Hay's Way

The Scotsman's Rural Affairs Correspondent Katharine Hay is walking around Scotland in 2024 to visit our rural communities and see first hand issues facing them

The largest independent Scottish renewables developer has said progress in the sector is being blocked by “years of intergovernmental discord”, with major investment being put at severe risk.

Exclusive Developers accuse MoD 'stalemate' of blocking £9bn wind farm projects
Energy experts have argued an ongoing deadlock means £9 billion of investment in the regional economy of the broader Border area is “stuck and unable to be delivered”
Katharine Hay

Scotland’s largest dairy said it does not include a new additive marketed to reduce methane from cattle in its products

Scottish dairy labels keeping away from new methane-reducing additive

Danish clothing tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen is now Scotland’s single largest private landowner after buying up a vast swathe of land covering around 90,000 hectares across 13 estates in Sutherland and the Cairngorms, including Glen Feshie (above), with plans for nature restoration and rewilding on a grand scale

Hollywood backing for a 'rewilding nation' - but what does it mean?

Galloway becoming Scotland's next national park is currently under consultation

Referendum over national park binned as independent review demanded

The island of Lismore, on the west cost of Scotland

The Scottish island home to 170 people that surprised me

A golden eagle has been killed by a wind turbine in the south of Scotland

Golden eagle killed by wind turbine strike
Conservationists said the bird’s cause of death is the first of its kind in the south of Scotland.

A view overlooking Bettyhill, on the north stretch of the Highland region, west from Thurso

The 'poor' state of the Scottish Highlands and islands revealed

Britain's bumblebees have been in trouble in recent years, but one nature restoration project in Perthshire has a positive story to tell

Bumblebee population increases 116 times in 'remarkable' result

The community on the island of Iona is set to benefit from improved connectivity

Birthplace of Christianity in Scotland fast-tracked into 21st century

Plans submitted to build some of the UK's largest turbines in marine protected area off Scotland's east coast

Plans submitted for some of UK's largest turbines off north east coast

The public library in Muir of Ord in the Highlands

I would be stranded without libraries - closures are devastating

Land with natural capital potential dropped 44% to £3,100 per gross hectare in Scotland, according to the report, which industry leaders say was distorted by a couple of highland estates offered at relatively low prices

The 'Lord of the Flies battle' to find Scottish tree planting sites

Durness Shop, located in one of the busiest spots on the NC500 during the spring and summer months, has gone up for sale

'A unique lifestyle': New owners sought for NC500 village shop
The Highland village was a spot where Beatles star John Lennon used to visit during his childhood
Katharine Hay

Campaigners have called on the Scottish Parliament to urge the government to reconsider the process for selecting the preferred option for the planned upgrade of the A82 between Tarbet and Inveraranan

Campaigners: 'Protect bonnie banks of Loch Lomond from road upgrades'

Jeremy Clarkson speaks with the media in central London ahead of the farmer's protest over the changes to inheritance tax rules

‘Kill farming’ tax accusation as Starmer quizzed on Clarkson claims

Farmers in tractors drive in Parliament Square ahead of a protest in central London over the changes to inheritance tax (IHT) rules in the recent UK Budget, which will introduce new taxes on farms worth more than £1 million. Picture: PA

The 13 best pictures as farmers stage mass tax protest in London

Consultation for a new visitor levy for the Highland region gets under way from today

Highland Council warned to 'tread carefully' on 'tourist tax' survey

Glasgow's poet laureate Jim Carruth is hosting an event, Keep Talking, to raise awareness of the challenges farmers are facing today

Plight of farmers spotlighted in night with renowned Scots poets

A forest dubbed 'the Rolls Royce of Scottish forestry' has come on the market

'Rolls Royce' of Scotland's forests goes on sale for £19.5 million

The first total not spot area as part of the Shared Rural Network programme has been switched on in South Uist

Island gets widespread 4G after mast turned on

Building for Barra's first distillery begin in the next three weeks

The new £12m distillery supporting a Scottish island community

An initiative to save one of Scotland’s native tree species has been launched in the Scottish Highlands.

