Posts Tagged ‘wildlife’
Big boost to improve the Scottish environment
A new peatland restoration project aims to improve water quality, tackle climate change and help protect Black Throated Divers and Great Skua in the Outer Hebrides. Funding for the first Peatland ACTION project in the islands has been confirmed in celebration of International Bog Day this Sunday (28th). Working alongside Scottish Water, the project will…
Read MoreThe masked raiser invading gardens and trees
With its Zorro-style eye markings, the distinctive nuthatch has northern Scotland in its sights. I am peering out of my office window at the sodden garden, hoping for inspiration to strike. Suddenly I see it; a flash of grey-blue back with a soft apricot-coloured breast, it lands on the cotoneaster and I register the long…
Read More10 fantastic places to visit on… Skye
The Isle of Skye has a romantic mysticism about it, being covered in fog, with stunning imagery. Skye has a history that it is rightly proud of, but it boasts a number of attractions – natural, historical and new – that make it worth a visit. Here’s our round-up. DUNTULM CASTLE Perched on a cliff…
Read MoreVolunteers wanted to watch our seas for sealife
The National Whale and Dolphin Watch gets underway this weekend. Every year, scientists at the Sea Watch Foundation lead a campaign to get members of the general public contributing to science to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises and they’re calling on you to get involved between 27 July and 4 August. For over 40 years,…
Read MoreSearching for declining butterflies on the bog
A wildlife charity is calling on nature enthusiasts in Edinburgh to help search for a once common butterfly, which has suffered a 68% decline across Scotland in the last 10 years. Butterfly Conservation Scotland is extremely concerned about the Small Tortoiseshell and needs people to help look for the butterfly on Sunday 28 July at…
Read MoreHelp wanted to chart Scotland’s ocean wildlife
Scientists at Sea Watch Foundation are looking for Scottish marine mammal enthusiasts to help with their survey of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Every year for nine days in late July, Sea Watch Foundation look for wildlife enthusiasts and around the UK to support National Whale and Dolphin Watch, a citizen science project organised by the…
Read MoreLandscape put in focus at Glencoe exhibition
An exhibition of vibrant Highland landscapes by acclaimed Scottish colourist artist Hamish MacDonald is set to go on show. It will open at the National Trust for Scotland’s revamped Glencoe Visitor Centre on 3 August. Over 50 print works, silk art and cards depicting the landscapes and seascapes of Western Scotland, from Arran to Ullapool,…
Read MoreFormer Glasgow Girl ready to be the Arctic Artist
A unique chance to explore the effects of climate change in art will be undertaken by Argyll artist Lesley Burr this summer, when she travels to South Baffin Island in the Arctic circle. Lesley, a former ‘Glasgow Girls’ painter, was chosen by the Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute to become the ‘artist in residence’…
Read MoreGardens galore can provide you with inspiration
Needing some tips for your garden this summer? Take a trip to one of the top north east gardens for a little green-fingered inspiration. 1. Laundry Cottage Laundry Cottage is open to the public as part of Scotland’s Garden Scheme which allows private gardens to be viewed by appointment – admission fees are given to…
Read MoreGoing underground with Scotland’s stoats and weasels
With their fearsome reputation as bloodthirsty hunters, weasels and stoats demand respect from gamekeepers and farmers alike. For most of us, stoats and weasels are only occasionally glimpsed rushing across a road and more usually viewed as casualties lying on the verge. These quite extraordinarily lithe mustelids seem elastic, with sinewy little bodies perfectly suited…
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