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 extensive tree planting is taking place across the University of Edinburgh’s land in Stirlingshire and the Pentland Hills Regional Park.

Extensive project for half a million trees on university land begins

Despite some studies throwing carbon sequestration from tree planting into question, the university predicts around one million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be removed from the atmosphere over the course of the project.

Katharine Hay

Funding has increased to help farmers deal with sea eagle predation

Sea eagle damage funding for Scottish farmers topped up to almost £1m

Better manure management and selective breeding of livestock could reduce methane emissions from agriculture (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

How a day of reckoning is coming for Scottish farm businesses Seamus Murphy

Margot Robbie attends the European premiere of 'Barbie' at Cineworld Leicester Square on July 12, 2023 in London (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)

'She's just another person': Locals respond to Robbie's new cottage

Braemar Kirk in Braemar, Aberdeenshire

Church's last service 'an emotional wrench' after sale to millionaires

Fish farming is worth around £885 million to the Scottish economy and ministers have set out ambitions to expand the industry, with a target to produce between 300,000 and 400,000 tonnes annually by 2030. Picture: Richard Johnson/Getty Images

Exclusive Did you know your salmon is farmed? Poll shows customer confusion

The industry claim survey results show consumers are already well aware they are buying farmed salmon.

Katharine Hay

Scottish farmer devastated by virus warns a more deadly one is likely to hit Scotland soon

'I am petrified' - Farm devastated by virus warns deadlier one to come

Entrance to Stobo Hope site where planting was taking place but has since been paused due to ongoing court proceedings

Controversial Sitka plantation plans to undergo new impact assessment

The sun rises behind the Calanais Standing Stones on the Isle Of Lewis. PIC: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The £5k residency at Scottish isle stones during major lunar event

The feral goats of Langholm are to be culled

Feral goat herd to be culled by 85% as petition launches to save them

Achiltibuie on the Coigach coast in Wester Ross which overlooks the Summer Isles.

Plan for Highland hotel owned by one of UK's richest men given the nod

Dairy giant Arla Foods has revealed proposals for a £90m investment in its site in the south of Scotland.

Dairy company plans £90m investment and 90 jobs at Lockerbie site

Schiehallion, one of Scotland’s most visited munros

Exclusive Land charity erects 'giant 800-hectare' fence enclosure on munro

The feral goats roam the Langholm moors

Feral goats on nature reserve to be culled by rewilding company

Deer managers say shots fired at deer using copper bullets are more prone to ricochets than lead

Safety fears over switch from lead to copper bullets for deer culling

Red, the hen harrier who fledged from Tarras Valley Nature Reserve last year

Raptor disappears under 'suspicious circumstances'

Glen Docherty in the Highlands is among the locations visited by Scotland's Screen Machine service. Picture: David Redshaw

'Generous' sum doubles cash in pot for Highland £1.7m cinema bus

The Maclean brothers with their boat in which they will row across the Pacific ocean. Pictured off Toward, South Cowal, Dunoon. They are, from left- Jamie, Ewan and Lachlan

Countdown for brothers to break world record in 14,000km Pacific row

Lochmaddy, on North Uist

GPs wanted for new practice on Scottish island with salary up to £160k

Young male humpback whale washes up on Kintyre peninsula showing significant entanglement wounds

Whale washes up on peninsula with 'significant entanglement injuries'

The three-storey house with views of Swilcan Bridge and the Old Course at St Andrews has not been built yet, allowing a buyer to customise its interiors

House with the ‘best view’ in golf for sale for over £7m

Wild boar spotted near Insh in the Cairngorms National Park

Wild boar 'dumped illegally' near rewilding estate and lynx site

Since 1995, the landscape has undergone significant changes, with ownership shifting conservation efforts for a sporting estate to conservation work for trees and forested areas by reducing deer numbers.

Pictures show land changes at Scotland's largest nature reserve

Plans have been submitted for 17-turbine wind farm close to Flow Country World Heritage Site

Plans for 17-turbine wind farm on the edge of world heritage site

Aberdeen

Aberdeen city council considers 7 per cent 'tourist tax'

National Park bosses hope 'shared larder' will boost deer cull

Plan for 'community deer larder' to encourage deer culls

No to Galloway National Park campaigners holding a demonstration outside a special meeting on park proposals held by Dumfries and Galloway Council

Council confirms position on backing Scotland's third national park

Natural tree colonisation may not always produce carbon capture benefits, study finds

'Stop and think' calls about BrewDog-like planting schemes

Caramel was very loved among staff and visitors at the park

Scottish wildlife community in mourning after 21-year-old camel dies

Aircraft part found in the Angus Glens 80 years after it was scattered in a plane crash is to go on display

Part of Second World War aircraft lost for 80 years to go on display

The John o' Groats trail is attracting more visitors year on year

How slow tourism has proven a £1m goldmine for Highland communities

A tagged harbour seal sticking its tongue out

Harbour seals decline by a quarter as larger greys continue to rise

In the last decade, the number of cattle herds for milk production has shrunk by about a quarter - 23.7 per cent - according to figures released this month from the Scottish Dairy Cattle Association (SDCA).

Fresh figures show Scottish dairy herds drop by a quarter

Denise Brownlee and Liz Hitschmann have been prominent in the campaign against plans for a Galloway National Park

National park protest to be held ahead of formal council decision

Singer Fish and his wife Simone on their new 35-acre croft on Berneray.

Fish announces gigs for farewell tour before retiring on island croft

Gamekeepers have urged the successor to former Scottish Greens co-leader and minister in charge of deer management Lorna Slater to scrap proposals for out-of-season deer cull

Scottish Greens-led deer cull proposals axed after welfare concerns

Tesco opened its doors on a Sunday in November last year

Campaign for the Sabbath as Tesco sees 'hundreds of Sunday shoppers'

Noss island is a nature reserve and is part of the Shetland Isles archipelago

Bird lover sought for £32k job on off-grid 'paradise' Scottish island

A family enjoying a Hebridean Farm Hike at The Fauld

The movement behind changing tourism in the Highlands and Islands

The wigeon can be seen in areas of central Scotland in summer and in most coastal areas in the winter.

Wigeon and fussy toads: A successful wetland project sees species boom

The sea eagle’s wingspan can extend to eight feet

Farmer looking to quit farm as sea eagles 'devastate' his flock

Belted Galloways are a native breed in Scotland being used for nature restoration projects

How the much maligned cow is making a comeback in Scotland

Inchconnachan was once the holiday home of speedboat-racing aristocrat Fiona Gore, Countess of Arran, who introduced a population of non-native wallabies that still roam free across the island

Kirsty Young's plans to develop island in Loch Lomond approved

Seven Gables is a characterful semi-detached house, situated in an enviable position overlooking Elie Beach

Inside the £1.4m 17th century house looking over a favourite beach

Neist Point Lighthouse on Skye

Rare job with 'spectacular views' as lighthouse keeper retires

Highland estate in Cairngorms National Park taken over by Oxygen Conservation

Firm buys historic 15,000-acre Highlands estate to 'rewild'

Inside the rural community where the lynx were illegally released

Inside the rural community where four lynx were released

Rick Minter, host of Big Cat Conversations podcast

Lynx reports have been happening for decades, claims podcast host

Red meat shortage warnings as farmer confidence down while demand soars

'It's an absolute emergency' - Meat shortage warning

Broadford has a population of about 1,100

Row over temporary village with 350 beds planned for island town

Lynx spotted in the Cairngorms National Park

One lynx dead after four recovered from suspected 'rogue rewilding'

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