Wildlife & Conservation
GWCT training courses return for 2023
THE Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has unveiled its spring training courses. The charity’s advisory service runs half-day courses on topics including “snaring, heather burning, corvid control, mustelid control, and grouse health and disease”. People who pass the courses receive a GWCT certificate to demonstrate “due diligence and responsibility” under the 2011 Wildlife &…
Read MoreWildlife struggles as climate change bites
SCOTLAND’S wildlife is struggling to recover due to biodiversity loss and climate change, according to experts. Figures published this morning by NatureScot, the Scottish Government agency known previously as Scottish Natural Heritage, showed species are struggling to increase their numbers or to spread their locations. More than 2,800 species are stuck at 1990s’ levels, which…
Read MoreRSPB and GWCT gear up to count birds
BIRD-WATCHERS are getting ready to record their feathered friends as part of major wildlife surveys by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). The data collected by volunteers during the RSPB’s “Big Garden Birdwatch” on 27-29 January and the GWCT’s “Big Farmland Bird Count” on…
Read MoreBlackcaps pick UK over Mediterranean for winter
SOME Scots might be heading to the Mediterranean for its winter sunshine, but more and more blackcaps are doing the opposite. Historically, blackcaps have bred in the UK and then returned to the Mediterranean during the winter. Now, scientists have discovered that a growing number of the robin-sized birds are not only staying in the…
Read MoreWildlife news round-up: Rewilding, capercaillie, and more
Peter Ranscombe rounds-up the latest wildlife news from Scotland. A MIXED picture has emerged from Scotland’s national nature reserves (NNRs) this season, with bird flu decimating great skuas – or bonxies – and gannets at Noss on Shetland, with kittiwake and Arctic terns fairing better. Terns of all varieties – Arctic, common, little, and sandwich…
Read MoreScotland sees more Portuguese men o’ war
STORMS have led to more Portuguese men o’ war being spotted in Scotland’s waters, according to the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). To mark World Jellyfish Day, the charity has released its first “Wildlife Sightings” report, which is based on a longer-running citizen science project. A total of 1,315 jellyfish sightings were reported to the MCS…
Read More‘Punk rocker’ waxwings land in Scotland
EXPERTS are predicting a bumper winter for waxwings as the “punk rocker” birds return to Scotland. The pinkish birds are about the size of a starling and have “swooping crests, orange, grey, and lemon-yellow tails, and wing feathers with waxy red tips”. They breed in coniferous forests in Scandinavia and Eastern Russia, and usually spend…
Read MoreBuglife Scotland launches ‘Guardians of our Rivers’
INSECT charity Buglife Scotland has unveiled its “Guardians of our Rivers” project to monitor life in Scotland’s burns. Members of the public will be trained to spot the creatures living in Scottish streams. Their surveys will help to monitor the health of our nation’s waterways. Community groups, schools, and individuals are being recruited to take…
Read MoreNew Fair Isle bird observatory takes shape
CONSTRUCTION of a replacement bird observatory for Fair Isle took a step forward yesterday. Modules built in a factory in Sheffield arrived at the island on a barge, ready to be assembled. The world-famous observatory burned down in 2019. Fair Isle has hosted a bird observatory since 1948. As well as carrying out scientific research,…
Read MoreHighlanders asked to spot red squirrels
CONSERVATIONISTS are asking people in the Highlands to report their red squirrels sightings to help protect the endangered species. Enviromental charity Trees for Life has been moving red squirrels from around Inverness, Nairn, and other parts of the Inner Moray Firth to areas where they’ve been missing. Over the past six years, the charity has…
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