The Donald v.The Sand

The sand dunes to the south of Newburgh on Ythan are designated as a Site of Special Interest, the Nation's very best wildlife and geological sites. A major part of the scientific interest is that the dunes are highly mobile with the sand gradually moving northwards along the coast. A large area of the dunes was purchased by Donald Trump and, with the help of the Scottish Parliament under Alex Salmond's leadership, turned into a golf course. The Donald has attempted to prevent the sand blowing onto his verdant greens by erecting sand fences and by planting marram grass. 

As you can see from today's offering Nature laughs at the feeble efforts of man, even man as great as The Donald, and the fences are now collapsed and largely buried under the sand.

Nevertheless, Trump's golf course has effectively trashed the scientific interest of the area and Scottish Natural Heritage has now declassified the SSSI on which the golf course was built.

It is more than ironic then that the golf resort has made losses for the seventh consecutive year, according to the latest published accounts. Documents lodged with Companies House show the Trump International Golf Club made an annual loss of £1.07m in 2018.

Now, to add insult to injury Aberdeenshire Council had recently granted permission for Trump's organisation to build a second golf course and 500 luxury houses on the remaining dunes on his property. 

The "extra" show the remains of the defences built on the dunes in 1940 in anticipation of the promised invasion by Nazi Germany.