"MINDLESS" vandals have set fire to a bug hotel at a Wee County beauty spot, continuing what appears to be a campaign of destruction.

The bug hotel was set alight at Alva Glen on Saturday, April 8, volunteers saying it could have put the whole wood on fire.

Bryan Denny, a trustee at Alva Glen Heritage Trust which looks after the area, explained he believes the fire had potential to spread into the wooded area at the glen, resulting in a much bigger blaze.

He said: "This was something we had built for the kids, it had a small plaque on it calling it a bug hotel and we had put it up near the picnic bench area.

"We found it had been set on fire and it had been very badly burned, the whole thing was destroyed.

"The fire had spread to the back of the bug hotel. I strongly suspect that, had the fire brigade not been called, it could have set the whole wooded area on fire."

A bug hotel is a man-made structure used to provide shelter for insects, usually made up of pallets and straw.

This is not the first instance of vandalism to occur at the Alva Glen, with a campaign of destruction taking place over the last year or so.

The bug hotel was first targeted in September, again being set on fire, and a bear statue was uprooted and toppled from its podium.

And in October 2022, a memorial bench to a late loved one was dismantled and thrown into the nearby burn where it smashed on the rocks below.

Carvings of the northern brown argus butterflies, a rare butterfly found in Alva, were also damaged and all of the butterflies had been removed.

Members of the Alva Glen Heritage Trust have said it is becoming disheartening to see their hard work destroyed.

"It is just mindless vandalism," Bryan added. "We spend a lot of time repairing and rectifying all of these incidents.

"We'd love to do more but we have to spend a lot of money on repairs. It is a little bit disheartening, to say the least."

Alva Glen Heritage Trust is working with community police officers to find and catch the vandals, in hopes to put a stop to the attacks.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "We were alerted to at 9.15pm on Saturday, April 8, to reports of a fire in the open near to Brook Street, Alva.

"Operations Control mobilised one fire appliance and firefighters extinguished a fire affecting a number of pallets.

"There were no reported casualties and crews left after ensuring the area was made safe."