Is this what they mean by "achieving best practice" ?

By Joe Dorward

Canadian Camp Dump - 3rd January 2011

While it may be true that the National Trust of Scotland do not intend to diminish the wild quality of Mar Lodge Estate nor damage its ecology, the following is another example - in a long line of examples - that show why I was naive in 1995 to welcome the news that the National Trust for Scotland was taking over the management of Mar Lodge Estate.

On 3rd of January 2011 I visited the Canadian Camp to re-acquaint myself with the features of the wartime occupation that survive. The estate road through the plantation was built by the Canadians and was originally the 'main' road through the camp. My memory tells me that the estate road became vague and ran-out some distance east of where the Canadian Bridge crossed the river.  Curiously the Ordnance Survey maps shows the estate road as being much longer than I ever remember and curling north into the plantation (which I don't remember at all).  I was bound to investigate this disparity between the maps and my memory and this was that day.  After re-acquainting myself with the features of the wartime occupation I followed the estate road to its head.  I discovered a large, relatively new, bulldozed clearing among the trees.  As I walked into the clearing I was surprised to noticed several rusting wheels dotted around its edge “this is Mar Lodge Estate, this is a National Trust for Scotland property” I thought "how could anyone think it's OK to leave these wheels here ?"  But then - I noticed the hole and my mind boggled at the sight of the large pile of rubbish at the bottom of an obviously mechanically excavated hole.  In spite of what I think about what the National Trust for Scotland has done to other parts of Mar Lodge Estate I found it hard to accept that they'd committed this act of environment vandalism too, but there was no other explanation.  The estate road and clearing were behind a habitually locked gate.  The clearing and hole were obviously mechanically created.  Beside the hole - wheel tracks in the snow showed there had been recent visits to the hole by four-wheel-drive vehicles.  In the hole - dumped material above the snow showed that dumping had coincided with those visits.  The most recently dumped material had the appearance of coming from a house clearance.  I added photographs of the dump to the website then considered reporting the dump to SEPA.  As clear-cut as this act of environmental vandalism seemed to me I was conscious that in the weird world of environmental protection that it might be perfectly legal for Mar Lodge Estate to have a private landfill dump hidden away in the woods so my initial contact (3rd of January 2011) with SEPA through their website form was phrased as a question

Today I discovered what I'd call a private landfill - a landowner had dug a hole on their own land and were dumping general household rubbish in it : bikes, mattresses, furniture. Is a landowner allowed to do this kind of thing ?

Later the same day (3rd of January 2011) I received an email asking for more information about the location.

On 5th of January 2011 I received email from Simon Davies, a Waste Specialist at SEPA - who wrote :

... I can confirm that the unauthorised disposal of waste even on private land is no longer allowed under current environmental legislation in Scotland. All active landfills must have a permit and also operate in accordance with the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (as amended). There is no such permit in place for the site at Inverey ...

Wanting to give SEPA freedom of action I left the dump entirely in the hands of SEPA.  I took no further action and expected to be kept up to date on the investigation and legal process that must surely follow.  As the days became weeks without an update I decided the process must be longer than I had expected.  As the weeks became months I became busy at work and let more than a year pass before contacting SEPA again for an update.

On 29th January 2012 I again emailed Simon Davies - writing :

I contacted SEPA about an "apparently unauthorised landfill site near Inverey" last January and I have received no update. I am very interested to know whether you have any news about your investigation ?

My request was passed to Alistair Inglis, an Environment Protection Officer at SEPA, because Alistair Inglis was the Environment Protection Officer who had followed up on my report.  It was clear in the first email from Alistair that SEPA considered the case closed - which I thought odd since I hadn't heard anything about it through other channels - and following an exchange of several emails I can report the subsequent actions of SEPA and Mar Lodge Estate.  Apparently, the failure of SEPA to keep me informed was an omission they'll not repeat.

