Jon
You make it sound as though SNH’s objection was them just going through the motions rather than having any fundamental objection to the development which I think maybe is stretching it a bit.
As for the BBC, they report the “news”. News in this context has often consisted of reporting Press Releases and reaction issued from both sides (ie. the developers and their supporters and wildlife/environmental groups and their supporters) so inevitably in that reporting it is going to appear that they are favouring one side or the other depending on who’s comment/PR they are reporting on at that point in time.
To be honest I don’t see any overall bias either way, just a fairly superficial broad-brush approach to reporting a subject that really isn’t that far up the public’s list of concerns.
Niall