Campaigners oppose turbine plan near Fyrish Monument

Campaigners say a planned new wind farm would spoil views from one of the Highlands' best-known landmarks.

Fyrish Monument is a mock ruin called a folly on the summit of the hill Cnoc Fyrish, which overlooks the Cromarty Firth.

Renewable energy firm RWE has proposed installing up to 20 turbines on land just north west of the site.

Save Fyrish said the development would have an adverse visual impact.

RWE said its Ceislein Wind Farm project, proposed east of its operational Novar 2 Wind Farm, was still at an early stage.

Fyrish is popular with walkers, with the walk taking about two to three hours to complete.

Campaigner Sheila Campbell-Lloyd told BBC Scotland News: "Fyrish Monument is much-loved by the local community and visitors alike.

"When you are on the summit the views are uninterrupted for 360 degrees.

"RWE want to build 20 wind turbines on the land adjacent to Fyrish Monument."

She added: "We are not against renewable energy - we have got six battery energy storage plants being built."

RWE said it fully understood the importance of the monument to the local community and it was working with a design team to minimise the visual impact.

A spokesperson added: "We are currently completing the necessary environmental surveys that are feeding into the design process of the wind farm.

"This includes landscape and visual, noise, ecology and ornithology, as well as cultural heritage.

"We are committed to working with the local community to produce a final design that has been informed by the feedback received at the first public meeting, held last August."

RWE said an updated plan could be available this spring.

Sutherland-born landowner, Gen Sir Hector Munro of Novar, had the folly built and paid for it with prize money and pensions he earned serving with the British Army in India.

The monument is a line of arches and pillars constructed to resemble the fortress gates of Negatapam - a town in India and the scene of fighting between British and French forces in the 1780s.

According to local tradition, Munro used the folly as a way to create employment in the local area.

Before the building work started, the general was said to have rolled large boulders found at the summit - and ideally suit for construction - downhill.

It was said this was an attempt to extend the length of time of the project - and improve the workers' opportunity to earn more money.

It is a category B listed structure and was originally painted white.