On 20th May 2011 between 1pm and 2pm Alistair Inglis (alone) investigated the illegal dump. He saw no one during his investigation and (confirming my report) described what he saw in the hole - writing :

... household material (plastic toys, mattresses, furniture and items of clothing, a small cooker). There were metal items (fencing etc) on ground across the clearing ...

On 23rd May 2011 Alistair Inglis wrote an official letter to David Frew, Property Manager at Mar Lodge Estate - in which he wrote :

... SEPA inspected this site and observed what appears to be a pit where a landfill operation appeared to be taking place. The deposited waste appears to comprise principally of household material such as mattresses, a burnt desk, a cooker, various toys and plastics and items of clothing. Also in this pit and scattered across the clearing was a quantity of metal, tyres and used fencing ...

... The deposited material should be removed and transported to an appropriately authorised facility and confirmation that this has been undertaken supplied to SEPA as soon as possible ...

Since David Frew was newly appointed (since 4th April 2011) to the post of Property Manager (doesn't it always seem to be that way ?) he could claim that he had no knowledge of the dump before he received the letter from Alistair Inglis.

On 6th June 2011 David Frew telephoned Alistair Inglis. Quoting from the summary of that conversation written by Alistair Inglis - during that conversation David Frew undertook to :

... arrange for the material to be uplifted and the area in question to be restored using soil from the clearing. He would have this work undertaken by estate staff under the supervision of the land foreman.  He stated that this would not be repeated

I am skeptic - it's no strain for me to imagine the ways that the kind of people who'd commit this kind of environmental vandalism in the first place - once caught - could avoid cleaning up their mess properly. The dumped material was removed and the area reinstated by estate staff without supervision by SEPA. I asked Alistair Inglis the obvious question and received the obvious answer :

... unless we [SEPA] had overseen the removal of the waste from start to finish, we could never be 100% sure that this [removal and reinstatement work] had happened [correctly] ...

Given what I've seen elsewhere on Mar Lodge Estate I doubt that the removal and reinstatement work was carried out as it should have been or would have been under the supervision of an expert.  Neither you nor I need to be a soil scientist to understand that the ground is made up of layers and that true reinstatement would require the reinstatement of those layers - not just filling in the hole, landscaping the area, and walking away.

The clearing is also quite large - several times the size of the hole and several times larger than it needed to be to dig or access the hole. The size of the clearing suggests the possibility of other, already used and filled in holes. I asked Alistair Inglis the obvious question and received the obvious answer :

SEPA would have to have firm evidence to suggest other dumping had taken place before the possibility of carrying out ground excavations was considered as this has significant cost implications

If the clearing has already used and filled in holes then the Mar Lodge Estate staff appear to be untroubled by keeping that knowledge to themselves. 

On 28th July 2011 Mar Lodge Estate staff began the process of removing the dumped material. The dumped material was sorted into metals, recyclables, and general waste on site before uplifting.

Panda Rosa Metals (Aberdeen) uplifted 6.94 tonnes of metal and Taylors Industrial Services Ltd (Aberdeen) uplifted 2.16 tonnes of mixed waste.

My mind boggles - David Frew's predecessor as Property Manager, Chris Hewitt, held the post for about five years. Is it credible that an illegal dump could have been created or used without his authorisation or knowledge ? Either way - what does that say about his management of Mar Lodge Estate and his supervision by the National Trust for Scotland ?

[TODO : (1) Ask David Frew if Chris Hewitt is still with the National Trust for Scotland. If so (2) Ask Chris Hewitt how it was possible for an illegal dump to be created and used while he was Property Manager on Mar Lodge Estate]

On 8th February 2012 between 12:20 pm and 1pm Alistair Inglis and Steven Semple revisited the illegal dump. They saw no one during this visit and described what they saw - writing :

... the waste material noted on AI’s previous visit to the area (20.05.2011) has been cleared away. The hollow into which the material had been placed had been cleared and back filled with soil and stones from the surrounding area. There is neither evidence that any of the original waste has been left on site nor that it may have been buried ...

