A wonderful opportunity and 50,000 fewer sheep

Hello and welcome to the latest Wester Ross Round-up. This week the email is landing in 920 email inboxes. If this news round-up is new to you, welcome 👋.

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🏘️ This week Wester Loch Ewe Trust announced that they had been offered the "wonderful" opportunity to purchase a parcel of land near the village of Poolewe. The Trust says ownership would allow for the development of new affordable homes, an emergency helicopter landing pad, and a small "aire" site for campervan overnight stays, among other facilities. But first they need to raise the cash to buy it. More: Facebook.

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🚾 Wester Loch Ewe Trust are also keen to thank everyone involved in helping to re-open the loos in Poolewe. This includes everyone who took part in the cleaning party to get it ready, those that have signed up for the cleaning rota, Poolewe Shop and The Bridge Cottage Cafe who will open the loos in the morning, members of the community council for their help and local electrician Bob McKenzie. The loos are open from 8am until 8pm. The Trust will rely on donations and volunteer support to cover the costs of keeping the toilets open. The toilets were closed earlier in the year after the Gairloch and Loch Ewe Action Forum (GALE) concluded they could not afford to keep running them when Highland Council sought to change a long-standing operating agreement it had had with GALE.

🙏 Alan Gorman has been thanked by members of Gairloch youth club, The Den, on his retirement. He volunteered at the club for 17 years.
More: Iona MacDonald | The Ross-shire Journal (£).

🎙️ Do you like singing with other people? Sing Loch Ewe might be for you. They meet on Wednesday at Aultbea Hall at 7.30pm. Email the organisers to join in. Members of the group will also be hosting a pop up cafe at Poolewe Tuesday Market on Tuesday 24th June.

🛍️ There will be no Torridon market today, despite what you may have seen advertised previously. The next market will be on July 3.

🎻 West Coast Arts have published details of their latest event. They are bringing the Kammerphilharmonie Europa orchestra to Gairloch Community Hall in October. More info and tickets: Facebook.

🆘 Organisers of the Gairloch Highland Gathering are still on the hunt for a few more volunteers. Get in touch with them if you can help via Facebook.

🌲 It is the season of guided walks. The Woodland Trust have just announced two guided walks at their Gleann Shìldeag estate. Details in the flyer below. Booking links for the Pinewood circular walks here, and the Balgy walk here.

⚽ The Uppies Vs Downies Shieldaig football match is making a return for the village fete weekend on Friday July 25 at 6pm. Sign-up: Facebook.

⚡ 300 community councillors from across the Highlands attended a meeting in Beauly last Saturday to discuss proposed renewable energy projects throughout the region. Following the meeting the group issued a statement calling for a moratorium on renewable energy projects throughout the Highlands. How did local politicians react? See: Scott Maclennan | Inverness Courier. (£)

🗣️ The Scottish Parliament passed a new law that strengthens the legal status of Gaelic and Scots. On backing the Bill, local MSP Maree Todd said: "A pleasure to vote for amendments to strengthen this bill & then pass it today. Gaelic is my mother tongue & my mum was much in my thoughts today." More: Neil Pooran | The Herald (£).

🚨 400 police officers in the Highlands are to be equiped with body-worn cameras. More: Police Scotland.

💷 There is funding available from the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub for community groups that wish to hold events as part of the 2025 Highlands and Islands Climate Festival, set to take place this September. More: Val Sweeney | Inverness Courier (£) and the Festival website.

🏕️ Shieldaig Community Council has resolved to put up covid-era signage to discourage people from staying overnight in their campervans on the seafront. Up to 20 vans per night have been counted in the village and residents are concerned about litter, safety, and loss of amenity. More: Shieldaig.info

This week there seems to be strange glut of reports warning of things disappearing from The Highlands.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Firstly, people. The NorthWest2045 group has released an update on their NW2045 Vision: Call To Action 2025 report looking at the impact of depopulation in the area. Whilst the report is focussed on Coigach and areas further north and west, many of the themes will be familiar to Wester Ross residents a bit further south. It finds that the population of the North West has fallen 65% since 1900, or 2% per year on average. More: Alison Campsie | Scotsman and the full report: NorthWest2045.

🐑 Following a survey of 51 Highland Estates the National Sheep Association say that “More than 50,000 breeding ewes have vanished, largely in the past decade.” They say re-wilding or carbon sequestration projects are key causes of the decline. More: STV on Instagram and National Sheep Association.

🦭 And also a 20% decline in harbour seal populations on Scotland's west coast, a key stronghold for the species, has raised alarms among conservation experts. More: BBC

🐋 Lastly, here's some nice drone footage of the Corrieshalloch Gorge, and here's a video of a humpback whale shot from the beer garden of the Glenelg Inn.

Remember, the Gairloch and District Times is only as good as the things people send us to put in it. If you have taken a photo, know of an event, or have a family milestone you'd like us to share then let us know here.