Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is asking for help from the public to help keep the beach at St Cyrus national nature reserve litter-free and safe for wildlife. Every year thousands of birds, seals, dolphins and marine mammals die by swallowing or becoming entangled in rubbish. The St Cyrus Beach Clean takes place from 11am to 2.30pm on Sunday September 18th at St Cyrus. The Beach Clean is part of the Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch, a national initiative now in its 18th year, with thousands of volunteers taking part every year. Therese Alampo, St Cyrus reserve manager, said: “Hundreds of birds…

Children are to be given the chance to name the first baby beaver kits born in the wild as part of the reintroduction scheme at Knapdale in Argyll. 15 Norwegian animals have been released at the project site and a number of young have been born into the families. The naming competition was launched by Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson during a visit to Knapdale Forest earlier this week. “These charismatic creatures play a key role in providing good habitat for a range of wetland species, while generating interest in Knapdale and Scotland from far afield,” he said. “It is great…

Acclaimed nature photographer, Peter Cairns, will be launching his new book, Caledonia, at a photographic evening to be held in Grantown on Spey. The Speyside town is near the photographer’s Cairngorm base in Glen Feshie. The evening, to be held in the Grant Arms Hotel on Thursday 1 September 7:30pm, will include a talk and slideshow, question and answers and a book signing, refreshments will be available. The free event has been organised by Grantown’s award-winning independent bookshop, the Bookmark. Caledonia – Scotland’s Heart of Pine, by Peter Cairns and Niall Benvie, portrays a vision for Scotland’s wild forest. It…

National Trust for Scotland ecologists this week confirmed that one of Scotland’s rarer flowers, the Mudwort, is thriving in the mud of the Threave Nature Reserve, near Castle Douglas. This very small annual plant, whose beautiful but tiny flowers only ever reach up to a tiny 3 milimetres in width, was found to be growing in large patches around the muddy pools usually used for feeding by Threave’s hundreds of ducks and waders. Mr Lindsay Mackinlay, Trust Ecologist, said: “It is not the easiest plant to monitor as you’re never sure if the next step into the mud will see…

Conservation charity, the National Trust for Scotland is reporting a successful breeding season at two of its sea eagle sites in Scotland’s North West, suggesting that the reintroduced birds are making a steady recovery in Scotland. Conservationists have confirmed that on the Island of Canna in the Inner Hebrides, triplets have fledged – only the second time that this has been recorded in Scotland. Meanwhile, a chick raised by the resident sea eagle pair on Shieldaig Island in Wester Ross recently took its maiden flight. At both sites, the Trust works in partnership with local RSPB Scotland experts to monitor…

Scottish Natural Heritage staff are delighted to reveal that a seabird on their Isle of May reserve, which could have potentially died earlier in the year, has produced chicks for the ninth year running. The Isle of May National Nature reserve has a population of about 500 breeding pairs of shags during the summer. The striking dark emerald green breeding plumage of these seabirds distinguishes them from the similar cormorant. In April this year an SNH volunteer alerted SNH reserve staff to one of the shags at the south end of the island. The bird had a plastic beer can…

Cow Hill above Fort William could soon see the return of Black Grouse, thanks to the intervention of Lochaber Forest District’s Highland Cattle herd. Acquired by Forestry Commission Scotland in 2001, the site has benefited from new paths to improve access and is the home of a local allotment project. The addition of six cattle to the site is expected to have a significant impact on the local biodiversity. Kenneth Knott, Environment Forester for the Commission’s Lochaber team, said: “Using cattle to carry out work on sites such as Cow Hill, is a great way to improve the landscape and…