I doubt anyone, even SEPA, would describe either the initial investigation of my report or the revisit as anything other than tardy and superficial.  For whatever reason, more than four months passed before a SEPA Environment Protection Officer got to the illegal dump in spite of their office in Aberdeen being a mere hour and forty-five minutes away.  I'll leave you to speculate why they took so long and how easy it would have been for Mar Lodge Estate to fill in the hole and smooth the area over before anyone from SEPA arrived to see it.  How deep (metaphorically speaking) would SEPA have dug if that had been the case ?

It may surprise you, as it did me, to learn that SEPA made nothing of catching this environmental offender. I'm a great believer in the deterrent effect of naming and shaming offenders.  There'd be no point in a fine since I'm convinced the National Trust for Scotland would find some way of passing the cost of it right back to us, but I'd like to see them having to handle more negative publicity than this  posting will generate for them.  How can it be the National Trust for Scotland has employees that don't know that digging a hole and dumping rubbish in it is illegal ?

As an expression "not condoning" is about the most neutral expression possible and, as such, is a favourite expression of Scottish landowners and their representatives. This was the expression David Frew used to distance the National Trust for Scotland from the actions of the employees responsible for the creation and use of the illegal dump - writing :

... This was done without the knowledge of management, by a member of staff acting in isolation. I should make it absolutely clear that NTS in no way condone such practice ...

It's my opinion that "such practice" is nothing short of environmental vandalism, but the fact that the National Trust for Scotland can't bring themselves to condemn "such practice" may be explained by the fact - it's just not opinion now - that the National Trust for Scotland have committed similar acts of environmental vandalism all over Mar Lodge Estate.

[TODO : Ask David Frew (1) Which member of staff was acting in isolation (2) Which house was cleared (3) If Mar Lodge Estate has a policy about the disposal of such material. If so (4) how estate houses can be cleared and the material dumped illegally without senior people on the estate knowing]

So - we are expected to believe that a "member of staff acting in isolation" was able to drive a mechanical digger into the woodland on Mar Lodge Estate, dig a large hole and use it as an illegal dump without anyone else knowing about it.  On Mar Lodge Estate, evidently, the National Trust for Scotland either : does not have a waste disposal policy, does not ensure their employees know about it, or does not enforce it.

Clearly it would be easy for the Property Manager on Mar Lodge Estate to ensure that all waste material from a house clearance was dumped legally.  It would involve minimum supervision and straight forward instructions including the creation of purchase orders, invoices, or receipts.  How could anyone at the National Trust for Scotland believe that waste generated by a house clearance wouldn't generate paperwork ?

It is a convenient truth - that an organisation that "does not condone" or has a policy prohibiting "such practice" - quickly distance themselves from the "member of staff acting in isolation" when "such practice" is discovered no matter how little they did to ensure "such practice" wouldn't happen at all.

The "does not condone ... such practice" is not nearly enough.  By failing to ensure "such practice" could not happen the National Trust for Scotland is responsible for it happening.  Rather than accepting their responsible by failing to ensure it could not happen, the National Trust for Scotland absolve themselves of responsibility (they do not condone) and distance themselves (acting in isolation) from the employee who created and used the illegal dump.

Seton Gordon : The Life and Times of a Highland Gentleman

Raymond Eagle, 1991

A review by Joe Dorward

Seton Gordon : The Life and Times of a Highland Gentleman (1991)

I bought this 'biography' of Seton Gordon in the hope I’d learn more about his earliest expeditions into the Cairngorms than I already knew from reading his books.  I wanted to know something about how he worked up from (perhaps) a first casual visit, to expeditions over the summits, and Làirigs.  I also wanted to know more about his first encounters with the people who lived, and worked there - I was sadly disappointed. 

