The National Trust for Scotland is assessing the damage done to a number of its sites after Storm Arwen struck the north-east.
Among the damage wrought by the storm, which has included trees being felled, infrastructure damaged and thousands of homes being left without power – there has been a devastating impact on seal-pupping.
Crathes Castle, Fyvie Castle and Haddo House are among the locations that were battered by the weekends’ torrid weather conditions.
St Abb’s nature reserve in Berwickshire has estimated that around 800 of their seal pups have died over the weekend.
‘Lost the majority of our seal pups’
A survey carried out before the storm suggested that it had been a record-breaking year for pupping before the extreme weather hit.
Prior to the weekend, around 1,780 pups had been counted at the site – however, it has been estimated that around 800 have died.
Ranger Ciaran Hatsell at the site said: “Very sadly it appears we have lost the majority of our seal pups to this storm. We are planning to do another survey this week to see what the damage is to the rest of the colonies but it doesn’t look good.”
Fundraisers started to repair damage
A £50,000 fundraising campaign has been launched to restore parts of Haddo House after trees were torn down on the National Trust property.
A JustGiving page was launched yesterday with the aim of raising funds to go towards the “decimated” site’s recovery.
At Castle Fraser, around 200 trees were torn out the ground and the woods at Leith Hall have been badly damaged.
While at Crathes Castle, all estate trails have been blocked as have the ones at Brodie Castle.
Other sites have also been battered by the storm
Across the Grampian region, other green locations such as Den Wood just outside Oldmeldrum has been forced to close for several weeks.
Over 150 trees came down or were badly damaged at Woodland Trust Scotland’s Den Wood in Aberdeenshire. Around a third of these are alongside the path network.
Site manager Ross Watson said: “These trees include very large beech that are standing but unstable so we have no option but to close for now until we can find an available felling team to make things safe. Currently, there is also a powerline down with the cables lying on the path, and a damaged pole.”
Normally Woodland Trust would manage access around dangerous trees but there is currently no part of the wood that is safe, and the public are being asked to stay away.