Rare Scottish tree given 'much needed hope' under new initiative

The Labour government has been accused by the rural sector of being ‘out of touch’ with farming given its latest decision on farm taxes

'Shameful betrayal': The 31-strong letter condemning farm tax change

David Muir, a crofter in the Outer Hebrides which is home to the Machair

The geese that won't migrate: An island battle to save unique crop

Nevis Range confirmed changes to its winter timetable in an announcement this week

Highland resort confirms ski season will not start until February

SSEN uses horses to help with timber clear up in transmission projects for the first time

Why Scottish firm uses actual 'horse' power for transmission project

Some of the hill range in the Galloway Forest Park

'There's a third option': Alternative boundary drawn for national park

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Calls to U-turn on farmer tax as petition exceeds 100,000 signatures in two days

Calls to U-turn on farmer tax as petition exceeds 100,000 signatures

The remake of the cape and dress that Bonnie Prince Charlie would have worn when he fled where he was in hiding to Skye

I stayed in the home where Bonnie Prince Charlie was dressed as a maid

In a turbulent year in the arts in Scotland, marked by protests over funding cuts and an imminent review of Creative Scotland by the Scottish government, #EvenHereEvenNow will platform artists who are often marginalised in a debate dominated by voices from the central belt.

Campaign written in seaweed, wool and stone to support island artists

Hay's Way: Why am I about to spend the next six months walking around Scotland

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Farming community speaks out after the Labour government's changes to taxes announced in this week's budget

Scale of tax changes to farmers 'not seen before', rural experts say

Tycoon Donald Trump pictured at the house in Tong, on the Isle of Lewis, where his mother was brought up before she emigrated to the United States.

I travelled to a Scots island to find Trump's relatives

The farming community has urged the Labour government to keep the tax relief on agriculture property ahead of the Autumn budget announcement

Labour urged to show 'common sense' in Budget and keep farm tax relief

The oak, thought to be at least 400 years old and hidden away in a Sitka spruce plantation in Lochaber, in the Scottish Highlands, is a surviving remnant of the native ecosystem, playing host to rare lichens and other species, the Woodland Trust said.

The 400-year-old oak named after Scottish band wins Tree of the Year

The company behind marketing the NC500 has introduced a new rulebook to encourage visitors to travel more responsibly in the Highlands

New rulebook launched for NC500 in bid to 'preserve' beauty

Endangered mountain trees and shrubs are making a comeback in Scotland, mitigating the effects of extreme weather, a study by the University of Stirling has shown.

Mountain trees almost extinct in 1990s make Scottish comeback

The American robin is a very rare sight in Scotland, and has only been recorded once before in the country the 1960s

Bird spotted once before on Scottish island in the 60s wows twitchers

Kraiknish Dun, a spectacular ancient dun or fort, has been recognised for its cultural significance.

Dramatic 2,000-year-old Iron Age fort given national monument status

The Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye in October

The Fairy Pools has lost the magic it had for me ten years ago Katharine Hay

A remote bothy near Oban is coming to life with hard work from volunteers

The 100-year-old building hidden in a forest transforms into a bothy

Oban in Argyll & Bute, which has been named as Scotland's Town of the Year in the Scotland Loves Local Awards 2024.

The 'reinvented' coastal location crowned Scotland’s Town of the Year

A view of Warblaw Hill from the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in Dumfries and Galloway

Anger at new forest plan as town 'disappears under carpet of Sitka'

Leitters Forest, which is home to a historic gold mine, has come on the market for offers near £2 million

Scottish forest with historic gold mine for sale for £2m

According to the British Trust for Ornithology, golden eagles are on the green list due to their conservation status improving, but ongoing persecution is still a threat to the bird across the UK

Reducing raptor crime is improving - so should communication about it Katharine Hay

A Goshawk trapped in Aberdeenshire in 2012

RSPB report shows raptor crime cases as research shows signs of change

Tesco has announced it will open its Stornoway branch, on the Isle of Lewis, seven days a week

Tesco announces Sunday opening in Scottish Sabbath stronghold

The Calanais Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 5,000 years ago

Tour operators urged to miss out major visitor site due to erosion

A visualisation of planned improvements on the Tomatin to Moy section of the A9

A9 upgrade works on six-mile stretch increases again to £308m

Scotland is renowned for its raspberry production and is known for producing some of the best raspberries in the world.

How scientists are using £1m to develop climate resilient raspberries

Farmer Ruaridh Ormiston researching tauros in the Netherlands

Farmer questions 'ancient cattle' introduction after visiting breed

On board Harmony, Angus Campbell's fishing vessel based in Harris

My 13-hour trip in the Atlantic looking for Scotland's bluefin tuna

Islanders have hit back at the Scottish Government’s move to increase ferry tickets by 10 per cent next year

'Surprised and disappointed' - Islanders 'targeted' by ferry cost hike

Comet spotted flying over Aberdeenshire near Stonehaven

'Comet of the century' spotted 'plain as day' over north east Scotland

Jen O'Brien, founding director of Music Broth

Scotland's 'loudest library' to open its doors on northern island

The Blackhouse Village is one of the main tourist attractions on the Isle of Lewis

'We don't want highways': Island pushback to calls for better road

The wild cattle to be 'brought back from the dead' in the Highlands

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