Shooting and fishing: A lurid streak becomes, in under five years, an indistinct mark on the landscape

With immaculate timing, intended or otherwise I know not, wild land charity The John Muir Trust and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland have decided it is time to crank up their campaign against people who bulldoze tracks across the hills. Immaculate as it coincided with the metamorphosis of the Scottish Rural Property Business Association into Scottish Land and Estates (SLE).

And it is members of this body that by and large own the hills and therefore the tracks. And we all know what goes on in the hills, don’t we? Grouse shooting. Grrrr. The SLE (this is a third change of name – remember the old Scottish Landowners’ Federation?) has however taken a leaf from Alastair Campbell’s book of political communications and now gets in fast – well, fastish – at the first sign of criticism, real or perceived.

So, rather than hide in the heather it quite rightly pointed out that tracks have a multitude of uses for which a great many people, including hillwalkers and cyclists, have reason to be thankful. They are not there simply to speed fat cats to grouse butts. The hills are, after all, also managed for farming, forestry, and wildlife and habitat conservation besides culling deer.

Shooting may come into it, but for probably only a few days in August and September. The number of new tracks being built into the hills solely for sporting purposes is negligible.

A number of tracks, one-time packhorse roads, or old paths from long-gone crofts, have been or will be upgraded. Floods wash them out and they need to be rebuilt – sticking out like the proverbial, of that there is no doubt. But it is amazing how quickly nature takes over. A lurid yellow streak becomes, in less than five years, an indistinct mark on the landscape canvas. But of course it is the sporting side of life to which the JMT and MCS tacitly take exception.

They are quite annoyed that a new track or even a reconstructed track does not require full planning permission as it is part of a land-management operation. If a track did need permission they would have a better chance of stopping it. Well, possibly.

The most frequent and serious scars are those caused by wind farm and hydro plant access roads which all need full planning permission, which the JMT and MCS have largely failed to prevent. The irony of this is that wind farm access roads usually lead up to wild and heathery bits where grouse live.

Which, of course, if you happen to own the land, is all rather a bonus. Oodles of cash from wind farm rents and superhighways to the moor for guns, keepers and beaters, mountain bikers, walkers and even wheelchairs. It’s just not fair.