Wild Blog
8th September 2008
My, my, summer has gone past in a whirl! Have I missed the good weather?
It has been a busy few months in the
Wild Scotland office, we've produced
our new leaflet which lists all Wild Scotland members (
email us for a copy), attend the
British Birdwatching Fair (see picture), get a number of
stories into the media (see our
press cuttings) and move office.
The boxes are now being unpacked and we're looking forward to some great wildlife-watching in the autumn, as the
red deer rut starts and we welcome back all the birds which choose to spend their winters on the balmy shores of Scotland!
26th May 2008
Spring has definitely arrived and I've enjoyed watching the young birds in my garden squabbling over food from their parents. Wildlife sightings are coming in thick and fast, with
killer whales being seen off the West Coast this weekend and an arctic visitor, a bearded seal taking up residence on Mull.
It's also BBC Springwatch time again when we enjoy three weeks of British wildlife on our TV screens. How things have changed? Only ten years ago, the majority of natural history films were of exotic wildlife in exotic far-flung places, now we can all enjoy the exotic wildlife on our doorsteps. This year, Springwatch presenter Simon King will be in Speyside (Cairngorms) so Scotland will be on show and Wild Scotland has produced a guide to wildlife in the Cairngorms specially for the occasion (download it
here).
3rd March 2008
Last week, we organised a day of wildlife watching for tourism businesses in the
Trossachs (pictured). The Trossachs is a well-known and much-visited part of Scotland, made famous by Rob Roy and the famous scenery. The wildlife of the Trossachs is equally impressive and as part of project we are doing in the area we wanted to provide businesses with the chance to see this wildlife for themselves. Yes, even in February!
Well, the sun shone (at times) and during the course of the day, we saw a total of 34 species, including
red squirrels,
a hen harrier, plenty of
greylag and pink-footed geese, with the highlight of the day for many being the spectacular sight of
red kites feeding at
Argaty Red Kites, nr Doune. It just goes to show that Scotland really is an excellent place to watch wildlife, whereever you are, whatever the time of year and whatever the weather!
2nd January 2008
A very Happy New Year, and I hope that you had a good festive holiday. New Year 2007 for me has been spent on Skye. Some spectacular weather reminded me of how good Scotland is for wildlife watching in winter.
Golden eagles and
buzzards,otters and
black-throated divers all provided enjoyment amidst the breathtaking landscape of this famous island.
Also this month we release the report on the 2007 wildlife watching season. It seems that the 2007 season has been more challenging than previous years, for both our members and certain wildlife species. The weather does appear to have dampened spirits during the key summer months.
Minke whale and seabird sightings were reported as down by a number of operators, particularly from East Coast operators with an increase in dolphin sightings on the West Coast, with reports of sightings quite late into the autumn. More details of the survey results will be available on the
News Section shortly.
26th November 2007
I knew that winter was here when I drove through my first fall of snow a couple of weeks ago on my way back from
Wild Scotland's Annual General Meeting.
Wild Scotland is a membership organisation and our AGM is the opportunity for us to get together to reflect on our season of wildlife-watching and also think about other issues. This year our topic was '
Scotland's Predators - a tourism asset' which seemed particularly relevant considering the coverage birds of prey have received recently.
Thought-provoking presentations by Des Thompson of Scottish Natural Heritage and Peter Cairns of
Tooth and Claw got everyone thinking about the place that these animals have in our culture and as Pete Cairns commented, 'managing predators in
Britain today is rarely about the animal itself, it is about managing
people’s perceptions – what they believe and what they value.' Food for thought on a dark winter's night...
10th October 2007
It is well and truly autumn up here in Scotland and the landscape is looking magnificent.
The
red deer stags are roaring on the hills so the rut has definitely started. I was hill-walking last Sunday and the sound of five stags competing for females was an unforgettable experience.
The seabirds have now left but the
geese are arriving on our coasts and estuaries - the
island of Islay and
Montrose Basin in Angus are particularly good spots.
Grey seals are also giving birth to silky white seal pups. Good places to see these enchanting youngsters are
Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick near Edinburgh or the Treshnish Isles of the coast of Mull, accessible via
Turus Mara Cruises.
I was also hearing that the whales are still around on the West Coast so maybe it not too late to do some autumnal
whale and dolphin watching!
8th August 2007So here we are in August already and at last the sun is shining here in Inverness.
The bad weather hasn't affected everyone though - speaking to businesses on the West Coast, they've had some fantastic weather this year and
wildlife sightings are good. On the East Coast the weather has been less favourable for boat trips but the wildlife sightings are still good.
I heard today from
Land Rover Experience Scotland, who are based in Perthshire that they'd had several sightings of their infamous
white stag this week. It's rarely seen so this is exciting news. They're also seeing a
pine marten during their trips which again is pretty rare.
Tomorrow Wild Scotland is off to Aberdeen to join the Open University/BBC Coast event at Aberdeen Maritime Museum. If you're in the area, pop in and say hello.
31st July 2007Welcome to the Wild Blog - brought to you by Wild Scotland. The aim of the blog is to keep you up to speed with what's happening up here in Scotland wildlife-wise but also to let you know what's happening with Wild Scotland too.