Fire destroys The Mill Hide. Loch Leven

Thanks for the link Kate; what a shocking thing to happen if, as they say, it was deliberately torched; has happened on other nature reserves in the past along with general vandalism. Hides around the country have been used for gang meet ups - drug/alcohol purposes but sadly with funding so tight for these nature reserves they just don't have the extra money to install some form of security so I guess we will continue to have problems. Maybe lockdown adds further to these problems of boredom which can sadly result in criminal acts of wanton destruction. What a sad world we live in :( I know one of our valued forum members has been a regular visitor to Loch Leven before lockdown restrictions started and it is devastating for everyone who enjoyed visiting this beautiful and important nature reserve.

How very sad for this to happen, especially if it was deliberate.

Such sad news. It’s not a hide I used much.

I think I’d only been in it twice due to it being at the opposite end of the Loch to where we normally visit. The Mill Hide was directly on the path that surrounds the Loch, so had easy access from the much busier Kinross side of the Loch.

If I remember correctly (I think), by design, there wasn’t a door on the hide, it was just open access to get in. It overlooked a large bay area which was good for the many water birds on the Loch.

We didn’t visit much due to me enjoying photography, and the light was always in your eyes until much later in the day when we would normally be thinking of heading off home.

The hides on the RSPB reserve side have much better light throughout the day, (unless it’s midwinter when the light doesn’t get over the hill).

Also to walk to the Mill Hide from the RSPB side would be a round trip of around seven miles (it’s a thirteen mile walk around the Loch).

There are another few public hides around the Loch but they take a bit more walking to, which likely would deter the types of people who would cause deliberate damage for their own satisfaction.

Very sad.

Mill Hide (not my photo).

All that work wasted Grr!!!!!

makes one, so very very cross.

What benefit do they gain from such wanton destruction.

That's interesting Paul to see the map of the loch and amazing it is 13 miles around, no wonder you bring us back such wonderful photos of the abundant wildlife/waterfowl. I've been to a few hides which have not been placed in the ideal spot with sun streaming right in to your field of vision by 11am although I know it's not always possible to site them perfectly. I am really missing visiting the various nature reserves at the moment but fingers crossed before too long we will get part of our lives back. Still hoping to get to Leighton Moss in June so roll on and out the vaccine protection for all.

Very sad news, I cannot understand the mentality of people behind this. Not saying it's related but in our area there has been a lot of vandalism in our locality since the start of the pandemic including arson on remote properties

Unknown said:

I am really missing visiting the various nature reserves at the moment

I think the last time I was on a reserve was back in October. I’ve been getting out locally when the weather permits, but at this time of year things can be very quiet.

Sadly, public hides are often readily accessible to the masses and so used at night for reasons other than intended. I know Pennington has lost two over the years (one relatively recently) and another local site had its equivalent of the sky tower burned down. None have been replaced, I guess for fear of the same happening again, so they are permanent loses. Many hides I know are now locked out of hours and the fact they can't be used for night-time gatherings means they are less likely to be intentionally damaged but it also means they aren't available for early morning or late evening birding.

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