This week saw two high profile court cases relating to illegal poison and the killing of a bird of prey on Highland estates result in hefty fines for the estate employees. A massive quantity of banned substance, Carbofuran, was found on the Skibo Castle estate near Dornoch in May 2010 during a police serach after two golden eagles and a sparrowhawk were found dead on the estate. Inverness Sherrif Court heard that estate worker, Dean Barr had enough of the poison to, “wipe out the entire Scottish golden eagle and red kite populations several times over according to the RSPB”.…

Hunting for glass eels and aquatic mini-beasts are just two of the activities taking place during Scottish Biodiversity Week, starting today (Saturday 21 May). Organised by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and partners, the week is being celebrated by parks across Glasgow, the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, as well as nature reserves and country parks across Scotland. Events include 40 hour-long tours in 11 parks across Glasgow; guided walks, fungi quizzes and wildlife-related craft activities at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh; a search for aquatic mini-beasts at Scotstown Moor local nature reserve near Aberdeen; a ranger-led hunt for glass eels at…

Up to 100 pilot whales are at danger of stranding in a South Uist sea loch in the Outer Hebrides. It is reported that many of the mammals have injuries to their heads which marine experts say may have been caused by attempts to strand themselves on the rocky shore. The whales have been in Loch Carnan since Thursday (19 May) afternoon and rescuers are currently battling to try and save them using inflatable pontoons to refloat any stranded whales. Last year a smaller pod of pilot whales were seen in a similar situation in the loch. A few days…