The period I was most interested in learning about - and the period most relevant to this website - is the decade before the war of 1914–1918, when Seton Gordon began roaming beyond hills around his home in Aboyne, and began getting to know the Cairngorms.  This 'biography' covers that period in the first two chapters, and in those first two chapters, it shows how easy it is to write bad-history.  I have no interest in criticising the style, nor the quality of anyone else's writing - that's obviously subjective, but in the first two chapters of this book - Raymond Eagle has committed the history-writing equivalent of capital offences.  

1st offence : unsupported assertions - in a biography there's less need to support assertions with references than in a standard history text, but there is still some-need to support assertions so readers know what form the supporting evidence is (a letter, or diary entry for example).  This is exactly the kind of thing David McCullough does in John Adams (2001), his biography of John Adams.  Picking a page at near-random - on page 253 David McCullough asserts that ''Adams had decided what he must do'', then subtly tells the reader the form of the evidence - writing :

By the time spring came, Adams had decided what he must do, no matter the diplomatic niceties. ''America ... has been too long silent in Europe,'' he wrote to Francis Dana. ''Her cause is that of all nations and all men, and it needs nothing but to be explained to be approved.''

- McCullough (2001) (p253)

Whether or not - this letter to Francis Dana actually supports the assertion is not my point - it's that the reader knows that David McCullough made the assertion based on his reading of this letter. 

In contrast - vague, unsupported assertions tumble from the pages of Eagle (1991) - for example :

Soon he was venturing into the Cairngorms. They are higher than the West Highlands, many summits above 4000 feet, whereas in the west only Ben Nevis exceeds this. Lochnagar, at 3786 feet, is closer to Aboyne. One day, at the end of May 1903, he was on its western slopes ...

- Eagle (1991) (p7)

My mind boggles - I don't understand the significance of the reference to Ben Nevis, or to 4,000 feet.  Raymond Eagle is also apparently unaware that Lochnagar isn't in the Cairngorms (it's in the Mounth), but I'd still like to know what the evidence is for the assertion that Seton Gordon was on Lochnagar ''One day, at the end of May 1903'', and I'd also like to know why Raymond Eagle gives us a vague ''One day, at end of May 1903'' rather than stating the actual date.

Many similar passages in the first two chapters alone, raised more questions than they answered, and little detail relating to who, when, where - left me with the disconcerting impression that Raymond Eagle knows little about either the Cairngorms, or the time Seton Gordon spent among them - an impression evidenced by his 2nd offence.

2nd offence : error of assumption - apparently in the January of 1910 Seton Gordon, and his friend Dick Crewe arrived at Derry Lodge after spending a week at Corrour Bothy.  Raymond Eagle refers to the arrival - writing :

When Seton and Crewe finally reached Donald Fraser's door, it was opened by his wife who after an astonished glance, broke into peals of laughter. This was very disconcerting until they saw themselves in a mirror - two unshaven faces, black from a week of peat smoke in the confines of the bothy!

- Eagle (1991) (p22)

The only source I've see recounting this arrival is in Seton Gordon's book Highlands of Scotland (1951), where Seton Gordon writes :

... and we reached, weary but intact, the hospitable home of Donald Fraser, who then lived at the Derry. I recall that when we knocked at the door, and Mary Fraser opened it, her first astonishment at seeing two wayfarers on a winter night was succeeded by mirth which surprised us. When we entered the house and stood before a mirror the cause of her merriment was apparent. We had not seen ourselves for a week and of course had not thought of shaving. We were impressive in our week's beards, but the colour of our faces was still more mirth-producing, for they were black as those of an African, from the peat smoke which had most of the time filled the bothy

- Gordon (1951) (p161)

Donald Fraser died in 1913 - and until his death, lived at at Derry Lodge with his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Mary.  Of course the widespread lack of references in this 'biography' makes it impossible to know if this error is a genuine error of assumption on the part of Raymond Eagle, or an error of memory on the part of Seton Gordon, but I've checked my facts - and there's no doubt Mary was Donald Fraser's daughter. 

