YOUR VIEWS: Scrabster landslip works saga, Lead shot worries and Marie Curie fundraising thanks
Marie Curie group offers thanks
On behalf of Marie Curie Care Wick Fundraising Group I would like to thank everyone who contributed to our recent collection in Tesco Wick.
Due to the usual generosity of Caithness people we raised the amazing amount of £962.55.
This is all much appreciated and will fund many more hours of Marie Curie Nursing care.
We would also like to thank the management and staff of Tesco Wick for their help and support on the day and all our volunteer collectors.
Barbara Nicol
Thurso Road
Wick
Landslip works are in the offing
I write with regards to continued reporting on the landslip at the A9 by Scrabster ("A9 at Scrabster set for slope stabilisation works after latest landslide", March 13) and the drop-in session with area managers and geotechnical advisers from Transport Scotland as facilitated by constituency MSP, Maree Todd.
The proposal for avalanche shelters, mooted by Cllr Matthew Reiss, was again cited. I was one of the dozen or so attendees, including stakeholders and business representatives, and can attest that the Transport Scotland representatives did not appear aware of such proposals.
Other attendees identified impracticality to close the sole road access to the Scrabster Harbour for its construction; unlike, say, the Rest and Be Thankful which had an alternative route of the Old Military Road.
As I recall, by Cllr Reiss's then testimony, the suggestion had arisen from a contributor's comment on his Facebook channel.
Catch-walls and gabion baskets seem more likely.
The drop-in session also was valuable. Transport Scotland representatives discovered from me the major October 2006 [landslip] which restricted vehicle access to the village for the best part of 72 hours; and from others the destabilising presence of grazing sheep, and possible covering over of drains on Clett Terrace by recent road repairs.
Informal discussion on Facebook can provide useful hive-mind knowledge. It, however, also should be treated with circumspection.
Part of the responsibility of government is working with people you may disagree with on other points or not necessary find personally agreeable.
As now can be seen, Ms Todd had been pursuing Scottish Government support for this and other problem spots on the A9 in her constituency both on her own recognisance and concerns raised by constituents, including myself in my own small documented part following the Boxing Day 2023 landslip.
Alexander Glasgow
Tower Hill Road
Thurso
Time to ban lead shot
Ref: “Sustainable shot pledge is a dead duck” – John O’Groat Journal, March 14.
“Shooting plays a crucial role in conservation, wildlife management…”
Wildlife does not need management. Turning it into something that it is not – e.g. a shooting gallery – needs management.. Natural wildlife evolved over thousands of years without management.
Internet search “gcwt Effect of lead on wildlife and wildfowl”:
“First reported in the 1870s, lead ammunition – or lead shot – poisoning has been widely recognised as a threat since the mid-1900s following wildfowl deaths in the USA, France, Italy, Britain and some Scandinavian countries. Lead poisoning is now a well-known issue for humans, domestic animals, and wildlife alike, with lead shot posing a particular threat to wildfowl. Wildfowl are birds such as ducks, geese, swans, moorhens, and coots.”
“Shooting sports in the UK release 5,000-6,000 tonnes of lead ammunition into the environment every year. Some 2,040 tonnes of this ammunition is released into the rural environment. There are no precise estimates of exactly where this lead shot is dispersed, this is because there are no official estimates of the number of animals shot, cartridges fired, or shoot participants.”
“Scientists estimate that millions of birds suffer from sub-lethal effects of lead shot every year throughout Europe. Research estimates suggest that between 30-60,000 birds are likely to perish in the UK each winter as a direct result of lead shot poisoning. Long-term monitoring found that 8.1% of birds found dead between 2000-2010 had died from ingesting lead pellets. Some animals had ingested hundreds of pellets.”
The government should ban lead shot immediately. It is no more necessary for national life than leaded petrol.
John Campbell
Waitside
Castletown
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