Rhona Maxwell is our Projects and Events Officer for Scotland. In today's blog, she reflects on a very busy few days at this year's Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh.
The RSPB Scotland Events team recently attended the Royal Highland Show for it’s first in-person full scale event since 2019. It was so good to be back, and with the help of fifty-four other staff and volunteers throughout the weekend our marquee was a huge hit with visitors!
This year the Royal Highland show saw 194,000 visitors pass through it’s gates, making it the same scale in attendance as Glastonbury, and there were no fewer exciting sights to be seen at Scotland’s very own big four day event.
Our objectives in attending ranged from recruiting new RSPB members and fundraising through to sharing resources like Wild Challenge and raising the profile of our Nature on Your Doorstep campaign. Building support for our work with farmers and land managers is also a key ongoing aim, and we’re able to provide them with practical steps that they can take to help wildlife.
We encouraged families on stand to take part in our ‘Wild Challenge Passport’, with over 1000 given out across the event. The activities on stand included a custom-made corncrake board game, My Garden Action Plan, Make a Pledge for Nature Tree and selfie bench. We also had community fundraising colleagues there with pin badges and a story telling corner, offering a welcome and engaging retreat for many children.
In total we made 88 new memberships and raised £1,142 in community fundraising, while countless packets of wildflower seeds were given out and will be benefiting our pollinators in the months to come. We were also delighted to have Lorna Slater MSP visit and spend time with our policy and conservation colleagues.
For so many visitors to the Royal Highland Show, the interactions they have with our staff and volunteers there may be their only experience of what the RSPB represent. It’s so important that we use that opportunity to showcase who we are and what matters to us. Every single person who helped was a deserving ambassador of their snazzy blue t-shirts and will no doubt have left many positive lasting impressions on the visitors to our stand.
Further reading
Wild Challenge
Nature on Your Doorstep
Join the RSPB
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