The campaign to save a world-famous geological site from bring stripped of its national nature reserve status has won backing from nearly 1,300 people.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) board members will discuss proposals to strip the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy of a protective status it has held for six decades.
Famed naturalist Charles Darwin abandoned his work on evolution to study the geological phenomenon.
The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy were carved into the mountainsides by ancient glacial lakes as water repeatedly froze and melted.
They are narrow benches – several feet wide – and from a distance resemble roads.
However, SNH officials claim the Parallel Roads no longer meet their criteria for being a national nature reserve (NNR).
An online petition protesting against plans to strip it of the import5ant status – launched last month by Lochaber Geopark – now has almost 1,300 signatures.
One man who signed the Parallel Roads petition suggested it should be a World Heritage Site, while a professor said: “This is one of the most important geological sites in the UK, and of world importance in relation to the emergence of scientific understanding of glacial processes.”
The petition will be delivered to the board meeting on August 13 in Inverness.
And it has emerged that two more north NNRs are also on the list for deselection, including the island famous for the controversial hunt of a wild sea bird.
Each year a group of men from Ness in Lewis head to the tiny island of Sula Sgeir to harvest baby gannets – known as guga.
The meat is considered a delicacy and the men have a special licence from SNH to kill the young birds.
But in a report prepared for Friday’s board meeting, Nigel Smith of SNH says that while Sula Sgeir and nearby Rona are excellent nature conservation sites, its fragility and inaccessibility to the general public “means it is a poor fit with the NNR requirements”.
Mr Smith says that the area will retain its other status, including Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Monach Isles, off North Uist, are also on the list for similar reasons of inaccessibility.