Princess Anne presents Jubilee Diamond Wood Plaque to Trees for Life

Alan Watson Featherstone of Trees for Life receives the
Diamond Wood commemorative plaque from
HRH The Princess Royal.
Photo: Woodland Trust Scotland.

Trees for Life has been honoured with a commemorative plaque from HRH The Princess Royal to mark its creation of a Diamond Wood in Inverness-shire to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The conservation charity is planting the 60-acre Jubilee woodland of native trees at its Dundreggan Estate, to the west of Loch Ness in Glen Moriston.

The initiative is part of a Woodland Trust project to create 60 new Diamond Woods across the UK, each at least 60 acres in size, to symbolise the 60 years of The Queen’s reign.

The commemorative plaque was presented to Trees

Ltl Acorn 6210 Water Resistance Tests

Ltl Acorn 6210MMX

Don't all die of shock. This is what we've all been waiting for.
A 6210 with a water tight case.

Camera under test: 

Ltl Acorn 6210MG S/N 202001037 – This test camera is the re-designed case as of October 2012

Purpose of test: 

To determine its resistance to water ingress during heavy rainfall with at least a ten degrees centigrade drop in case temperature during the first five minutes from the start of the test.

Reason for test:

The camera case is a sealed unit at normal air pressure but with any sudden drop in external case temperature (e.g. cold heavy rain following heating by sun), the air inside starts to contract and form a vacuum. As the vacuum increases any weakness in the case seals will cause the seal to break down at some point and

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) - National tree of Scotland?

Scots Pine - Pinus sylvestris

Scots Pine - Pinus sylvestris

Glen Affric NNR
Scots Pine forest in the foreground with plantations on
lower middle ground; and behind is the open hill ground
left by centuries of tree felling and deer over population. 

From an article in The Scotsman by Scott Macnab

The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) is also known as the Scots fir, the Guithais (Gaelic), Ochtach (Old Irish) and Giumais (Irish).

A petition lodged at Holyrood calls on MSPs and the Scottish Government to work in tandem with the country’s heritage and environmental bodies to take the proposal on.

It has already met with a 
positive response from the Scottish Wildlife Trust, but officials say there is currently no mechanism to create the new national symbol.

Petitioner Alex Hamilton said: “I believe that the vision of the future of Scotland should include a

Scottish Wildcat Association October 2012 Newsletter

SNH action plan for wildcats

Scottish Natural Heritage, the Government agency responsible for nature in Scotland, announced the formation of a new conservation action group for the wildcat, put together with the intention of forming a national action plan to bring them back from the brink.

The group includes a wide cross section of groups who can all play a hand and bring a range of expertises to the table, besides ourselves at the Scottish Wildcat Association the group also includes Forestry Commission Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Cairngorms Wildcat Project, Highland Foundation for Wildlife, Highland Wildlife Park, Oxford University, Scottish Gamekeepers Association and leading wildcat expert Dr Andrew Kitchener.

Before the first meeting of the group we (the SWA)

Ltl Acorn 6210 and 5210 Trail Cameras News Update

Ltl Acorn 6210MMX and 5210A

In this post:
Trigger Speeds and Reaction Times
MMS Modules
6210 Case Re-design
6210 Software Version update
5210 Software Version update
Future Tests and Reviews
6210 Availability

It looks as if the new updated 6210 is almost available, at long last; but I'm going to qualify that by pointing out that I can only report what I'm told.

Several times it seemed as if the camera would be ready and then the manufacturers have had to make fine adjustments to the case mould. I also know that there is completely updated software for this camera and all these improvements take time to get right.

Post Update 22.10.12: The new 6210 will be here

Badger cull: not in this farmer's name | Steve Jones | guardian.co.uk

Badger cull: not in this farmer's name

'Farmers vilify badgers but TB is mainly transmitted
cow to cow.'   Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

This article was published in The Guardian last Friday and I'm re-publishing it here to provide as much extra coverage as possible.

If only everyone could see it this way.  RB
...................................

I farm in the cull area, and I know that killing badgers will not stop bovine TB – the answer lies in better farming practice


The government justifies a badger cull by claiming it's to help farmers. I have 35 years' livestock management experience, and I live in the heart of the Forest of Dean – the cull area – and I disagree. Killing badgers isn't the long-

Ltl Acorn 5210 and 6210 Trail Camera Problem Solving

Fig 1:  Ltl Acorn 6210MMX and 5210A
Trail Cameras

Latest Page Update: 02.05.2016
Troubleshooting Guide at bottom of page.

Like all cameras of this type, the Ltl Acorn models do have their issues and I answer a large number of emails requesting help. Some problems are just mistakes with menu settings, others are issues with memory cards and some are camera faults.

This post is an attempt to collate and illustrate potential problems which, in most cases, can be corrected by users if they have the right information.

Some issues may require some analysis by the user, but most often a simple procedure or a firmware update will correct the problem.

I hope this post will help you keep your camera running without costly returns and time spent trying to explain problems.



If you have a camera problem which is not answered below please email, Skype or phone.
Do not use the post comments to ask for advice.


Real or Fake (cloned) Ltl Acorn (Firmware upgrade issues):

Before I go into specific issues, one thing which is very important is to determine that you have a genuine

Scottish Wildcat is in imminent danger of extinction

Photo: Laurie Campbell Photography 

Hot on the heels of yesterdays post which included the recent press release from SNH, comes another from the Scottish Wildcat Association.

You'll notice that I've changed their headline for the title of this post, because although I echo their sentiments for urgent action, nobody is certain  how many pure bred wildcats are left in the wild, or in captivity for that matter.

For this to be established genetic testing is an absolute priority and it's high time for SNH to formalise their national conservation action plan for

Wildcat project comes to end but points the way for future action

Photo:   Cairngorms Wildcat Project

On the same day I was reading the final report on the Cairngorms Wildcat Project, I also received a sighting report of a large cat in this area; of wildcat size and appearance, including the typically thick, blunt and ringed tail.

This was a night time sighting in car headlights and can't be verified but I hope it's a good omen, even though the chances of it being a pure wildcat are extremely slim.

With official estimates of the remaining wildcat population in Scotland being continually down sized, and the latest from The Scottish Wildcat Association suggesting the number might be as low as 35, pure bred Scottish Wildcats could soon be extinct in the wild.

For the past year Dr O’Donoghue at the University of Chester, has been working in collaboration with Dr Ross McEwing at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland WildGenes Lab in Edinburgh, on developing a diagnostic genetic test to provide solid evidence of how many true Scottish wildcats actually

Petition against the Badger Cull in England

Sign the petition against the Badger cull in south west England.