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FRONT PAGE 

Newsletter
Cairngorms Local Biodiversity Action Plan

Image:  Scottish Wildcat on a branch

Image:  Cairngorms Biodiversity logo

Looking after the Wetlands 

Image:  Wetlands area in the Park

A Wetland Inventory has been produced for the 
Cairngorms National Park area.Wetland habitats in 
the Park have been dramatically reduced by drainage and 
river-bank engineering through past land management 
practices and there are both existing and historic 
wetland sites with the potential for enhancement or 
restoration. Many of the wetlands in the Park are small, 
fragmented and under threat.Wetlands can bring multiple 
benefits to people and society as well as being high 
quality wildlife habitat. By holding back or slowing 
water during storms and snow melt they help 
prevent or reduce the impacts of 
devastating flood events for 
downstream communities. 

Wetlands help to buffer against pollution, purify water 
and mitigate against the effects of climate change. 
The inventory work is being futher developed by 
the Cairngorms LBAP to verify the data and consider 
any constraints with the aim of identifying areas in 
the Park that are the most suitable and practical 
for the restoration and creation of wetlands. Building 
on the Wetland Workshop held in May 2009, we will 
be consulting with landowners to gain their vital 
support and help them source funding to enable 
practical restoration projects to be undertaken. 

Help us record Dragonflies 

A new leaflet on Cairngorms Damselflies and 
Dragonflies is now available.This pocket-sized A5, 
10 page leaflet details the 13 species found in the 
Cairngorms, with pictures of males and females, 
flight period table, map and a list of good places 
to see dragonflies. It is available, free, from a wide 
range of visitor and public outlets or from the 
Biodiversity Officers. 

continued on back page... 

Image:  Twinflower 

For more information on the 
Cairngorms LBAP or the 
Biodiversity Grant Scheme 
please contact Stephen Corcoran: 
stephencorcoran@cairngorms.co.uk 
Tel 01479 870528 


Published Autumn 09 

Cairngorms LBAP, 14 The Square, Grantown-on-Spey, Moray PH26 3HG www.cairngorms.co.uk 


PAGE 2

Image:  Nursery with rows of young Aspen trees

Increasing the Aspen population 

Aspen rarely flowers in Scotland, 
so growing aspen trees for planting 
is not straightforward. 

The Highland Aspen Group is 
propagating trees from sections 
of root collected in the wild. The 
process is labour intensive, and 
consequently only small numbers 
of aspen trees are available for 
planting. The Group is working 
with Forestry Commission Scotland 
and Scottish Native Woods to trial 
improved propagation methods 

Aspen clones were collected from 
all over Scotland, and are being 
used to grow stock plants. These 
will form the basis of a seed orchard 
and hopefully lead to the production 

of Scottish Aspen seed under 
controlled conditions. This will 
make it possible to produce 
significant numbers of aspen 
seedlings for planting, so that we 
can expand and enhance aspen 
woodland in the Cairngorms 
National Park and beyond. 

The second Scottish Aspen 
Conference in Boat of Garten 
saw over 100 delegates attending. 
A range of topics were covered on 
the biodiversity and management of 
aspen and copies of the conference 
proceedings can be downloaded 
from the aspen project page: 

www.scottishaspen.org.uk 



Grants of up to £5000 still available 

The Cairngorms Biodiversity 
Grant Scheme is now in its fifth 
year and we are always looking 
for project ideas from across 
the Cairngorms LBAP area. 
The scheme offers grants up to 
£5000 and is open to constituted 
non-profit making organisations 
such as Community Councils, 
schools, wildlife charities and local 
groups.We recommend working 
up your project idea with the 
Biodiversity Officer and once 
we have agreed the aims of the 
project, the approval process is 
quick. For more information, 
or to discuss your ideas, please 
contact the Biodiversity Officer. 

Image:  Crathie School pond project


NESBReC 

The North East Scotland Biological 
Records Centre (NESBReC), in 
conjunction with the Cairngorms 
National Park Authority, has 
established a biological recording 
system for the Cairngorms 

National Park. NESBReC acts as 
a central point for information 
exchange where all species records
for the Park will be collated and

managed, and then submitted 
to the National Biodiversity 
 Network where they will be 
 accessible to the general public. 

Anyone with any biological record data for the Cairngorms LBAP area 
should send the information to nesbrec@aberdeenshire.gov.uk 
telephone 01224 273633, or go to the website: www.nesbrec.org.uk 


PAGE 3

Looking after your cat? 

Image:  Scottish Wildcat

The Cairngorms Wildcat Project 
was launched in May 2009 and aims 
over the course of the next few 
years to save the Scottish wildcat 
from extinction in one of its last 
strongholds.This is a partnership 
project between the Cairngorms 
National Park Authority, Forestry 
Commission Scotland, Royal 
Zoological Society of Scotland, 
Scottish Gamekeepers Association 
and Scottish Natural Heritage. 

Working with land managers 

Using an awareness-raising campaign 
branded ‘Highland Tiger’, the project 
seeks to encourage responsible 
domestic cat ownership, ie increased 
neutering and vaccination in the 

Cairngorms National Park with the 
support of cat welfare organisations. 
The project will also work with 
land managers to ensure that 
predator control is wildcat-friendly, 
and that the wildcat population 
and the extent of both hybridisation 
and disease, are monitored 
with the input of land managers 
and the public at large. 

