Natural Heritage Trends: Scotland 2001

The Countryside

Chapter 7 considers the ever-changing appearance of Scotland’s landscape, in which observations of the mid-1990s landscape confirm and supplement land cover trends. Explorations of landscape change include the appearance of features that were new to the 1990s landscape, such as wind farms. More qualitative aspects of landscape change, from a study of part of Scotland between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s, is illustrated by the cumulative effects of development on tranquillity.

Chapter 8 gives an overview of trends in access and recreation The Scottish countryside has long been valued as a setting for informal recreation.The forests, mountains, rivers, lochs and coasts are the most varied and extensive in Britain. Between 1994 and 1998 the number of visits by Scottish adults to the coast or countryside increased from 105 million to 137 million. The proportion of adults taking part in outdoor activities increased from 41% to 46% between 1987-89 and 1996-98. Participation in hill-walking and mountaineering increased throughout the last century. Between 1986 and 1996, the number of Forest Enterprise walks and nature trails increased from 199 to 336 and visitor centres increased from six to twelve. Under the ‘Paths For All’ initiative, launched in 1996, the development of over 100 path networks was proposed or being implemented by May 2000.