Conservation Scientist Jonathan Groom is back with an update from the Perthshire hills.

Weather and heather

Weather and heather. These are the two dominant subjects in my fieldwork at the moment. It would be impossible to write anything without mentioning this terrible rain that is wreaking havoc with our British wildlife this summer. I’m sure that you don’t need me to dwell on it as it’s making headlines pretty much…

Jim Densham, Senior Land Use Policy Officer (Climate), has been travelling to our reserves via green transport. Read on to find out how you can do the same!

Green Travel to Green Places

Have you ever seen a golden eagle in your garden? Have you heard a corncrake’s rasping call as you laid in bed at home? Do you wander through a nature reserve on your way to pick up the morning paper? I’ll bet the answer is no (but do…

Trainee Ecologist Helen Dickinson reminds us to appreciate the small things.

The little things at Lochwinnoch

On a recent visit to Lochwinnoch nature reserve I came across far more than the ground beetles I had been looking for. The damp weather has been a real treat for the amphibian world and whilst lifting logs in search of beetles I came across several juvenile Palmate newts (Lissotriton helveticus).

The day…

Trainee Ecologist Gordon Bryden is out and about on our reserves searching for flies!

On the other wing

Searching for flies on reserves might seem like a strange activity for an employee of the RSPB, but flies and their maggots are essential to the ecosystems which all birds depend on. They provide food for birds and their young, they pollinate the flowers and break down waste. In the UK we have well over 9000 species 

Weekly update from RSPB Conservation Manger Stuart Benn.

Blogged Up!

The Scottish Open golf championship was held just along the road from us at the weekend and, gladly, there was no repeat of last year when torrential rain caused landslides, floods and massive disruption.  This year, the weather was OK but still not the best and, since I had started a heavy cold, I didn’t venture any further than the moors near…

Trainee Ecologist Helen Dickinson has been out and about at our Abernethy reserve searching for deadwood beetles.

Abernethy – Deadwood is good wood!

As an Ecologist  trainee within the Scottish Reserves Ecology team, I get to spend time in some of the amazing wild spaces that Scotland and the RSPB have to offer. Most recently I have been working from Forest Lodge at the RSPB Abernethy Forest Reserve in the Cairngorms…

New blog from Stuart Benn, RSPB Conservation Manager.

Squid Cat Battle

My three favourite radio programmes are Radio 3’s Late Junction and Radio 6’s Saturday double-header of Gilles Peterson and the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show – always sure to provide different and unexpected mixes of music, old and new.  I can’t remember now which one introduced me to London trip-hop outfit Nedry and their…

 RSPB Conservation Scientist Jonathan Groom has been out in the Perthshire Hills as part of the Native Upland Woodland Expansion Survey!

Final Bird Results are In

Well I finally got there. Despite the weather’s best attempts to thwart me I have completed the bird surveys and translated all of my field notes onto computer spreadsheets. This will allow for some statistical work and will, once the habitat data has been…

RSPB Conservation Manager Stuart Benn has been out satellite tagging Golden eagles with the One Show.

One Show, Two eagles

I blogged recently about filming Black-throated divers with the One Show in the north of Scotland, well they have been up again this week – this time for Golden eagles.

Eagles have always held a fascination for us and are often used as symbols of national pride – in fact, three of the sixteen…

RSPB Conservation Scientist Alison Beresford is on the trail of the elusive dotterel.

I would walk 500 miles… the search for dotterel continues

“So, what, you just walk about until you find one?”

“Well, pretty much, yes.”

“And then what?”

“And then the waiting begins…”

I’m never quite sure what to say when people ask me what I do.  When I try to…