 2010 (ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer).

Dis­turb­ance can have severe con­sequences for caper­cail­lie. It can phys­ic­ally deter the birds from mat­ing and cause eggs to chill if they are left unat­ten­ded when birds are dis­turbed. Chicks sep­ar­ated from their moth­er become more vul­ner­able to hypo­ther­mia and pred­a­tion, and human pres­ence raises stress hor­mone levels in caper­cail­lie. This can lead to chron­ic stress in the case of repeated dis­turb­ance, which affects growth, body con­di­tion, immune func­tion, repro­duc­tion and sur­viv­al. There­fore, it is con­sidered unlikely that females with chicks will have reg­u­larly approached with­in 150m of the build­ings at Revack Lodge. Human activ­ity asso­ci­ated with this devel­op­ment has encroached fur­ther into the wood­land, extend­ing the zone of poten­tial dis­turb­ance deep­er into suit­able wood­land habitat.

The applic­ant has stated that the remov­al of ancient wood­land hab­it­at, site clear­ance and con­struc­tion of the stor­age shed took place in Novem­ber 2024, which is out-with the caper­cail­lie breed­ing sea­son (1 March to 31 August). This tim­ing will have avoided con­struc­tion-phase dis­turb­ance to breed­ing caper­cail­lie asso­ci­ated with Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA.

It is noted that the ancient wood­land hab­it­at formerly present with­in the devel­op­ment site was at the edge of the wood­land and in prox­im­ity to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge. The devel­op­ment site may there­fore have been sub­ject to an exist­ing level of dis­turb­ance from human activ­ity and may not have been fre­quently used by for­aging, nest­ing or dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie. Breed­ing females are sens­it­ive to dis­turb­ance with­in 150m of nests and broods of chicks (see: Dis­turb­ance Dis­tances in selec­ted Scot­tish Bird Spe­cies – NatureScot Guid­ance | NatureScot).

The per­man­ent remov­al of ancient wood­land hab­it­at and the con­struc­tion of an estate build­ing at the devel­op­ment site will res­ult in an increase in human activ­ity at this loc­a­tion dur­ing its

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oper­a­tion­al phase. Increased human activ­ity with­in and sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site may slightly increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie mov­ing between leks in Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA, and to dis­pers­ing females look­ing for nest­ing sites and rais­ing broods of chicks. How­ever. it is con­sidered unlikely that this devel­op­ment will spe­cific­ally res­ult in addi­tion­al recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance with­in Craigmore Woods SPA, over and above what is already occur­ring (See Annex I and II).

There may also be cumu­lat­ive impacts from the remov­al of wood­land hab­it­at to the north of the devel­op­ment and felling of com­mer­cial forestry south-east of the devel­op­ment site, and from the upgrad­ing of forestry tracks through the sur­round­ing wood­land, which may reduce options for dis­pers­al cor­ridors and remove sup­port­ing hab­it­at that may have been used by nest­ing female capercaillie.

How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the extent of hab­it­at removed and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment site next to exist­ing build­ings. It is con­sidered unlikely that the increase in human activ­ity in the vicin­ity of the devel­op­ment will res­ult in a sig­ni­fic­ant increase in dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie con­nec­ted to Craigmore Woods SPA.

There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

See Annexes I‑II for the detailed caper­cail­lie assess­ment on increased dis­turb­ance with­in Craigmore Woods SPA.

-Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie) as a viable com­pon­ent of the site:

As dis­cussed above this devel­op­ment has reduced the extent of ancient wood­land hab­it­at with­in caper­cail­lie Wood H ‑Craigmore Wood, which is situ­ated between to caper­cail­lie SPAs. The likely increase in human activ­ity asso­ci­ated with this devel­op­ment may increase the risk of human dis­turb­ance to dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie from lek sites, and to breed­ing females rais­ing broods. This may impact con­nectiv­ity between two caper­cail­lie woodlands/​SPAs and increase pop­u­la­tion frag­ment­a­tion of this vul­ner­able spe­cies. The num­bers of caper­cail­lie recor­ded at leks with Craigmore Woods SPA and Anagach Woods SPA have sig­ni­fic­antly declined in recent years (Ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Helen Gray, RSPB Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer), which appears to be at least partly attrib­ut­able to human disturbance.

