Getting the message across, Scots style

grough likes the direct approach, so we were taken on by a typically blunt message to litter louts in a Scottish national park.The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs authority is telling people: ‘Don’t be a tosser’.Sound advice in any situation, but in this instance the posters, which are springing up throughout the area, along with some with a gentler message, are aimed at those who turn off tourists by despoiling the verges, lay-bys and loch shores with rubbish.Fiona Kennedy, of Killin, and a director of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Community Partnership, said: “The materials we’ve developed this year are only the start of what we hope will be an ongoing campaign to change people's attitudes and behaviour.

Follow in the footsteps of the wicked pig thief

Round them parts, they say the spirit of the wicked pig-stealing Giant of Penhill can still be sensed.

Scots appeal to help catch wildlife killers UPDATED!

The Scottish Executive is appealing for any outdoors users who find poisoned wildlife to let them know.A freephone number has been provided to report any incidents.

K2 escape for 'Banjo' as four Russians killed

A climber from the UK had a near miss in an ice fall on K2 that killed four Russian climbers.Terence ‘Banjo’ Bannon was in a party near the summit of the Karakorum peak when he witnessed the massive slide of ice and snow which buried the four.

Families of dead snowboarders face rescue bill

French debt collectors are pursuing the families of two snowboarders who died in an avalanche last year.Rescuers failed to save the two, who were boarding off-piste at about 3,200m on the north face of La Grande Motte, near Tignes.

Rain check: How's the forecast?

How's the weather in your neck of the woods? More to the point, how's the weather forecast? The Mountaineering Council of Scotland wants your ...

Police warning to Lomond vandals

Following the case of the rampant campers in the Lake District comes news that Central Scotland police are chasing vandals who have been cutting down trees in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.They are warning that anyone committing anti-social acts in the area will be prosecuted.A report has been sent to the Procurator Fiscal after two men admitted chopping down the trees at Sallochy car park.Stuart Chalmers, for Forestry Commission Scotland in the Cowal and Trossachs area said: "Woods and natural spaces provide a huge range of benefits and people value them for a variety of reasons.

Beach access plans cause celebrity big bother

Reclusive stars are getting steamed up about impending legislation to open up access to Britain’s beaches.The English coastline may soon be opened up for the right to roam Kate Bush may have sung: “Out on the wiley [sic], windy moors we’d roll and fall in green”, but she’s probably mightily dischuffed at plans to let hoi polloi roll and fall through her 17-acre, £2.5m Devon coastline retreat.The Independent reports Kate as being among a plethora of celebrity owners of beach and coastline property up in arms at plans to introduce a right to roam similar to that enjoyed under the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act on mountain and moorland in England and Wales.A campaign by the Country Land and Business Association (CLBA) to pre-empt and dilute the proposed law is said to include as backers DJ Norman Cook, AKA Fatboy Slim and his missus Zoe Ball; Jonathan Ross, the impoverished TV talk-show host and general wag about town; Jamie Redknapp who apparently kicks a football around for a living, and even musical art-school bad boy Damon Albarn who lives in a house, a very big house in the country – at least at weekends.They’re pitted against the Ramblers’ Association (RA) and the Government’s Countryside Agency, which are intent on improving public access to England and Wales’ 4,412km (2,741 miles) of coastline.

Mountain-top launch for classic novel

Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England and destination for countless charidee participants, is the venue for a unique book launch next month.Lovers of mountain literature will be able to pick up a copy of a reissued classic tale of heroic derring-do at the summit cairn on 9 September.The launch will take place between 1pm and 3pm on the 978m peak and, according to the publishers, complimentary wine and cheese will be on offer.And the name of the novel at the centre of all this palaver.