Celebrate nature this spring!

Spring is a magical time here in Scotland. As the evenings get longer our gardens, greenspaces and countryside are transformed in an explosion of colour as trees come into bud, flowers begin to bloom and (fingers crossed of course) the sun shines.

From the sounds of the dawn chorus once again filling the early morning to the screams of swifts at dusk spring feels like a real celebration…

Senior Conservation Officer Hywel Maggs talks about the work we are doing with farmers in Scotland to help save the curlew.

Saving the curlew in Scotland

Scotland holds approximately half of UK breeding curlews. Most are found on moorland and hill farms, but like the rest of the UK population, they are declining. In areas such as Cairngorms National Park, Caithness and the Clyde Valley, farmers are working with conservationists…

In this blog RSPB Scotland's Stuart Benn looks at what impact the project to turn the A9 into dual carriageway will have on our Insh Marshes reserve in the Highlands.

What the A9 dualling means for RSPB Scotland Insh Marshes

RSPB Scotland Insh Marshes

Living in Inverness, I often drive along the A9. This is the road that takes me down to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and it’s currently undergoing a huge project to…

Jill Harden is a reserves archaeologist with RSPB Scotland and was involved with the excavation of 3,000 year old bronze weapons on our Isle of Coll nature reserve in 2015. Kilmartin Museum is now running a crowd-funding campaign to conserve these finds and put them on display for future generations to learn from. Found out more here.

RSPB Scotland’s nature reserve on the Isle of Coll is renowned for its sweeping machair…

Soil Association Scotland won the inaugural Food & Farming award at the RSPB Nature of Scotland Awards in 2016 for their Future Farming Scotland programme, helping farmers, growers and crofters to learn and share information about more effective and sustainable ways to farm. This guest blog from the association explains why this work is so important and what their next steps will be. 

Jim Densham, RSPB Scotland's Senior Land Use Policy Officer, takes us through a recent decision by Midlothian Council to approve an application for commercial peat extraction.

Peat bog destruction needs to stop – but how?

A site close to Auchencorth Moss where peat extraction is taking place - RSPB Scotland also opposed the application for this site (photo credit: Emma Goodyer)

Last week we heard the sad news…