As pre­vi­ously stated, it is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. There­fore, loss of wood­land hab­it­at could increase the risk of dis­turb­ance and reduce con­nectiv­ity between two caper­cail­lie SPA, which may have a neg­at­ive impact on the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie asso­ci­ated with Craigmore Woods SPA.

How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the scale of wood­land hab­it­at lost (approx­im­ately 0.25% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at (cumu­lat­ively) with­in a lar­ger wood­land of >250ha) and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment next to exist­ing build­ings that would have had an exist­ing level of dis­turb­ance, it is con­sidered unlikely that that increase in human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment will sig­ni­fic­antly affect the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie as a viable com­pon­ent of Craigmore Woods SPA.

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There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

In con­clu­sion, the devel­op­ment has res­ul­ted in the per­man­ent loss of ancient wood­land hab­it­at with­in a caper­cail­lie wood­land (Wood H – Craigmore Woods) with con­nectiv­ity to Craigmore Woods SPA. The loss of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at, and an increase in the level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site may slightly increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using these woods. How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the scale and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment, it can be ascer­tained that there will not be a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the integ­rity of the Craigmore Woods SPA.

3) Anagach Woods SPA

Dis­tri­bu­tion of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie) with­in the site:

There has been no devel­op­ment or dir­ect loss of wood­land hab­it­at with­in Anagach Woods SPA, how­ever the devel­op­ment is with­in the bound­ary of the Wood H — Craigmore Woods (see Annex II), which is a caper­cail­lie wood­land between Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA. It is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. There­fore, the loss of wood­land hab­it­at at this site may indir­ectly impact the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Anagach Woods SPA.

The devel­op­ment site is with­in 1.5km of Anagach Woods SPA and 3km from a known caper­cail­lie lek in Anagach Woods. Male caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 5km from lek sites, while female caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 30 km from lek sites to suit­able areas of wood­land for nest­ing and rear­ing chicks. There­fore, the devel­op­ment site is well with­in the dis­pers­al range of both male and female caper­cail­lie from Anagach Woods SPA.

The devel­op­ment site is loc­ated with­in ancient wood­land that is part of the Wood H- Craigmore Woods caper­cail­lie wood­land (see Annex II), which is con­sidered import­ant for sus­tain­ing the meta­pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie in Badenoch and Strath­spey. Caper­cail­lie wood­lands such as Wood H provide func­tion­al hab­it­at con­nectiv­ity for for­aging, breed­ing and dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie mov­ing between caper­cail­lie SPAs and oth­er caper­cail­lie wood­lands. Evid­ence of male and female caper­cail­lie has been recor­ded from the Revack Woods with­in the last 10 years, most recently in 2018 (Ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Officer).

This devel­op­ment will res­ult in an increase in the level of human activ­ity sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site, which was formerly ancient wood­land. Loss of ancient wood­land hab­it­at and increased human activ­ity asso­ci­ated with the devel­op­ment may res­ult in a slight increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using Revack Woods. This may affect the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Anagach Woods SPA by dis­rupt­ing the exchange of caper­cail­lie between Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA.

How­ever, due to the pro­posed usage of the devel­op­ment site for stor­ing machinery and estate equip­ment, it is con­sidered unlikely that this devel­op­ment will res­ult in an increase in recre­ation­al activ­ity with­in Craigmore Woods SPA that would impact the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in that

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site (see Annex I Detailed Caper­cail­lie Assessment).

