The Moray coast has recently been listed by National Geographic as one the top costal destinations to visit. Nestled along this beautiful stretch of coast, between Banff and Cullen and about 20 miles from RSPB Troup Head, is the picturesque harbour town of Portsoy.
Each year Portsoy, with its two historic harbours, plays host to the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival. The festival is a blend of Scotland's rich maritime history and cultural heritage. Last weekend, the team from RSPB East Scotland travelled to Portsoy to join in the festival, now in it's 20th year, and help celebrate The Year of Natural Scotland 2013.
-View across the old harbour at Portsoy-
We arrived bright and early on Saturday to set up our stand at the old harbour. In our marquee alone, there were stands demonstrating traditional skills such as basket weaving, flax spinning and boat building. We were also in good company, with Scottish National Heritage as our neighbours for the weekend, who were giving out lots of useful information about wildlife friendly gardening.
For our stand, we took along a 'litter timeline' to raise awareness of litter pollution and its effect on the environment and our wildlife, particularly seabirds. We asked people to guess how long everyday litter items, such as plastic bottles and aluminium cans, take to degrade and gave out advice on how best to 'reduce, reuse and recycle' the litter we produce on a daily basis, to help protect our natural landscape. We also had lots of fun and games with kids making puffin masks and trying to guess which burrow our Puffling was hiding in, to win a fantastic puffin prize. We spoke to hundreds of people over the weekend and it was great to hear other people's nature stories and their enthusiasm for nature and its conservation. We even managed to fundraise a couple of hundred pounds along the way too!
-Carrie demonstrating our litter line-
Taking a break from all the hard work, I went to explore and I was amazed at the incredible variety of activities going on across the whole town. There were craft stalls, amazing food (including venison burgers and Arbroath smokies - both of which I sampled!), boat trips, boat races, charity fundraising, musicians, dancers and more! It's great to see so many people coming together and keeping their traditional values alive. Despite some heavy showers on Sunday, the whole weekend was a huge success and perfect way to celebrate 2013 The Year of Natural Scotland.
Amy Telford, Community Engagement Officer (RSPB Scotland Loch Lomond)