That error of assumption was disconcerting enough, but my subsequent reading of the original source materials held by the National Library of Scotland revealed the 3rd offence, which compounds error of assumption with conceit.

3rd offence : error of assumption, conceit - apparently in reference to a letter written by Edward, Prince of Wales to Seton Gordon - on page 33 Raymond Eagle writes :

Another letter on 20 October provides an insight into the life at Balmoral and the bond that existed between the Royal family and their staff:

- Eagle (1991) (p33)

Raymond Eagle then apparently directly quoting the letter - writes :

... How I do envy you being still up in Scotland. I am glad to hear you were at the Derry the other day and saw Donald Fraser and Sandy McDonald. They are both such nice men & I am glad they liked the presents

- Eagle (1991) (p33)

The most disconcerting things about these two 'quotes' is - one - the letter referred to doesn't mention Balmoral - the Derry is Derry Lodge on Mar Estate - two - the actual letter written by Edward, Prince of Wales dated October 20th 1913 - reads :

How I do envy you being still up in Scotland ; I am glad to hear you were at the Derry the other day & saw the "goat" & McDonald. They are both such nice men & am glad they liked the presents

- Edward, Prince of Wales

Conventionally edits to direct quotes are indicated by square brackets, and the mishandling of this 'quote' staggers me.  The continued lack of references leaves me wondering what evidence led Raymond Eagle to conclude this letter refers to Donald Fraser and Sandy McDonald - other than geography.  His edited 'quote' appears to imply that Donald Fraser was known as the "goat", and if that's true I'd like to know about that story.

After reading 33 pages of this 308 page 'biography' - I was so disconcerted I'm unsure which, if any, of Raymond Eagle's assertions can be relied upon - including his assertion on page 10 that Seton Gordon first climbed Am Bràigh Riabhach in 1906. 

If, like me, your interest is narrowly focused on Seton Gordon in the Cairngorms - this 'biography' is a disconcerting, unsatisfying read.

The Cairngorms

A review by Joe Dorward

The Cairngorms (1975)

The first edition of this Scottish Mountaineering Club guide by Henry Alexander was published in 1928.  This is the 1975 edition - a re-publication after a major revision by Adam Watson. 

The title is misleading - this book pretty-much covers the eastern highlands of Scotland including the Cairngorms, Mounth, Donside Hills, and the Angus Glens.

The fact that the Introduction runs to 60-pages, almost 20% of the book, is an indication of how much information the author has packed into it.  In the Introduction we are literally introduced to the area through overview sections that include : Gaelic place names, and pronunciation ; history, and geography ; bothies, and camping ; rock, and ice climbing ; weather ; safety, and accidents.  In fact - from a careful read of the Introduction alone we could learn more about the area than from 10-years casual exploration.

Adam Watson has known the Cairngorms since the 1930s, and this book shows there's little doubt about the breadth, and depth of his knowledge about them.  If the hills themselves were 'all' this book was about, it would still be a great guide, but it's much more than that - Adam Watson knows the Cairngorms (and the people who lived among them) so well that he's added a great deal of 'local' knowledge that few other writers could.

For example, on the first page of the Introduction we learn that the name Cairngorms is really a 'nickname' when the author writes :

Although we are so used to the name 'the Cairngorms', it is a nickname.  These hills are Am Monadh Ruadh (Um Monna Rooa) or the red hills, distinguishing them from Am Monadh Liath (Lee-a) or the grey hills W of Spey ; if you look from Aviemore on a clear evening, the granite screes of Lairig Ghru and Braeriach do glow a warm red in the sun.  The name Am Monadh Ruadh still lives among the oldest folk of Strath Spey, but long ago, outsiders had replaced it with 'the Cairngorms', on maps and in guide books

– Watson (1975) (p19)

Later we learn that the accurate pronunciation of Gaelic place names is not so straight forward a matter as one might think when the author writes :

The most accurate pronunciations are given by older local people who have lived all their lives in a small area and whose parents also lived there.  Many of those who know the area well as climbers nevertheless err when pronouncing a lot of the place names

– Watson (1975) (p 21)

Other information in this book includes the correction of map-errors (locations, and spellings), giving place names not on existing maps, explaining the derivation, and meaning of place names, and giving their local-pronunciation, because, apparently the Gaelic of the Braemar area is significantly different from the Gaelic in the rest of Scotland.

