Loch of Clunie/Castle Clunie - Blairgowrie - Added to Castles and Fortifications in Scotland

Where to fly your drone in the UK
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I have just added this to the map of places to fly your drone at Drone Scene:

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Land owner permission not required.

Very popular in the summer with dog walkers and picnickers. Also, unfortunately, with clatty campers who turn up to trash the place, leave all their rubbish behind, and empty the loch of fish. The landowners have now blocked off much of the available parking bays and rangers now frequent the area, along with police, to discourage the clatty campers. Also popular all year round with canoists, paddle boarders and wild swimmers, it can be a very busy place. In the spring/summer a pair of Ospreys return to rebuild their nest and hopefuly raise some chicks. One of them is thought to be the offspring from the famoust residents at Loch of the Lowes, just a short drive away. So be mindful at this time of year, the locals are very protective of their ospreys and you could find yourself in a spot of bother, along with a visit from the police and wildlife protection officer!!!

The Loch of Clunie has a single island, said to be artificial, which has the remains of Clunie Castle. The house was built by George Brown Bishop of Dunkeld between 1485 and 1514 as a spiritual retreat. A chapel was dedicated to St Catherine in the house in 1507. It is thought that the island had been used as a crannog for many years previously. Human remains in the form of bones have been unearthed.

Built on a hillock on the western shore of the Loch is Old Clunie Castle. The castle replaced a hunting lodge used by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Picts, as a base for hunting in the nearby royal forest of Clunie. King Edward I of England stayed four nights in 1296 at the castle during his invasion of Scotland, before travelling to Inverquiech Castle. A place of Clunie is recorded in The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba as having been wasted by the Danes in 849, and as such is a scheduled monument of national importance.

The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 10/12/2022. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.

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Rode past this area in May this year, wonderful countryside and scenery. :clap:t2:

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As a local who spends much of the summer picking up litter and worse from around the loch I would point out a couple of inaccuracies in your description. The eastern European visitors tend to be the best on the whole. Sadly it is the indigenous population who enjoy smashing bottles, cutting down trees, shitting in the loch and generally being obnoxious - well, a small minority of them.
Also the land owners have created the parking areas round the loch. The church car park is closed to recreational visitors having suffered from some of the worst behaviour.
I would recommend avoiding the loch at weekends in the summer particularly when the weather is good.

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My brother is a local too, which is where some of this info comes from, ie the eastern europeans and blocking off some of the parking spaces. I’ve been told a lot of the spaces have been blocked off with large boulders and tree trunks to discourage some of the overnight car camping and irresponsible parking. I am most certainly not getting on at the landowners here by the way, my brother is one of their employees, they’ve done what they have done to discourage the idiots and I wholeheartedly agree. But to be fair, perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned eastern europeans? it is a bit of a broad statement. I have seen first hand what our own can do to our precious places. If the admin allow me I can go in and edit the original post to be a bit more even handed.