Katharine Hay hears more about some of the species that live among Coul Links, near Embo in the Scottish Highlands, and the ongoing debate about whether or not a planned golf course for the site should be given the go-ahead.
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00:00Hi, Catherine Hay here, Rural Affairs Correspondent at the Scotsman. I'm just standing outside
00:06an area called Cool Links, where I'm about to walk around with a Conservation Officer
00:13for North Highland at RSPB Scotland, which is BEA-Ling, and she's going to tell me a
00:18little bit about the nature here, some of the protected species, and why this area is
00:23at risk because of some developments for a golf course that is currently in planning.
00:28And soon they are going to be making a decision on whether or not this golf course is going
00:32ahead. There was a previous application for a golf course here, but that was rejected,
00:39and this is a new application that's being considered. So yeah, we're going to hear from
00:44ministers eventually on whether that's going to go forward or not, but at the moment I'm
00:48just here to hear about the nature and what is potentially at risk, thanks to this development
00:53that could be happening in Scotland in the future.
00:55So my name's BEA, and I am a Conservation Officer for RSPB Scotland here in the North
01:01Highland area. We're here at Cool Links today, and this, as you can see behind me, is a beautiful
01:07natural gene system, one of the last remaining in Scotland, undeveloped. So we've got everything
01:16from the 4 gene, which is dynamic and gets blown around and changes with the tides and
01:21the sand and the weather, through to more fixed genes in the middle, and flooded gene
01:28slacks, well, seasonally flooded gene slacks, but we don't obviously have too much of them
01:32today, up to more ancient genes covered in heather, which you can see further in the
01:38back over there. So yeah, this is why it's so special. The other reason it's so special
01:43is because once you get down in there, it's just such an intricate mosaic of different
01:48habitats, and that supports real rare species, particularly lichens, plants, and invertebrates
01:54such as butterflies and moths. And there's one particular fly called the Fonseca seafly,
01:59which you can only find here, along this eight kilometre stretch of the East Sutherland coast.
02:04It's globally endangered. Yeah, it's so special because of these species. It's also one of
02:09the largest colonies of Northern Brown Argus in the UK, can be found here. It's also really
02:15important for birds. We've got a skylark calling right above us, actually. Beautiful. And there's
02:22geese in the field. Yeah, so it's really important for breeding birds like skylark, we've got
02:26them singing above us. It's actually a SSSI for the breeding bird assemblage here. The
02:33coast is really important for breeding terns and waders such as oyster catchers. In the
02:38dunes, we've got breeding sedge warblers, breeding reed wantings, things like that. And
02:43then these fields at the side, they're really important in the winter for breeding geese,
02:48not breed, sorry, wintering geese. And they feed there alongside waders such as curlies
02:54and oyster catchers. That's why this place is so special. It's particularly these seasonally
03:00flooded dune slacks, which we haven't got here today, unfortunately, so much, but it's
03:05pretty unique in this area. There's no other dune system around here that has these seasonally
03:11flooding slacks, which are really important for invertebrates, but also provide this special
03:15refuge for species like teal and wigeon. Where exactly is the golf course handful on this
03:20map? So the golf course, the majority of it runs, yeah, so it runs all the way from the
03:29southern end here, all the way to this here in a sort of loop. And some of it goes out
03:33into these adjacent fields here. So the majority of the golf course is proposed within this
03:39protected area. Okay. And can you tell me what these two bits are? Oh yes, of course.
03:44So what's indicated here are the slacks. So these are winter flooded areas between dunes
03:51and they're also very important for wildlife. And I think they've indicated these two because
03:55they're the two biggest, but you get quite a few in between the dunes as well. We'll
04:00see that as we walk around the site. And they're good for, was it, certain bird species? Yes.
04:05So the reason this site is so important is because of these slacks. And during the winter,
04:10because they flood at this time of year, it's a really good refuge for species like teal
04:15and wigeon. And especially in like stormy weather, they'll come in and you need these
04:21sites for shelter. And there's no other places like this along this coast for them. So it's
04:27important. Well, we're actually standing on green 12, I think, or part of the golf course
04:35here, so we're on a high point. But the course would extend right from the southern end here
04:40in Embo all the way to the northern end in a big sort of circle. So the reason it would
04:46be so bad here is because, well, the intensive mooring regimes first off and the construction
04:53of it would obviously result in habitat loss directly for all the species that live here.
04:59It would also create barriers and like fragment the habitat, particularly for like the invertebrate
05:04species. They have different life cycles at different parts of the gene system. And
05:08that can disrupt that. Obviously, you can lose the breeding bird habitat altogether.
05:14There's also plans to use things like fungicides and fertilizers on the teas and greens. And
05:20we would expect that the effects of those, the contamination would extend further than
05:25just the areas that they're intended for, causing contamination of the water systems
05:29and having impacts like that. And then there's the disturbance side of things. So for birds,
05:36this is particularly crucial. So as you can imagine, disturbance, it can have direct effects.
05:43If you've got a breeding bird on a nest, if you disturb it, it can come off the nest,
05:47the eggs could go cold or that would allow a predator to come in. Yeah, disturbance is
05:51really a real issue because not only is the direct effects, there's more indirect effects.
05:56So if you're disturbing a bird, it would change its behavior. It could avoid an area
06:00altogether or, you know, it could fly away. And if that happens regularly, that can have
06:05kind of stress effects and have implications on bird health. So that's what we'd be really
06:10concerned about here, because as you can see now, like, you know, it's got a core pass
06:15and people go walking here, but it's very low level. Once you open it as a golf course,
06:20there's going to be a marked uplift in the number of people on the site and around the
06:24site. And that's going to really have quite important impacts for the site and bird species
06:31that use it.
06:33While there has been some pushback from conservation groups, including RSPB Scotland and Butterfly
06:39Conservation, residents who live around the proposed site for the golf course also seem
06:45to be a bit divided on the decision.
06:49The companies for Cool, which is the firm behind the development of the golf course,
06:54said that the development will be a good idea because it will bring in money and help restore
07:00what they've described as a rapidly degrading gene system. Because there is, there's some
07:06evidence of invasive species on the site. And they said that the money could help, help
07:11deal with this. They also claim that they'll just be using less than 1% of the SSSI and
07:17that the golf course will be environmentally friendly. They've also said that the developers
07:22have already committed to spending around £500,000 in the first five years, if the
07:28development is to go ahead. And this money will help restore the Cool Links SSSI under
07:34the direction of NatureScot. Communities for Cool have also insisted that with other golf
07:41courses in this area along the east coast of Sutherland, I think there are about six
07:46other ones, including Royal Dornoch, and it would create a cluster of golf courses
07:51that Professor David Bell, an economist and advisor to the Scottish and UK governments,
07:56said could create up to 400 full-time equivalent jobs in the area. And a spokesperson for Communities
08:04for Cool also said the vast majority of people in East Sutherland support the Cool Links
08:09golf course development, with approximately 70% voting in favour of it in a community
08:14bid in 2021. So yeah, I can see that it's quite divided, that on the one hand you have
08:22people who are living in the area who are keen for this economic development for job
08:28opportunities somewhere where there's been a struggle with people leaving the area because
08:33there's been limited work opportunities. But obviously there is, with any development comes
08:39a concern for nature in the area that's going to be impacted. So for now we're just waiting
08:45for the government reporters who are at the inquiry to hand over their recommendations
08:50to the ministers, who will then be making a decision on what happens to Cool Links in
08:55the future.