Once into the book proper - each chapter contains far more information about the area than a typical mountain guide book.  From one page in the chapter covering Làirig Dhrù we learn that :

• March Burn (map-name) is really Allt na Crìche
• Pools of Dee (map-name) is really Lochan Dubh na Làirige
• Charles Robertson was a deer watcher at Corrour Bothy in the early 20th century
• Lochan Féith na Sgòr is the name of the lochan south-western flank of Carn a' Mhaim
• Chest of Dee (map-name) is really Ciste Dhé

You might think that a guide book published in 1975 must be 'out of date' by now.  To some extent that's true, but it's only the obvious, time-dependant information that's out of date : bus company names, telephone numbers, references to bridges, and huts that no longer exist.  It's only the kind of information that a fool would rely on, that's actually out of date.  You might go into the Cairngorms expecting to find a bridge, or a hut based on a guide book (or map), but only a fool would rely on a guide book (or map) for accurate information of that kind.  All other information in this book is as up to date as you need it to be - the rivers still run in the same beds, the tracks still go the same ways - and apart from map-errors, the place names are still the same.  And most importantly - once you're 'on the hill' very little has changed there since 1975.

This edition is a fat-classic (302 pages), and I wouldn't be without mine.  Of course it's out of print, but frequently appears on eBay selling for less than £10, but ironically, often for more than it's £4.80 cover price.  So if you want to know more about the Cairngorms than just what the routes to the summits are - this book is a great place to start.

The problem with 'Gaelic' place names on maps

By Joe Dorward

Bod an Deamhain - 15th July 2009

The main difficultly in discussing the derivations of Gaelic place names in the upland of Mar (at least) is the fact that the common-names - the names that places are 'known by' - often bears no resemblance to their 'true' Gaelic names.  Often, even when a Gaelic place name survives, its spelling has been so mangled that the meaning of the place name is changed entirely ; with others the spelling has been so mangled that its meaning is completely unknown, and unknowable.

Of course, we have to start from where we are, and where we are is errors on Ordnance Survey maps, and guide books propagating those errors.  To be fair - the Ordnance Survey have done the best job they could ; guide book authors, for the sake of consistency, use map names, and spellings (even when they knew better).  It's a valid point of view that it's better to be incorrect and consistent, than correct and inconsistent with other sources.  The Devil's Point - for example - is a well known hill in the upland of Mar, but that name is a non-literal, euphemistic, Anglicisation of its Gaelic name Bod an Deamhain - meaning penis of the demon.  It would risking confusion to write a guide book that only used the correct Gaelic place names.

Fortunately I have the luxury (no publisher ; no editor but myself) that I can tackle the subject head-on.  By ignoring the common / map-name ; I can start, and end with the correct (as far as we know), local Gaelic names, and their translations - chunking the discussion into separate articles.  But that creates a difficulty ; how does anyone find an article about a place name when the common / map-name isn't in the article. 

I 'solved' that problem by creating the 'table of contents' articles shown in the website footer (the red box at the bottom).  Those articles list the common (and / or) map-names beside their correct, local Gaelic names, and their meanings.

The Cairngorm hills of Scotland

A review by Joe Dorward

The Cairngorm hills of Scotland (1925)

By 1925 the ornithologist, and writer Seton Gordon had been visiting the Cairngorms for almost two decades. Over those years he had developed such an intimate knowledge of the Cairngorms (it seems probable) that no other writer in the country was more qualified to write on the subject.