It is noted that the devel­op­ment site extends to 0.33ha, at the edge of a sig­ni­fic­antly lar­ger block of pine wood­land (>250ha). There­fore, the remov­al of ancient wood­land here will res­ult in the loss of approx­im­ately 0.13% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at. It is also noted that the devel­op­ment site is close to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge, where there will have been an exist­ing level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site, which in the past may have inhib­ited caper­cail­lie from using the wood­land close to Revack Lodge.

There may be cumu­lat­ive impacts from oth­er recent forestry activ­it­ies with­in the Revack Estate, includ­ing the remov­al and felling of wood­land at loc­a­tions near to the devel­op­ment site and from the upgrad­ing of forestry tracks through­out the Revack Woods.

The felling of 1.2ha of com­mer­cial Sitka Spruce plant­a­tion south of the devel­op­ment site was under­taken with a Scot­tish Forestry licence and will be restocked. How­ever, the per­man­ent remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.33 of ancient wood­land to the north of the devel­op­ment site was not car­ried out under SF licence or with a plan­ning applic­a­tion. The recent track upgrades through Revack Woods have been under­taken without plan­ning per­mis­sion, and there­fore their extent is cur­rently unclear, how­ever they are likely to be asso­ci­ated with increased human activ­ity in the woodlands.

There­fore, cumu­lat­ively, there has been the per­man­ent remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.63ha of ancient wood­land from a block of >250ha, which is approx­im­ately 0.25% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at in Revack Woods (north­ern sec­tion of Wood H- Craigmore Woods).

While there has been a loss of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at, and there is likely to be an increase in the level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site, which may res­ult in some increased risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using these woods, it is con­sidered unlikely that there will be a sig­ni­fic­ant impact the dis­tri­bu­tion of caper­cail­lie with­in Anagach Woods SPA.

There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

-Dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie); Struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie):

No devel­op­ment has occurred with­in Anagach Woods SPA and there­fore there will be no impact on the dis­tri­bu­tion and extent of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie with­in the SPA. Sim­il­arly, there will not be a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the struc­ture, func­tion and sup­port­ing pro­cesses of hab­it­ats sup­port­ing caper­cail­lie with­in the Angach Woods SPA.

There­fore, it is con­sidered that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

-No sig­ni­fic­ant dis­turb­ance of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie)

As stated pre­vi­ously female caper­cail­lie may dis­perse up to 30km from lek sites to find suit­able wood­land hab­it­at for nest­ing and rear­ing chicks. The ancient woodland/​PAWS hab­it­at pre­vi­ously present with­in the devel­op­ment site is well with­in that dis­tance. It is also with­in the dis­pers­al dis­tance for male caper­cail­lie from leks (max dis­pers­al is 5km). There is evid­ence of both male and

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breed­ing female caper­cail­lie with­in Revack Woods with­in the last 10 years (most recently in 2018, but records from 2016 with­in 930m of Revack Lodge.) (Ref: Per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Car­o­lyn Robertson, Cairngorms Nature Man­ager and Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Officer) sug­gest­ing that the wood­land with­in and sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site may have been used by dis­pers­ing or for­aging adults, and by nest­ing females. How­ever there has been no recent sur­vey work with­in the area of wood­land owned by Revack Estate, there­fore it is not pos­sible to con­firm wheth­er a caper­cail­lie lek is present, or wheth­er females reg­u­larly nest close to the Revack Estate Lodge. There are caper­cail­lie records from Craig Revack in 2010 (ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Helen Grey, RSPB Scot­land Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer).

It is noted that the ancient wood­land hab­it­at formerly present with­in the devel­op­ment site was at the edge of the wood­land and in prox­im­ity to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge. The devel­op­ment site may there­fore have been sub­ject to an exist­ing level of dis­turb­ance from human activ­ity and may not have been fre­quently used by for­aging, nest­ing or dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie. Breed­ing females are sens­it­ive to dis­turb­ance with­in 150m of nests and broods of chicks (see: Dis­turb­ance Dis­tances in selec­ted Scot­tish Bird Spe­cies – NatureScot Guid­ance | NatureScot).

