News
Thursday, 9 April 2009
NEWS UPDATE FROM THE EAST SCOTLAND REGIONAL OFFICE
Meikle Loch became an RSPB nature reserve at the end of last year. Your Chairman's appeal raised £7,100 towards it's purchase, which is an amazing amount and we are very grateful. Thank you so much for your support. Meikle Loch is a naturally eutrophic kettle-hole loch covering 30 hectares and is the primary roost site for the wintering pink-footed geese within the Ythan Estuary, Sands of Forvie and Meikle Loch SPA. It is the fourth most important roost site for pink-footed geese in Scotland [and eighth in UK with up to 25,000 birds] and spotted crakes have bred and black-necked grebes have attempted to breed there in the past. With a great record of rarities the loch is an important foothold in one of the premier bird areas of eastern Scotland, some fifteen miles north of Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Red Kites, the final year of releases
Aberdeen Red Kites is a three year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Aberdeen Greenspace through the Landfill Communities Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage [SNH] and RSPB Scotland, to re-introduce red kites to Aberdeen. This year the last batch of red kite chicks to be re-located to Aberdeen will be released in July/August, so hopefully 2009 will see the first red kite chicks reared in the region for over 150 years!
The birds that have been released for the past two years are now being seen regularly just outside the city, near Garlogie and Dunecht. For the most recent sightings check out the project blog on the rspb website and if you want to subscribe to the Aberdeen Red Kites newsletter, e-mail aberdeenredkites@rspb.org.uk or contact the East Scotland Office on 01224 624824
New Phoenix Group launched
A new RSPB group for youngsters [13-18] who are Phoenix members in the Aberdeen area was launched at Loch of Strathbeg in November 2008. The have a programme of exciting events planned for this year, including a bird-ringing demonstration on the 21st March, a beach clean on 16th April and making Tern shelters at Forvie on 16th May.
Regional Public Affairs Officer post advertised
Interviews are to be held in March for a Regional Public Affairs Officer to help deliver our regional public affairs strategy. When appointed the post holder will be involved with organising events in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, as well as helping with on-going enquiries from the general public and media.
Bird Friendly Schools
Claire Marsden was appointed in August 2008 as the Bird Friendly Schools project officer. With a band of 19 volunteers and help from the Loch of Strathbeg field teachers, and Paul Kendall who is the field teacher in the Badenoch and Strathspey area, the project has already reached 51 schools in Aberdeen, Aberdeeenshire and Moray. They are aiming to reach another 60 schools this coming year. Every school gets three visits, and the volunteers teach the children about bird identification, the Aberdeen Red Kite project and also encourages the school to take part in the Big Schools Bird Watch.
Techfest 2009
This year we'll be involved with Techfest, from 11th-28th September. Our stall will be themed to the Aberdeen Red Kite project. There will be games and lots of fun so if you want to come along and help out we'd be delighted!
Stop the illegal killing of Birds of Prey!
The RSPB campaign to stop the illegal persecution of birds of prey continues to gather momentum. There will be displays to promote it at Loch of Strathbeg and Vane Farm during the year and please help us get more pledges. For more information contact Carrie Watt at the Aberdeen Office, on 01224 624824.
Loch of Strathbeg news
It's an exciting time of year on the reserve, with birds starting to sing and the breeding season just around the corner. It's now very easy to keep up to date with what's happening at the Loch of Strathbeg by checking on the RSPB website. Visit www.rspb.org.uk, click on the 'reserves' section and follow the links to the Loch of Strathbeg page. Here you will find details on what events are coming up and what birds have been around, with our regularly updated 'recent sightings' page. The reserve newsletter 'Flightlines' is produced bi-monthly and is available to collect from the reserve, or to make sure you never miss a copy, you can get it e-mailed to you directly - just drop an e-mail to Strathbeg@rspb.org.uk to request it.
We'd also love to hear from you if you wanted to help out at the reserves in any way. It's not all digging and chopping [although there is plenty of that if you want to do it!], you could help out in the hides or visitor centre by pointing out birds to families, you could help in the wildlife garden [this fantastic project has been looked after almost entirely by volunteers], or you could lead one or two guided walks [it's not as scary as it sounds!] and we'll also be after volunteers to help at Fowlsheugh and Troup Head with showing visitors the fantastic seabirds [you could even get to be a guide on the boat trip]. Volunteering is fun and incredibly useful to the RSPB - we can't do what we do without you. Give us a ring [01346 532017] or send us an e-mail to Strathbeg@rspb.org.uk to find out more.
Carrie Watt