Wild Blog
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.