For more information about 
the project, to report a sighting 
of a wildcat in the Cairngorms 
National Park, or to find out 
other ways in which you might 
be able to help, please visit the 
Highland Tiger website at: 

www.highlandtiger.com 


The Cairngorms LBAP area 

Image:  Map showing the Cairngorms LBAP area


Help is on hand 
for Red Squirrels 

The Scottish Wildlife Trust has 
recently employed a new Saving 
Scotland’s Red Squirrels project 
officer for North East Scotland. 
The project will oversee work to 
reduce the threats to red squirrel 
populations in rural Aberdeenshire 
and Moray (including parts of the 
Cairngorms National Park), and 
Aberdeen City.Working in partnership 
with land managers, public agencies, 

Image:  Red squirrel

local volunteer groups and others, 
the project will provide management 
advice to landowners, co-ordinate 
and manage grey squirrel population 
control and undertake surveys and 
monitoring. Grey squirrels continue 
to spread into Aberdeenshire from 
Aberdeen City, though this spread has 
been limited thanks to the control 
efforts by local landowners, FCS 
and SNH over the last few years. 
The ultimate aim of the project is 
to remove all grey squirrels from 
the Grampian area and at the 
same time improve the habitat for 
red squirrels. Support from local 
people and land managers is vital in 
achieving this aim. 

For more information contact 
Hollie Walker: tel 01224 654353 
or email hwalker@swt.org.uk 
A similar project is also running in 
the Highland region. You can contact 
the project officer Juliet Robinson: 
tel 01349 860916 or email 
juliet.robinson@forestry.gsi.gov.uk 


PAGE 4

Do ONE Thing 
For Wildlife 

wildlife gardening 

Now that the colder weather is 
approaching, your garden visitors 
need your help to survive. Here are 
some ideas on how you can help them. 

Garden feeders 

Natural food sources in the winter 
months are limited and by supplying 
food in your garden you can help 
many species to survive the winter 
months. Nut feeders and fat cakes 
can be hung from trees or bird 
tables and seeds and scraps such 
as cheese, baked potato, pieces of 
apple, raisins, and moistened bread 
can be placed on a bird table. 

Build a log pile 

In a shady part of your garden, pile 
some logs and stones in a random 
way to create lots of gaps.This will 


create valuable foraging and hibernation 
habitat for frogs, newts, 
insects, butterflies and if it is big 
enough, maybe even a hedgehog. 

For the future 

Planting trees in your garden will 
increase the biodiversity of your 
garden by attracting insects, birds 
and small mammals. Late autumn 
and winter is the perfect time for 
planting new trees, small native 
species such as aspen, rowan, hazel, 
birch or willow are suitable for 
most gardens. 

For further information visit: 

www.wildlifetrusts.org 
www.wildaboutgardens.org 
www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/wildlifegarden 


Success for Water Vole Conservation 


The Cairngorms Water Vole and Mink Project is now in its third year and 
has expanded to include nearly all of the Spey and Dee catchments, with 
mink captures now largely confined to the lower catchments. 

The project is progressing on the Don and also now works in the north 
Tay down as far as Pitlochry. It is necessary to monitor and trap mink on 
a catchment scale to intercept breeding animals further down river before 
they disperse and predate upon important water vole populations in the 
headwaters within the Cairngorms National Park. The project area has 
merged with the Aberdeenshire sister project to form a large control area 
across the North East and also works closely with the new North West 
Highlands project. Such a co-ordinated large scale approach increases the 
effectiveness of mink control maximising benefits for a range of native birds 
and fish as well as for water voles. 

Surveys are underway to monitor how water vole populations are recovering. 
Some re-colonisation is evident in historically occupied areas and this 
pattern is expected to continue as the size of mink free areas increases. 

Visit www.watervolescotland.org or email llinosdavies@cairngorms.co.uk, 
telephone 01479 870570. 

Photography © David Gowans, Neil McIntyre, Peter Cairns/northshots.com 



Cairngorms 
National Park 
Plan Update 

The Cairngorms National Park Plan, 
launched in 2007, sets out the vision 
and priorities for all involved in 
managing the Cairngorms National 
Park.The first priority of the Plan is 
conserving and enhancing the 
biodiversity and landscapes of the 
Park, in which the LBAP partnership 
is a driving force, demonstrated by 
the range of projects highlighted 
in this newsletter. This year is the 
mid-point of delivery for the 2007-12 
Plan, so the LBAP is contributing to 
a review of delivery to make sure 
that the right focus remains on the 
priority habitats and species of 
the Cairngorms. 


... continued from front page 

The National Dragonfly Atlas Project 
urgently needs volunteers to help 
update the known distribution of 
British Dragonfly species and identify 
important areas for dragonflies. 

For more information or to sign up 
as a volunteer dragonfly recorder in 
2010 please contact the Biodiversity 
Officer. 

Image:  Cairngorms Brand logo 

For more information on the Cairngorms LBAP or the Biodiversity Grant Scheme please contact Stephen Corcoran, Cairngorms 
Biodiversity Officer: email: stephencorcoran@cairngorms.co.uk, tel 01479 870528 or visit our web page at www.cairngorms.co.uk