Waste found as Balmoral estate used as toilet
● Discarded wipes found by rangers clearing up the 55,000 acre site
Rangers at the Balmoral Estate have found discarded waste and wipes near trails as people have used the grounds as a wild toilet.
Staff at the 55,000 acre site, which houses Balmoral Castle and is Queen’s private estate, posted pictures of fouling over the weekend next to paths on the Aberdeenshire estate.
Public toilets at the site have been closed.
Rangers tweeted: “Disappointed to see so many wipes discarded on the Estate today. Next to paths and monuments.
“Please remember there are no public toilets open for miles around at the moment.”
The estate said the toilets near Loch Muick, managed by Aberdeenshire Council, have been closed, but that people had been “breaking into them”.
“Conditions inside are becoming unsanitary,” the estate said in a statement. Alongside advice on what people should do if they are caught short, rangers advised visitors to be more courteous.
They tweeted: “Part of the problem is that we are seeing a lot of non biodegradable wipes being discarded in the countryside.
“Also, people are choosing to relieve themselves right next to busy paths or monuments rather than move a little bit further away to avoid contamination.”
The advice was published as the Devil’s Pulpit in Stirlingshire – a popular Scots beauty spot – is set to be closed to the public in a bid to deter daytrippers who have been flooding the area.
Residents living nearby have been left furious by a surge of visitors over the past two months despite travel restrictions in place during the coronavirus lockdown period. Stirling Council chiefs say their “hands were tied” and had to close the popular attraction because of a request from the landowner.
East Lothian rangers had separately issued a plea has been issued to residents after last week’s good weather saw large amounts of rubbish and litter left in the county’s beauty spots.
Canisters of ‘laughing gas’ were found at Longniddry along with empty cans and bottles.
East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers said: “It’s great to see so many people enjoying the countryside responsibly.
“Unfortunately, however, certain groups haven’t been as we’ve seen a large rise in the number of ‘party sites’ where they’ve left behind cans, bottles, broken glass and nitrous oxide canisters.”
The Meadows in central Edinburgh has also become a dumping group for litter in recentweeks,withedinburghbased author Ian Rankin among those highlighting a disturbing rise in waste.