Scottish ministers have been accused of rewriting the rules and weakening legal protection for precious wildlife sites to pave the way for a controversial golf development on the north east coast.
Pollution from vehicle exhausts is “devastating” the fragile wild plants that cling to the artic summits of Scotland’s highest mountains, say conservationists.
More than 1,700 of Scotland’s most precious wild animals, plants and places are in a poor state – and 600 of them are getting worse.
Scottish ministers have not given legal protection to ten endangered species, including four insects, two plants, two seahorses and water voles.
