“A New Year brings New Adventures, skip forth and be bold” This was the message on my calendar for January and what a coincidence that 2014 should see me beginning the exciting journey of being one of the eight Natural Communities trainees for this year.
So a brief introduction… My name is Lorna and I am working with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) based in their Scotland office at Stirling University. The main focus of my traineeship is Upland Outreach, which will involve getting both communities of place and communities of interest involved in a project called “What’s Up”.
The “What’s Up” project is all about monitoring change in Scotland’s Uplands. Climatic changes and changes in land use mean Scotland’s uplands could be facing an uncertain future. Currently there is not enough evidence to know what effect these and other changes are having on upland wildlife. The project aims to encourage people who live, work or play in upland habitats to get involved and submit their sightings of upland birds and wildlife. Identifying these people, engaging with them and encouraging them to become involved in the project is a major part of my role within BTO.
As well as engaging communities, taking part in talks and events and helping to develop the project so that it is accessible to everyone, part of my time at BTO will also be used to improve by birding skills. In other words I will be learning to identify birds, not just by sight but by their songs and calls too, which trust me is harder than it sounds!!
As you have probably guessed by now, I have an interest in both birds and the uplands of Scotland. I have been taking part in a monthly wetland bird survey (known as WeBS) for five winter seasons and can regularly be found outdoors, binoculars in hand. My true passion though is Scotland’s mountains. I love the uplands and am so excited to be able to engage others with the “What’s Up” project and involve them in helping to conserve what I see as one of the most fragile, beautiful and important areas of Scotland.
I have a long and varied past before joining TCV, but don’t worry I won’t bore you with too many details. I spent two years doing Countryside Management at college, before moving on to doing my BSc (Hons) in Sustainable Environmental Management. My dissertation focussed on “Scotland’s Mountains: Recreational Users and Environmental Awareness”. I have climbed over 200 Munros, in both summer and winter and have camped on some of the highest mountains in Scotland.
I look forward to sharing my time working with TCV and BTO with you, which will hopefully include a lot of positive project updates and of course, plenty of pictures of my adventures!
I’ll say bye for now and I’ll leave you with a photo from this week and one of my favourite and also very relevant Dr Seuss quotes…
“You’re off to great places, today is your day,
your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!!”
Testing out mountain transects on the local miniature mountains…