School’s out

The summer holidays beckon but news today that Nairn Academy is to get an extension built, with completion by the autumn mid-term holidays.
The building is of a modular form costing some £2.5 million.
Hopefully the new building will go some way to resolve some of the major accommodation issues which the Academy has seen this year

River dance

A busy evening in Nairn. The search and rescue helicopter from Lossiemouth was making a low sweep over the beaches and our Coastguards were also on alert.
A visiting rib came into the harbour for a brief visit and then set off in the direction of Cromarty.
In the river young people enjoyed a cooling dip as have many for generations, although several now sport wet suits to stay warm. Other folk were swimming in the sea, and fishing off the pier.
The occasional porpoise was seen in jumping the firth, and as the wind dropped the temperature rose and the sea turned glassy.
The harbour looks empty as some 15 Nairn boats have set off on their summer cruise, this year to Barra.
Both Nairnites and visitors took in the beautiful evening along the bankie (Will the new path ever be finished!)
A perfect summer evening

Work on a kirk

Nice to know that there's at least one undiseased elm left in Nairnshire.

20-40 years before a bypass?

Iain Bain this week writes an editorial on bypass matters and draws our attention to the efforts of Jimmy Ferguson of the West Community Council with regard to this issue. Further talk about Nairn and a bypass emerged at the Highland Council 'Speakeasy' and here's some of it from notes made about the open mike session:

'Ewen Anderson (7N Architects), retained by Balblair, spoke about his alternative vision for Nairn development. The bypass, envisaged within the 20-40 year timescale of the A96 corridor plan, would take a long time to materialise. It would risk stimulating ‘ring road development’ leaving a void between the existing town and the building along the line of the expected bypass. Nairn should grow organically as a walking town (sic), with development infilling existing wedges of land, and the creation of inner distributor roads to relieve A96 traffic.'

To read more about what people had to say about Nairn at this Highland Council organised event head over to the APT blog and join in the discussion. The APT are working hard on our behalf, they deserve our support in their efforts to empower people with access to good quality information so that we can all become properly involved with the issues that will affect all our lives.

Chop down this lampost to save ducklings from predators?

The above picture shows two hoodie crows in the harbour area making use of mankind's facilty and no doubt eyeing up the latest ducklings to head into the danger zone. It was sent to the Gurn by someone who has been reading Joe's blog. Should all the lampposts be taken down to protect the ducklings? It is a ridiculous situation but it is the very same logic that swan blogger Joe Telfer is using when he calls for the Spruce trees along the lower riverside walk to be felled. Joe states in his latest post:

'The Creek between the merryton and bailey bridges is now a valley of death for young ducklings. Hoodie Crows have established a nest in the spruce trees directly opposite the Swans island and have systematically targeted all ducklings in this area. The two herons have taken many chicks, so too the black back and herring gulls.'

He goes on to say:

'When i first heard about the plan to cut down the spruce trees on the lower river, i was vehemently against it. However my gut reaction has now changed in favour of the idea.
It would deprive the hoodie crows nesting ability on this stretch of the river, in addition it would open up the river view to passers by, which in turn would keep the herons on the move at the island hotspot. Planting deciduous species, and various bushes and shrubs, like gorse, broom , honeysuckle for fragrance and colour etc, would be much more attractive and beneficial to other bird species.'

The problem is Joe, that we are not quite talking about pure nature anymore in this area, what we in fact have now is something more akin to a farmyard/zoo where a hybrid race of mallards/silver appleyards have become dependant on human feeding. The humans feed the birds, the birds like the idea and nest in the area, when the young are born their mothers take them in search of the humans and the predators make the most of this situation. If it is a valley of death then it is mankind that draws these creatures to their doom with the offer of a handful of breadcrumbs. Of course it gives people great pleasure to feed the ducks and the swans and there's nothing wrong with that but it isn't quite the simple communion with nature that it first appears.

Why should healthy trees have to die to satisfy human sentimentality? These trees are on their way to becoming landmarks and a closer inspection will reveal native species in their midst. The Gurnmeister knows this, having planted one or two there quite a few years ago. Plant honeysuckle Joe? The perfume of that species on that side of the river has been almost overpowering in recent days and there's no shortage of broom and gorse. The Spruce trees have amenity value and people enjoy them very much. I remember quite well in the days of Chrissie Ellen on the Nairn District Council where there was a debate about their future and that of other trees along the riverside. There were calls even then to keep them as folk had an eye to their future potential on the Nairn Skyline. Yes some will have to be felled in the future to allow the rest the proper space to grow but you want to make the river more open to scare away the herons? Don't people have the right to continue seeing the herons going about their business on this stretch of the river, even if that does mean they take the odd duckling snack?

Joe also suggests:

'Having a tree as a landmark would be better placed away from the riverbank, and should also be a native species.'

That would mean felling existing ones and planting new trees. What chance would they have against vandalism. A recent Nairnshire report highlighted the destruction of newly planted trees in the suburbs.

