Nature charities fight Scottish golf course plan - again - Butterfly Conservation

A coalition of nature charities including Butterfly Conservation is battling plans to put a golf course on an internationally-important wildlife site for the second time in 10 years.

An application to create the leisure facility at the Coul Links site on the east coast of Scotland will be discussed at a public inquiry starting on Monday (11 November).

The threat to this precious place has shocked many across Scotland and the coalition is working together to oppose the plans. The coalition is made up of Butterfly Conservation, Buglife Scotland, Marine Conservation Society, National Trust for Scotland, Plantlife Scotland, RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Butterfly Conservation Head of Conservation for Scotland Dr Tom Prescott said: “The importance of the site for its butterflies and moths was highlighted in Scottish Ministers’ refusal of the original application, stating that the application site contains an unusually rich assemblage of butterflies and moths, including rare species. Little has changed with the current application and it is widely recognised that we are now in a nature and climate emergency. A fully-protected site rich in wildlife is not the place to develop a golf course.”

Coul Links is a unique and beautiful windswept place on the East Sutherland coast.

The natural landscape of rolling sand dunes is home to rare plants and animals including the globally-endangered Fonseca’s Seed Fly.