Current status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 June 2018
To ask the Scottish Government which Scottish National Heritage sites have been delisted as national nature reserves in each of the last 10 years, and for what reason.
‘De-listed’ is not a formal event recorded by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Instead, the information in the following table is based on the dates of statutory de-declaration when SNH formally withdrew the National Nature Reserve accolade.
Year | Number of NNRs de-declared | NNRs de-declared | Reasons for de-declaration |
2018-19 | 6 | Ben Lui | Poor fit with 2013 criteria |
Kirkconnell Flow | Poor fit with 2013 criteria | ||
Monach Isles | Poor fit with 2013 criteria | ||
Rona and Sula Sgeir | Poor fit with 2013 criteria | ||
Silver Flowe | Poor fit with 2013 criteria | ||
Whitlaw Mosses | Poor fit with 2013 criteria | ||
2017-18 | 0 | ||
2016-17 | 0 | ||
2015-16 | 0 | ||
2014-15 | 0 | ||
2013-14 | 1 | Rassal Ashwood | Fail to meet 2002 purposes |
2012-13 | 3 | Keen of Hamar | Fail to meet 2002 purposes |
Cragbank Woods | Fail to meet 2002 purposes | ||
Den of Airlie | Fail to meet 1995 purposes | ||
2011-12 | 7 | Braehead Moss | Fail to meet 2002 purposes |
Mealdarroch | Fail to meet 1995 purposes | ||
Nigg and Udale Bays | Fail to meet 1995 purposes | ||
Claish Moss | Fail to meet 2002 purposes | ||
Glencripesdale | Fail to meet 2002 purposes | ||
Loch Druidibeg | Fail to meet 2002 purposes | ||
Rannoch Moor | Fail to meet 2002 purposes | ||
2010-11 | 1 | Glen Diomhan | Fail to meet 1995 purposes |
2009-10 | 2 | Inchnadamph | Fail to meet 2002 purposes |
Eilean na Muice Duibhe (Duich Moss) | Fail to meet 1995 purposes |
Notes:
NNR = National Nature Reserve.
The NNR Partnership’s current criteria for selection of land to be awarded the NNR accolade are available at: https://www.nnr.scot/Partnership .
Copies of earlier criteria/purposes are available on request from SNH [email protected] .
The above excludes de-declaration of Abernethy Forest NNR which was subsumed and re-declared as Abernethy NNR in 2010-11.
In addition to the reasons given above, in many cases the relevant private owners were unwilling to enter new nature reserve agreements to allow Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to meet the relevant criteria and/or purposes. Relevant sites are not identified as this could identify the individuals involved.
The SNH Board has approved a further four SNH nature reserves for de-declaration and these are no longer promoted as NNRs. For various reasons the formal de-declarations have not been progressed.