The per­man­ent remov­al of ancient wood­land hab­it­at and the con­struc­tion of an estate build­ing at the devel­op­ment site will res­ult in an increase in human activ­ity at this loc­a­tion dur­ing its oper­a­tion­al phase. Increased human activ­ity with­in and sur­round­ing the devel­op­ment site may slightly increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie mov­ing between leks in Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA, and to dis­pers­ing females look­ing for nest­ing sites and rais­ing broods of chicks. How­ever. it is con­sidered unlikely that this devel­op­ment will spe­cific­ally res­ult in addi­tion­al recre­ation­al dis­turb­ance with­in Anagach Woods SPA, over and above what is already occur­ring (See Annex I and II).

There may also be cumu­lat­ive impacts from the remov­al of wood­land hab­it­at to the north of the devel­op­ment and felling of com­mer­cial forestry south-east of the devel­op­ment site, and from the upgrad­ing of forestry tracks through the sur­round­ing wood­land, which may reduce options for dis­pers­al cor­ridors and remove sup­port­ing hab­it­at that may have been used by nest­ing female capercaillie.

How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the extent of wood­land that has been removed and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment site next to exist­ing build­ings. It is con­sidered unlikely that that a small increase in human activ­ity in the vicin­ity of the devel­op­ment will sig­ni­fic­antly increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie con­nec­ted to Anagach Woods SPA.

There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

See Annexes I‑II for the detailed caper­cail­lie assess­ment on increased dis­turb­ance with­in Anagach Woods SPA.

-Pop­u­la­tion of the spe­cies (caper­cail­lie) as a viable com­pon­ent of the site:

As dis­cussed above this devel­op­ment has reduced the extent of ancient wood­land hab­it­at with­in caper­cail­lie Wood H ‑Craigmore Wood, which is situ­ated between to caper­cail­lie SPAs. The likely increase in human activ­ity asso­ci­ated with this devel­op­ment may increase the risk of human dis­turb­ance to dis­pers­ing caper­cail­lie from lek sites, and to breed­ing females rais­ing broods. This may impact con­nectiv­ity between two caper­cail­lie woodlands/​SPAs and increase pop­u­la­tion frag­ment­a­tion of this vul­ner­able spe­cies. The num­bers of caper­cail­lie recor­ded at leks with

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Anagach Woods SPA and Craigmore Woods SPA have sig­ni­fic­antly declined in recent years (Ref: per­son­al com­mu­nic­a­tion Helen Gray, RSPB Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer), which appears to be at least partly attrib­ut­able to human disturbance.

As pre­vi­ously stated, it is recog­nised that effects on caper­cail­lie at any one of the Badenoch and Strath­spey caper­cail­lie SPAs or asso­ci­ated wood­lands has the poten­tial to affect the wider caper­cail­lie meta­pop­u­la­tion of Badenoch and Strath­spey. There­fore, loss of wood­land hab­it­at could increase the risk of dis­turb­ance and reduce con­nectiv­ity between two caper­cail­lie SPA, which may have a neg­at­ive impact on the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie asso­ci­ated with Anagach Woods SPA.

How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the scale of wood­land hab­it­at lost (approx­im­ately 0.25% of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at (cumu­lat­ively) with­in a lar­ger wood­land of >250ha) and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment next to exist­ing build­ings that would have had an exist­ing level of dis­turb­ance, it is con­sidered unlikely that that an increase in human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment will sig­ni­fic­antly affect the pop­u­la­tion of caper­cail­lie as a viable com­pon­ent of Anagach Woods SPA.

There­fore, it can be ascer­tained that this Con­ser­va­tion Object­ive can be met.

