In my case it goes all over the place, Stirling to Stonehaven, the Isle of Mull to Inverness! Life as a Natural Communities trainee is certainly a busy and exciting one!
Since my last update I have been working on increasing my knowledge of the ‘What’s Up’ project, getting a handle on where the project is currently at and also trying to get to grips with where I fit in to it all. I have started to make contact with various people and organisations, working with them to raise awareness of the project and promoting it through various means such as leaflet displaying and writing articles for newsletters.
I have helped out at a couple of mountaineering club talks, promoting “What’s Up?” and engaging with the people that have attended them. I have met some lovely people at these talks, had some informed chats about their bird sightings whilst out on the hills and hopefully got a few more volunteers to help increase our records of upland birds. In addition to the success of these talks, we were also extremely lucky on the drive home from Stonehaven to see the AURORA BOREALIS (the northern lights)!!!! (Trust me when I say I still get excited when talking about this, I have never seen them before despite years of trying – it was AMAZING!)
As well as helping out at the ‘What’s Up?’ mountaineering club talks, I spent a couple of days on the Isle of Mull, attending a talk presented to the local bird club and helping out at a training day for both local people and day visitors to the island.
Waiting for the ferry to Mull, with a storm brewing out in the Minch…
I managed to see a few new birds for me, including Black Guillemot in summer plumage with its striking white wing patches and learned how to identify divers (Great Northern Diver, Black-throated Diver and Red-throated Diver) in their winter plumage. We were also lucky enough to get close up views of an otter swimming in the bay at Craignure. This trip was my first time on Mull and I definitely intend to visit again soon, it is such a stunning place with so much to explore.
The view from our early morning wildlife watching spot…
In addition to visiting islands, promoting the project and making contact with interested communities, I have spent a little time developing my own skills and knowledge in relation to birds and biodiversity in general. At the end of last month I attended the Highland Biodiversity Conference which was organised by the Highland Environmental Network (HEN) and hosted at the SNH offices in Inverness. HEN are working to promote sustainable living in the Highlands of Scotland.
The conference coincided with the planning for the next Highland Biodiversity Action Plan and included a range of superb talks from people involved in projects across the highlands of Scotland. The talks discussed everything from landscape scale approaches to conservation (i.e. RSPB Cairngorms Futurescapes Project and Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape Project) to talks about the new Cairngorms Biodiversity Action Plan, the Highland Seashore Biodiversity Project, the Scottish Wildcat Project and Invasive Plants in the Highlands.
As I have mentioned before, I have a keen interest in all upland habitats and species and this conference was the perfect opportunity to keep up to date with all things biodiversity related in the Highlands. It also enabled me to promote the “What’s Up?” project both on route to the conference, in various outdoor related organisations, as well as at the main event with a project banner, leaflets and ID guides.
That’s all from me for now. Lots more to do in the coming weeks so look out for my next update to find out where I have been and what I have been getting up to in the world of uplands and birds!
I will leave you with a photo taken on a day off from work, making the most of the sunshine on top of snowy mountains…
Sunshine and snowy mountains, perfect!!!