Allan Whyte, Parliamentary Officer, reflects on the Scottish Government's commitment to address climate change.

Act won, seen nothing

It’s hard to imagine a city more alive than Edinburgh is in August.  Every year the festival descends upon...

New blog from Jim Densham, Senior Land Use Policy Officer (Climate). He's been traveling to RSPB Scotland reserves by bike and public transport...It can be done!

Learning to slow down and enjoy nature 

Someone accused me of not being very low-carbon because I planned to use the train and ferry to travel to Coll and Tiree during my sabbatical. I laughed. I didn’t fancy either the cycle ride from Glasgow to Oban, or…

Brand new blog from Conservation Manager Stuart Benn.

Oasis!

No blog from me last week because I was well away from my usual habitat - travelling round the south of England on a fact-finding tour.  The idea behind the trip was to meet up with RSPB staff and talk to them about how they go about their jobs.  The Scottish Highlands and, say, East Anglia could scarcely look more different yet the principles of conservation…

Ever wonder how we count the thousands of seabirds that visit our coasts each summer? RSPB Head of Reserves Ecology, Doug Gilbert, gives us some insight.

Conservation Manager, Stuart Benn, with a roundup of his season on the hills.

Loose Ends

No, not the Radio 4 chat programme nor the 1980s R&B group but time for an end of season tie up of some threads left hanging from previous blogs.

I always get mixed feelings at this time of year when all the surveys have been done – relief as it marks the end of a really busy time but sadness too as it marks another hour of…

New blog from trainee Ecologist, Gordon Bryden. He's been out and about looking for hoverflies at Loch Leven.

Hoverflies at RSPB Loch Leven

Hoverflies are one of the most distinctive fly families, and definitely the most popular. They are mostly big and colourful bee and wasp mimics with a distinctive hovering flight around flowers and sunny spots. Many of the species have larvae which eat huge numbers of greenfly…

Weekly blog from Conservation Manger, Stuart Benn.

Let’s hear it for volunteers

Like everyone else, I’m loving watching the Olympics just now – the tiny margins between success and failure, the ecstasy of the gold, the pain of dreams not quite realised.  But I’ve also begun to notice that huge army of people in the background in their smart matching uniforms bringing out flowers for the medal ceremonies…

Conservation Manager Stuart Benn has been out searching for dotterel.

Is Seeing Believing?

A couple of times recently in Scottish Nature Notes, Alison has blogged about her work in the hills on dotterel.  Last year, I helped out with looking at some areas for the national survey and, although the final results have yet to come in, the word on the street is that numbers are a fair bit down.  However, it is known that the…