01/03/2014 Reporting Scotland

stories on the BBC News Channel. That's all from me, stay with

Good afternoon. Campaigners are protesting this

lunchtime against plans for a housing development near Culloden -

the site of the last pitched battle fought on British soil. They're

angry that developer, Inverness Properties Limited, has won planning

permission to build 16 homes on a brownfield site just 400 metres away

from the wider boundary of the 1746 battlefield. Highland Council threw

the scheme out last year, but on appeal the Scottish Government ruled

the plans would have no impact on the historic site. Opponents

protesting in Culloden and later in Inverness say it's the thin end of a

wedge that could see the battlefield increasingly hemmed in by urban

development. A former chairman of Scottish Labour

has announced he'll vote for independence. Bob Thomson, a Labour

member for more than 51 years, declared his support for a yes vote

as the campaign reaches the 200 days to go milestone.

The campaign to save Perth City Halls moves up a gear today.

Volunteers will be out in the city centre gathering signatures for a

petition to save the building which is facing demolition after the

latest bid to save it failed. In Tennis, despite winning the

opening set, Andy Murray has been knocked out of the Mexican Open in

Acapulco. He lost his semifinal to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in three

sets - 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Fourth seed Dimeetrov, who hasn't won a set in

his three previous encounters against Murray, faces South African,

Kevin Anderson in the final. One game in the Scottish Premiership

last night. Dundee United missed two penalties but came away with a 3-1

win. Jordon Forster scored for Hibs on the stroke of half-time.

In Rugby, Edinburgh beat Ospreys 31-25 in last night's PRO 12 match.

Grayson Hart scored two tries for the home side. The result was

revenge for eighth-placed Edinburgh, who had been thrashed 44-10 by

Ospreys in September. And there's boxing tonight. Ricky

Burns will make the fifth defence of his WBO lightweight title when he

faces the American Terence Crawford at the SECC in Glasgow. The Scot

goes into the fight as the underdog against the 26-year-old from

Nebraska, who's unbeaten in 22 fights.

Now the weather. Good afternoon. The first day of

spring and it is not a bad day. Dry and bright weather across the

country. Good spells in the east and the North East. A few showers here

and there but not amounting to too much. Across western areas we will

see cloud thickening up with the wind freshening up as well.

Temperatures are about seven Celsius. It will feel a bit colder

today but pleasant in the sunshine. This evening, this weather front

approaches bringing rain and snow to higher ground tonight. Then the next

moves in during the course of tomorrow bringing further out wrecks

of rain jawing Sunday. It starts off dry, we will see clear spells but a

cold start to the evening across the North. It does fragment and clear.

Clearing skies mean an ice risk. A frost possibly and mist and fog

patches forming. A cold start with the nice risk first thing tomorrow,

but Bright initially. Cloud increases from the West. We

Hello there. The first day of March, and quite a wintry chill to

the first thing, but conditions have improved a lot, a lot of sunshine

have there, so the daffodils you can