• What’s been top in 2016: our highlights over the year

    Jess B

    What’s been top in 2016: our highlights over the year

    As the end of 2016 approaches and 2017 beckons we’re taking a moment to look back on some of the nature highlights from this year.

    It's cold outside ...

    Snowy conditions for many over the Big Garden Birdwatch weekend in January didn’t put you off taking part; over 36,000 people in Scotland spending an hour counting 626,335 feathered visitors…

  • Our planet needs Scotland's wet blankets

    Louise C

    Senior Land Use Policy Officer, Jim Densham, brings us this latest blog on the importance of Scotland's blanket bog habitats and what needs to be done to protect them. 

    Being called a wet blanket is not a term of endearment, far from it in fact. It refers to someone who discourages enjoyment or fun, and alludes to using a wet blanket to smother a fire. It’s funny how a potentially life-saving thing…

  • Scotland's marine birds need our help

    Louise C

    Peadar O'Connell, RSPB Scotland's marine policy officer, brings us this latest blog on seabirds and the problems they're facing in the UK. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has recently held a consultation on ten new Special Protection Areas (SPAs), which protect the locations our marine birds use. Many of you responded to this and for that we say a huge thank you! A new consultation has recently opened on a further five…

  • Record-breaking yellow-browed warbler influx

    Louise C

    This blog on the intriguing yellow-browed warbler comes to you from John Bowler, RSPB Scotland's man on the Isle of Tiree. 

    This autumn (2016) has been a record-breaking year for sightings of yellow-browed warblers. Formerly a rare migrant to Britain, numbers of these tiny, brightly-marked warblers have been increasing here in recent years. They breed in Siberia and normally migrate south-eastwards to winter…

  • RSPB Scotland seeks assurances on future of forestry

    Louise C

    RSPB Scotland has responded to a recent government consultation on changes to an important piece of environmental legislation. The Scottish Government is the first of the UK administrations to consult on a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, which provides an important safeguard against the effects of major new developments on the environment.

    RSPB Scotland has since submitted a response to the consultation…