Joe believes that the hoodies got one of the cygnets, the Gurn understands that the cygnet was in fact abandoned by its parents and thus sadly is the way. Now the biggest killers of cygnets on the river Nairn are Swans. Remember a couple of years ago when the residents brought back their young only to have them killed by another pair that had moved in and fortified themselves on breadcrumbs.

Joe also adds in his blog:

'The Balance between predators and prey has now tipped firmly in favour of the predators.'

Well a few years ago a Mallard on the River Nairn was a rare site, now there are plenty of them and they seem to be quite happy and willing to stay, there is no immediate danger to the numbers even if most of this year's crop have been snacked up. Others will return in the autumn from further up the river and elsewhere.

The Gurn would argue that it is in fact the balance of sentimentality has now tipped firmly in the wrong direction. It is time for full public debate about the river ecology both in and out of the water. The Spruce are just fine at the moment, they looked magnificent in the prolonged frost we had in the winter. If anyone wants to make work for themselves then go and tackle the Japanese knotweed and Himalyan Balsam, it's out of control just the other side of the sewerage bridge and has already established a foothold near the spruces, you'll see it next to two bonny giant hogweed plants that are now flowering.

It is also worth noting that the Gurn has been informed by Highland Council that there are no plans to fell the trees, it had however been discussed at some informal level between a member of the public and one of the council's employee's. The Gurn calls for all voices to be heard - the riverside environment belongs to us all and each voice should have the same influence.

Please note previous breadcrumb brigade discussions have been quite heated on the Gurn so if you wish to make a contribution you are quite welcome but please keep it civilised otherwise, as has happened on similar articles in the past comments will be turned off on this thread

Brae Heart

It’s good to see that humour still exists with Nairn bookshop displaying a children’s book in their window that clearly relates to the scene outside the shop.
The disruption has been horrendous with one trader reporting that he has seen his passing trade fall away as folk either avoided the Brae or scuttled past the shops as fast as they could, no doubt the same is true for other businesses.
Autumn sees the next part of the work kick off which is in Gordon Street. Fun and games as that will mean all High Street traffic will have to be diverted up the newly refurbished Brae!

Update: I've been informed that the work on Gordon Street might well start directly after the Brae work is finished. Just watch for increased A96 congestion as traffic trying to turn right into the Brae to get to the High Street backs up on the A96.

APT keeping the eye on the ball

Lots of talk about Nairn it seems at the Speakeasy held on the 23rd of June. More on this article here on the Action for Planning Transparency blog.

The APT group also alerts us to the fact that the Highland Council will start its consultation process on the future of Community Councils in the are in September. That will be the time for all advocates of a single community council for Nairn to get organised and get campaigning.

'Stage one of the consultation process will begin in September, when the council will announce its intention to revoke the current eight schemes and invite suggestions on the area and composition of Community Councils. This will last for 12 weeks.'

Again more on the APT blog here. Why not head over there and join the planning debate?

Armed Forces Day parade

Picture will enlarge. More pictures here.

Now there's cometonairn.com

'The upsurge in the use of sites like Trip Advisor have given travellers the ability to express their satisfaction, or otherwise, of good customer service. www.cometonairn.com now invites Nairn residents and visitors to post their own reviews of local services, from accommodation, visitor attractions to local shops and businesses. Let's all raise our game and ensure Nairn is one of the best places in the Highlands to visit.' States an e-mail to the Gurn alerting us to the presence of the new facility.

If you want to help Nairn raise its game then this site may be for you.

The West Community Council - They seem a very competent lot.

Only a few weeks old now and still finding their feet but that didn’t mean a shortage of items on the agenda: Sainsbury’s, Sandown Lands, Common Good fund, Inner Moray Firth Development Plan, Parking in the West End, and observance of dog restrictions on the Blue Flag beach.
There were printed copies of power point presentations on the Common Good fund (two councillors from the group had attended a seminar in Elgin) and how things should be working if we really were going to get a by-pass.
Yes Gurnites, the team of Rosemary Young, Alison Miller, Graham Vine, Seonaid Armstrong and Jimmy Ferguson mean business and they had some forensic questions for Laurie Fraser and Liz who were present to observe the meeting. They intend to get their teeth into all the issues that impact on their 2,000 plus constituents, be they internal to the area covered by the West Council or those such as the Sandown Lands which will have a massive traffic impact on the West End according to the councillors.

Just to give you a flavour of the meeting here’s a few lines from one of the documents presented:
‘It would appear that an informed discussion on the most effective method of how to manage the Common Good assets on behalf of the Nairn community has not taken place, or if it has it has not been adequately communicated.

Should common good asses be sold off? Land leased or other?

With ownership comes responsibility, who can do that most effectively?’

It bodes well citizens that we have another hard-working team of volunteers ready to fight for the interests of the town. It is encouraging too to see that the West Council pledge their support to efforts to establish a single community council for Nairn.

‘We do pledge our support to co-operate with public consultation on a single Nairn Community Council and to assist with the setting up of such a body, should that be the outcome of the consultation.’

Interesting times ahead!