RSPB Scotland is asking for public support to secure funding from the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) to restore an important site in the Flow Country, the Dyke plantation near Forsinard in Sutherland. The project is one of five nature projects in the running for EOCA funding, with the final decision being made by public vote between 9th and 23rd March on the EOCA website. The Dyke plantation was planted with non-native sitka spruce and lodgepole pine trees some thirty years ago and the trees have caused significant damage to the peatlands on which it was planted, and which forms…

An army of 800 volunteers will help secure the long-term survival of major red squirrel populations in three key areas after the Scottish Wildlife Trust secured a grant of £2.46 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels – Developing Community Action project. Over the next five years the project will enlist volunteers from communities in three key regions to carry out practical work to protect and strengthen red squirrel populations in their local area, and in turn safeguard squirrels across Scotland. The project aims to provide high quality training and support to hundreds of…

Surveys at Trees for Life’s Dundreggan Conservation Estate near Loch Ness have revealed a range of rare species, including a midge never recorded in the United Kingdom before – underlining the site’s growing reputation as a ‘lost world’ for biodiversity. The discovery of the non-biting midge (Chironomus vallenduuki) by entomologist Peter Chandler brings the total of UK biodiversity firsts found at the estate in Glenmoriston to 11. Other key findings during the charity’s 2016 survey season included two rare gnats whose larvae feed on fungi. One of these (Sciophila varia) is only known from four other UK sites. The other…