Allan Whyte, RSPB Scotland Marine Policy Officer, gives us some good news about seabirds.

Good news for Scotland's seabirds

There is a glimmer of hope reflecting on Scotland’s sea. Invariably it is bad news when seabirds make the headlines, but recent announcements by the Scottish Government have bucked the trend.

14 draft Special Protection Areas (SPAs) have been announced for seabirds, along with the designation…

Genevieve Dalley, RSPB Trainee Ecologist, tells us about a recent trip to Forsinard Flows.

Going with the Flow

As a trainee ecologist I get to travel around Scotland, waving nets and poking through pond weed in search of freshwater invertebrates.

This week I was at Forsinard Flows, right at the very top of Scotland. The birds have largely moved on by this time of year but there is still plenty of interest, such as…

An update from Tegan Newman, a member of our Orkney seabird tracking team.

Having a whale of a time on Muckle Skerry

Somehow, over a month has disappeared since Derren’s last blog so here is a summary of what has been keeping us busy in Orkney….

Having arrived on Orkney in April after witnessing a shocking year for seabird productivity on Fair Isle last year, I was really hoping to see a positive change…

Stuart Benn, Conservation Manager, tells us about a project to restore peatlands in the Flow country.

Bog on!

Bogs haven’t always enjoyed the best press. 

Phrases like bogged down, bog standard and bog off really just reflect how we’ve treated them in the past  – the home of brigands, monsters and disease, wastelands only fit for drainage and planting up with foreign trees.

But attitudes are changing…

Trainee ecologist Kirsty Godsman tells us about a recent trip to the island of Coll.

Meloe, is it me you are looking for?

If you have read my previous blogs, you will be aware of a group of beetles called Oil Beetles (of the genus Meloe). There are 5 species belonging to this genus in the UK and all are fairly uncommon.  Some are incredibly rare. I was sent on a mission back in May to try to find one of these rarer beetles…

It's easy to do simple things to help your garden wildlife. Giving simple advice as to what those things should be, isn’t so easy.

The reason is that everyone’s situation is so different. Your garden might be a small decked area in the centre of a city, or a vast sweeping vista of beautiful lawns and exotic trees overlooking the sea. You might have a pond or a patio, even a pergola. There really isn’t a one…

James Silvey, RSPB Scotland Nature Recovery Officer, tells us why we need to stand up for ants.

Stand up for ants rather than standing on them

Nature’s calendar is full of events that we often mark in our minds without really thinking of it. The first snowdrops of the year, the returning swallow, bumblebees back in the garden and the first young blue tits at the feeder.

There is one event though that in spectacle…

The View cafe at RSPB Loch Leven been given a top foodie award.  Louise Cullen stopped by the reserve to find out more. Scroll to the bottom for one of Chef Douglas Rutherford's favourite recipes.

Gold standard grub at RSPB Loch Leven

The Gold Food for Life Catering Mark from the Soil Association basically means that the cafe serves freshly prepared, homemade food using local, mostly organic, produce which is free…

Emily Scragg, Senior Research Assistant, gives us an update from the STAR west coast roving team.

Seabird tracking from the Shiants to Orkney

It is coming towards the end of our field season and we have settled down in our last location for this year – on Orkney! Which is an unusual place for a ‘West Coast’ team to end up: here’s how we did it:

We started off the main part of the season working…

James Silvey, RSPB Scotland Nature Recovery Officer, tells us about a recent attempt to find a sun-seeking butterfly.

In search of the mountain ringlet

Mountain ringlet by Oliver Smart (rspb-images.com).

 “It could be there, you just never know till you look”. That’s what I found myself telling the group of eager volunteers who had donated their time to searching for the elusive mountain ringlet butterfly on the slopes…