Crofters and farmers in Cairngorms park protest

Farmers and crofters have accused the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) of ignoring their views, including those on the reintroduction of beavers.

They held a protest outside the authority's offices in Grantown-on-Spey on Monday night.

Farmers drove to the venue in tractors and other agricultural vehicles.

CNPA said it recognised the need to work with farmers and crofters, adding that it had set up forums to provide information on beavers.

Robbie Macdonald, a Grantown-on-Spey farmer and chairman of the 60-member Cairngorms Crofters and Farmers Group, said the protest followed long-running concerns.

"We're expressing our anxieties to the national park board as we feel we've really been left behind," he said.

"They seem to have a conservation policy which is not taking into account the crofters, farmers and land managers in the national park unless they are fully committed to rewilding."

Mr Macdonald said that when the park was created 20 years ago they were told the status would bring benefits to farming.

He said: "It's turned out it's disadvantages we are having to live with.

"It was the beaver release that brought it all to a head because it was really done without consultation to the land managers directly.

"By the time we started speaking to the board, the licence had already been issued."

In December, beavers returned to the Cairngorms 400 years after the species was driven to extinction in Scotland.

Two pairs of beavers were released on land owned by estate owners.

Over the next five years, 15 families could be released in the Cairngorms National Park.

CNPA said farming union NFU Scotland was among organisations involved in a Cairngorms beavers group set up in 2017.

It said a series of consultations were held last year and following discussions with crofters and farmers, changes were made to the beaver licence application to address concerns around flood banks.

A spokesperson said: "The park authority recognises the need to work with farmers to mitigate impacts, and we have a robust framework in place.

"We have also established a farmers forum, and a beaver sub-group is in the process of being established."

CNPA representatives met protestors on Monday.

The Cairngorms in the UK's largest national park and covers an area of 1,748 sq miles (4,528 sq km).

It is twice the size of the Lake District National Park

The park covers parts of Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Angus and Perth and Kinross.