A group of fisherman has been criticised for camping on private land on the banks of Loch Ken.
Ranger Ken Scott spotted the group on an area of countryside that had been used previously by dirty campers.
He discovered the group had got there by motor boat – which is banned under the Land Reform Act – and also found tents, fires and fishing rods set up.
And after telling one of the fishermen – who was unaware the group was doing anything wrong – that they needed to leave, Mr Scott was shocked when he realised “there was considerably more wrong than just the motorised access and the fishing.
He said: “There was a petrol chainsaw on the ground, a plastic fuel container nearby and several freshly sawn green wood logs. There were several living trees with signs of recent chainsaw damage and fresh sawdust under them.
“There was a home made crayfish trap at the water’s edge, with a fairly fresh dead bait, although I was told this was nothing to do with the group.
“As I was about to leave, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a Canada goose, nesting at the base of a large tree and asked if it was there when they arrived.
“The gentleman said it was fine, they had been feeding it bread. It looked petrified and then I spotted its mate, out on the water nearby, paddling round in rapid circles, obviously distressed at not being able to guard his mate.
“The smaller of the tents had been pitched only a few feet from the nest and a neat pile of metal tent pegs placed within a few inches of it.
“It turned out there were quite a few things wrong with this site, including motorised access without permission, fishing without permission, disturbance of nesting wildlife, the illegal crayfish trap, criminal damage and destroying living trees.”
And when he returned this week with Police Scotland’s wildlife crime officer John Cowan, it emerged the geese had suffered no ill effects.