In con­clu­sion, the devel­op­ment has res­ul­ted in the per­man­ent loss of ancient wood­land hab­it­at with­in a caper­cail­lie wood­land (Wood H – Craigmore Woods) with con­nectiv­ity to Anagach Woods SPA. The loss of suit­able caper­cail­lie hab­it­at, and an increase in the level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site may slightly increase the risk of dis­turb­ance to caper­cail­lie using these woods. How­ever, con­sid­er­ing that the scale and the loc­a­tion of the devel­op­ment, it can be ascer­tained that there will not be a sig­ni­fic­ant impact on the integ­rity of the Anagach Woods SPA.

STAGE 5:

Can it be ascer­tained that there will not be an adverse effect on site integrity?

2) Anagach Woods SPA

Yes.

It is pos­sible to ascer­tain that there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity from this development.

3) Craigmore Woods SPA

Yes.

It is pos­sible to ascer­tain that there will not be an adverse effect on site integ­rity from this development.

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Annex I Caper­cail­lie Assess­ment: 2025/0299/DET – Erec­tion of Agri­cul­tur­al Shed Revack Estate

Q1. Is the pro­posed devel­op­ment likely to change levels of human activ­ity or pat­terns of recre­ation around the pro­posed development/​associated set­tle­ment?	YES, there is likely to be a small increase in human activ­ity within/​around the pro­posed development.
Q1: This and Q2 are included as screen­ing ques­tions to fil­ter out any devel­op­ments that aren’t likely to have changed levels or pat­terns of recreation.	This ret­ro­spect­ive applic­a­tion is for an agri­cul­tur­al shed at Revack Lodge/​Keep­ers Cot­tage, with­in ancient wood­land on the Revack Estate (with­in Wood H — Craigmore Woods). The stor­age of large con­struc­tion machinery, build­ing renov­a­tion mater­i­als and wood pel­lets for fuel appears to be the pro­posed use.
	The devel­op­ment involved the remov­al of approx­im­ately 0.33ha of wood­land on the Ancient Wood­land Invent­ory (without a Scot­tish Forestry felling licence). No details of pre-con­struc­tion eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys have been provided to sup­port the applic­a­tion, but it is pos­sible to com­pare the felled site with remain­ing wood­land to the south and west of the devel­op­ment, which is typ­ic­al of nat­ive pine wood­land, and appears suit­able for capercaillie.
	In addi­tion to the remov­al of trees, a sig­ni­fic­ant volume of soil/​rocks/​sediment has been excav­ated to level the ground on site pri­or to the con­struc­tion of a large shed.
	Update Decem­ber 2025: The applicant’s agent has stated that excav­ated mater­i­als were used to level the ground in anoth­er felled block of wood­land approx­im­ately 160m north of the devel­op­ment site. This was to enable that site to be used for stor­age. Oth­er excav­ated mater­i­als were used in the sur­fa­cing of upgraded tracks through­out the Revack Woods.
	If the devel­op­ment is for the stor­age of con­struc­tion heavy plant, agri­cul­tur­al machinery and estate equip­ment, there may be increased human activ­ity in the devel­op­ment site. How­ever as it is close to exist­ing build­ings at Revack Lodge, there is likely to have been an exist­ing level of human activ­ity close to the devel­op­ment site, which may have inhib­ited caper­cail­lie from using this area of woodland.
	It is noted that an addi­tion­al block of ancient wood­land to the north of the applic­a­tion site has been per­man­ently removed (without felling per­mis­sion or a plan­ning applic­a­tion), and forestry track upgrades have been under­taken through­out the Revack Lodge Estate wood­land coin­cid­ing with the cur­rent devel­op­ment. These oth­er works are out-with the red line bound­ary of this devel­op­ment but may have a cumu­lat­ive impact through increas­ing the extent and dis­tri­bu­tion of oper­a­tion­al-phase dis­turb­ance through­out caper­cail­lie Wood H – Craigmore Woods, and will exacer­bate the loss of sup­port­ing hab­it­at in the north of Revack Woods. The upgraded tracks are likely to facil­it­ate an increase in