Allt Duine windfarm threat

I have never been in the Monadhliath myself but I've seen them from other places. The Cairngorms for example. The wind turbines they want to build will be visible from many more places and the areas surrounding these metal giants will be destroyed.
Chris Townsend has recently revisited the area and has written an arcticle on his blog. If you love the wildness of Scotland you should read it and use the link for signing the petition.

In the Netherlands building projects can be delayed for years on end, or even stopped, with the use of a law protecting rare species of animals or plants. Isn't there such a law in Scotland ?  

Marked by a sniper for re-creation

We Dutch are kind to nature, even if we have to kill for it.

We created The Netherlands, a former swamp area at the end of the rivers Rhine, Maas, IJssel and several smaller streams.. Because of that we think we have the right to do with it what ever we think is 'right'.

Someone behind a desk decides what's acceptable and what's not. Their goal is to (re)create nature. Life as we want it, Jim.

Therefore the Goois Natuur Reservaat (GNR) has decided to make a connection between two parts of heathland. Cutting down, killing, thousands of trees in the proces.

"These connections give warmth-loving animals like reptiles and butterflies the opportunity to migrate from one place to another. Such ecological connections are of great importance for the natural richness of our environment".

What natural richness ? Who defines natural richness ? Douglas tree, Japanese Larch, Corsican Pine, American Oak, Black Cherry; they don't belong here. At least at a certain moment in time. And that moment is determined behind a desk. If we go back 15.000 years things looked quite different from today. Let's remove humans and reintroduce the mammuth ! Go back 3000 years and the intruding species Homo Sapiens is firmly established, wolf and bear are still here, rhinos and lions are gone.

The desk decides to go back 150 years. That decision costs a lot of money. Our money. How long does the desk want to maintain 1861. One hundred years ? Five hundred ? Ten thousand ?

Change is inevitable. We can cut down as many trees as we want but in the end the trees will win. They will regain lost land and cover our 'civilisation', like they covered Central and South Americain cultures.

The intention of wanting to play the almighty is totally out of order in my opinion and a role that's destined to fail.    

A Munro in Holland ?

Not only a Munro but the highest straight away. I suppose you Brits will envy us for having a mountain higher than all of Britain. With onethird of the country being below seelevel it might make for interesting ascend and descend figures.
What I'm talking about ?
We Dutch are crazy. Y'all know that.
If we can create new land why not create layer upon layer of new land. If you go high enough you can call it a mountain. Let's say approximately 2km high. Would that be sufficient ?
I'm not joking you. Seriously. If you're able to read Dutch see : www.diebergkomter.nl or in English see : peopledaily or theworld .

More than 50 people - and the number of participants is growing - have joined for a brainstormsession.
Geologist, economists, marketeers, ingenieurs, architects, sportsmanagers, advisers and investigators are thinking the unthinkable : building a mountain in The Netherlands.

Yes, we ARE crazy but isn't thinking about mountains always fun ? Perhaps in 30 years time we can all have a laugh about those madmen in 'ye olde days', perhaps I'll be packing my hillwalkinggear for a short holiday-break. To get a bit of practise for the real stuff in bonnie Scotland.
How many years ago did we set foot on the moon for the first time ?
                                          

The big squeeze

Many thanks to the person who anonimously send a box with sunshine yesterday morning. I gave it a good squeeze and got 2 days of sunshine out of it.
If you have more of those boxes, please send them to me !? It looks like I might need another one tomorrow.

'Summer' statistics

Could someone please send me a box of sunshine ?

This summer has been the wettest since 1906. In June, July and August the average rainfall in the Netherlands was 350mm, that's 100mm more than normal in this period.
It has also been a bit nippy : average temperature 16,3 C (normally 17 C) and being wetter it feels even colder.
20+ days : 50 (ave. 60), 25+ days : 7 (ave. 21), 30+ days : 2 (ave. 4).
Hours of sunshine have been 525 instead of the usual 608. Especially July and August have been gloomy.
I know you're about to say "we've had a lovely spring this year" but that seems so long ago !
With autumn coming closer, or is it winter ?, I'd like to take a looooong sleep.