• Farming green payment needs strengthening, not weakening

    Vicki Swales, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Land Use Policy, sets out why more must be done to make farming greener.

    Farming green payment needs strengthening, not weakening

    Following last week’s EU Referendum it’s not yet certain what the future arrangements for supporting Scottish agriculture will be. However, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments to farmers look set to continue in the short term at least…

  • Searching for pine hoverflies

    All this week we’ve been celebrating National Insect Week 2016 and to round off the final day RSPB’s Will George gives an insight into surveying a rather rare insect.


    I've spent the last two weeks in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland on the trail of a rare and enigmatic creature, the pine hoverfly. This beautiful little fly is a specialist of the ancient pine forests of northern Scotland, and as these…

  • Seabirds of the Forth

    Allison Leonard is a warden with RSPB Scotland who looks after five reserves in Central Scotland, including the Forth Islands Fidra and Inchmickery. Allison brings us this update on how different seabirds are faring in the Forth this year and tells us about a couple of exciting opportunities for you to get out and see them!

    Seabirds of the Forth


    It can’t be easy raising your young whilst perched precariously on the…

  • Little gulls at RSPB Scotland Loch of Strathbeg

    This summer we were able to confirm that the smallest species of gull in the world, the little gull, is nesting with an egg at RSPB Scotland Loch of Strathbeg. It's the first confirmed breeding attempt for little gulls in Scotland ever. Kath Hamper, who works on our north east coastal reserves team and is based at Strathbeg, brings us this blog about them.


    Early each summer for the last few years, we’ve been cautiously…

  • Celebrating National Insect Week

    RSPB Scotland is supporting National Insect Week from 20-26 June - a celebration of some of the smaller creatures in our natural world that is organised by the Royal Entomological Society. If you haven't heard of it before, National Insect Week encourages people of all ages to learn more about insects from beetles, bees and butterflies to dragonflies, damselflies and stoneflies. In preparation here's a look back at a…

  • I can hear the grass grow

    Hi, I’m Bernie Bell. I got in touch with RSPB Scotland after reading a piece in the organisation’s recent magazine, Scotland news, about the importance of wildflower meadows in the conservation of the great yellow bumblebee. I live on Orkney, where gardening can be difficult, but with a bit of patience and imagination, we can produce gardens which are not only good for us, but for wildlife too. So I wanted to let folk…