Rural and Environment

  • In the news: protecting Scotland’s nature

    3rd January 2019 by

    Conservation groups have called for stronger climate action to protect Scotland’s unique habitats and species, in a story you may have seen in the news today. The joint report by WWF Scotland and Scottish Environment LINK focuses on the impact our changing climate is having on species in five specific habitats across the country.  A...

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  • This migration season, will we see avian flu return?

    14th November 2017 by

    Last winter Scotland was lucky. We had no reported cases of H5N8 avian flu in domestic flocks. The rest of the UK was not so lucky as the disease was confirmed at 13 premises whose flocks ranged in size from nine to 65,000 birds. Here two experts have their say on the importance of practising good biosecurity measures.

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  • Boost for our bees and butterflies

    27th July 2017 by

    To coincide with the launch of our Pollinator Strategy, Craig Macadam, Conservation Director of Buglife, explains why we have to protect our pollinators. Imagine a world without chocolate. A world without coffee, wildflowers, strawberries, tomatoes. One out of every three mouthfuls of our food depends on insect pollination. It is almost impossible to over-emphasise the...

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  • World Wildlife Day

    3rd March 2017 by

    Picture of red squirrel

    How we own, manage, control, conserve, promote, support and develop it matters hugely to this Government’s ambitions for our country and today on World Wildlife Day (Friday 3 March), I’m reflecting on recent successes and the challenges that lie ahead in protecting our wildlife.

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