This book gives fascinating insights into life among the Cairngorms in the early 20th century.  At that time they were entirely on 'private' estates.  Seton Gordon shares his intimate knowledge of the area, and it's people, acquired over those two decades.  He acquired that intimate knowledge by spending a great deal of time exploring the Cairngorms, and from befriending, and talking to the people who really knew them best - the ones who actually lived, and worked among them.

The following passages from the book show how well he knew the Cairngorms.  They give us a keen insight into the landscape itself, and the lives of the people who lived, and worked among the Cairngorms at the beginning of the 20th century.

Caledonian Forest

In nearly all the high glens of the Cairngorms one sees relics of the Old Caledonian Forest.  The tree line at its greatest height - namely, in Glen Derry and Glen Quoich - now barely touches the 2,000 feet contour, but in past ages trees grew much higher.  In Glen Giusachan and Glen Lui Beg one finds mighty stumps half embedded in peat almost up to 2,400 feet.  They were fine trees, but they have left no successors, and now there is not a fir tree in all the upper reaches of these glens

- Gordon (1925) (p13)

There are partially exposed stumps, well over the 2,000 ft. contour, in all the upper glens, not just the ones Seton Gordon mentions.  In July 2009 - I wasn't looking, but I noticed exposed stumps not far below the Coire Etchachan Shelter ; and in Gleann Dhé just below An Garbh-choire.

Donald Fraser

There are a few clearings in the forest near Derry Lodge, and I well remember how old Donald Fraser, the stalker at the Derry, used to play golf here in his spare moments - and in winter there were many.  Fraser was a great personality ; he must have been known to thousands of mountaineers, for he had always a cheery greeting for the climber after a long day on the hill.  On his home course he was a cunning golfer, although I do not suppose he had every played on any links away from his glen ... now Donald ''is lost to the mountain ; is gone from the forest,'' and I doubt if it would be possible to find the old course

- Gordon (1925) (p64)

Donald Fraser died in 1913 - and until his death he was the resident-stalker at Derry Lodge where he lived with his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Mary.  This quote gives a good idea of how well, and how early Seton Gordon had gotten to know Donald Fraser.

Zeppelin L20

In the summer of 1921 one of the Mar stalkers discovered on the hill-side about his house what he imagined to be a bomb dropped by the Zeppelin.  The Prince of Wales, who was stalking in the forest at the time, sent the supposed ''bomb'' to the Air Ministry for identification.  Here it was recognized as a flare used to ascertain whether an airship were over land or water : it was undoubtedly dropped by L20 on her last ill-fated voyage

- Gordon (1925) (p75)

This stalker was Sandy MacDonald who lived at Luibeg Cottage, and the 'bomb' is actual, physical evidence of the Zeppelin flight.  This is one of the most interesting episodes in the history of Mar Forest - imagine being there on the night of 2nd May 1916 when the Zeppelin flew over.

Charles Robertson

Old Charles Robertson, who for many years was watcher at the Corrour bothy in Glen Dee, in his spare hours searched assiduously for Cairngorm stones.  On one occasion he and another stalker were crossing the face on Monadh Mor.  There was a deer drive in Glen Giusachan that day, at which the late King Edward was present, and the two stalkers were hurrying, when suddenly they saw some fine Cairngorm crystals peeping above the ground in the sand be side a small burn.  There was no time to dig out the crystals, but the spot was hastily marked and a few days later Robertson returned thinking to find the stones.  No trace of them could be seen, not were subsequent searches more profitable

- Gordon (1925) (p189)

Charles Robertson died in 1933 at the age of 99 years.  This story, must have been one of the many Seton Gorndon heard from Charles Robertson during the many evenings spent in front of the peat, and bog-fir fires at the bothy when Seton Gordon based himself there.