Category Archives: conservation

Connecting the nature dots: the path to 2030

Christian Christodoulou-Davies, NatureScot’s Project Manager for 30×30 and Nature Networks explains why this year is an important marker for Scotland on the road towards its 2030 goal. The year 2030 will arrive not so much unannounced but at an unnerving … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, climate change, conservation, Ecology, nature networks, Protected Areas, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Protecting Orkney’s special wildlife: The Orkney Native Wildlife Project

Today, we feature a guest blog from the Orkney Native Wildlife Project team. The project staff are working hard to safeguard the unique and internationally important native wildlife of Orkney by tackling the threat it faces from an invasive non-native … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Birds, conservation, Ecology, invasive non-native species, NatureScot, Non-native species, Orkney | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Weaving a tapes-tree – The Loch Lomond Woodlands Project

To celebrate the International Day of Forests, our graduate placement Heather Reilly is highlighting some of our most important wooded areas, and the data mapping project which aims to better understand and illustrate them, in today’s blog. On the bonny … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, Ecology, Land management, mapping, trees, Uncategorized, woodlands | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating International Day of Girls & Women in Science

Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science – a day declared by the UN to bring attention to the fact that less than 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women. Biases and gender stereotypes are still steering … Continue reading

Posted in conservation, Ecology, graduate placement, International Year of Girls and Women in Science, Marine, science, STEM | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mapping the Birds of South East Scotland – A Celebration of Citizen Science in Action

This week’s blog is written by Mike Thornton, a NatureScot operations officer in the Lothians, and a keen volunteer citizen scientist. Mike has worked on a range of citizen science projects, including the Birds in South-east Scotland 2007-13, a Scottish … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, Birds, citizen science, conservation, Volunteering | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A new way to benefit nature on farms and crofts

Today’s blog, written by NatureScot agriculture officer, Kirsten Brewster, details a new trial in Scotland, which gives incentives to farmers and crofters to manage flower-rich meadows, help vulnerable populations of wading birds thrive, restore peatlands, and manage other nature-rich areas. … Continue reading

Posted in Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, biodiversity, conservation, Farming, wild flowers | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Coigach and Assynt’s secret hazel woodlands

We sometimes think of Assynt, in the north west of Scotland, as a spectacular but stark place of rock, heath and bog. But here and there are plenty of trees – marvellous woodlands, those on better soils often dominated by … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, Ecology, Lichens, NatureScot, trees, woodlands | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mentoring the next generation of conservationists

In February 2020, Murray Borthwick was staring down a telescope at Morton Lochs, undertaking fieldwork for his honours thesis and simultaneously realising that studying birds was what he wanted to do for a living. Fast forward to the summer and … Continue reading

Posted in Birds, conservation, NatureScot, SNH, Young people | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sharing our views: the Scottish Beaver Forum

Today’s blog is written by the Chair of the Scottish Beaver Forum and NatureScot’s Tayside & Grampian Area Manager, Denise Reed. In Scotland, beavers became a European Protected Species in May 2019. Their numbers have expanded across Tayside and beyond … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, mammals, Rewilding | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mulling over Ulva’s history

A mere hop, skip and jump from Mull will land you on Ulva.  An island with ancestral links to David Livingstone, known in the past as ‘Wolf island’, and the scene of sweeping Clearances. To this day Ulva is as … Continue reading

Posted in Community engagement, conservation, Projects, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment