"Thank you for your letter of 4th June regarding the withdrawal of the Grampian Reserve Manager.

The post that has been made redundant is the Reserves Maintenance Co-ordinator for Aberdeenshire; the Reserves Manager is Rab Potter, who is still in post and responsible for the Scottish Wildlife Trust wildlife reserves in Grampian and Tayside. We also have a wildlife ranger, based at Spey Bay in Moray.

Yes I was very disappointed that we lost the Reserves Maintenance Co-ordinator post, which was sadly part of a wider reduction in field staff. Mike Stevens had been working for the Trust for ten years and he knew the reserves very well and also had good natural history knowledge, which we will also miss.

Last year we applied for, and received a grant to upgrade the part of the North East Coastal Path which goes through our Longhaven Cliffs Wildlife Reserve. I spoke to Rab Potter, before sending this email and he confirms that part of this funding was to put in waymarkers which directed people away from the section of path you are referring to. We are considering erecting barriers, although past experience on other coastal reserves indicates they may end up in a BBQ fire.

We had hoped that the Council would come in with our coastal path upgrade plan, by improving the stretches on either side of the reserve, but this did not happen and we have no funds to work beyond the requirements of the reserve. The Trust will however continue to maintain the path through the reserve; if members of the North East Mountain Trust notice any damage to the access features please contact Rab Potter.

Thank you for your continued interest in Longhaven Cliffs and I hope you will continue to enjoy walks through the reserve."