NEWS / FIOS - Scottish Natural Heritage

Follow Scottish Natural
Heritage on social media
using these links
NEWS / FIOS
OCTOBER 2015
Wildlife recovery in new Marine Protected Areas
Nationally and internationally important marine species and habitats in Scotland’s seas
could take tens or even hundreds of years to recover once they’ve been damaged,
according to a new report published by SNH. The study looked at wildlife such as horse
mussel beds, common skate and native oysters, and considered ways to help address
their decline. The findings will help the Scottish Government and SNH to look after
Scotland’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) network, which includes a suite of Nature
Conservation MPAs put in place last year, partly to support the recovery of marine habitats
including flame shell beds and maerl beds.
read more >>>
Walk like a champion with Medal Routes
With more than 600 short walking routes on the new Ramblers Scotland
app, there are plenty of options to help you build walking into your daily
routine. The Medal Routes mobile app features a Simple Pleasures
Challenge, comes with lots of other interactive features and is free to
download here on all Apple and Android devices. Follow the link for
more information and whet your appetite with a short video.
read more >>>
Bat comeback is bad news for midges
The common pipistrelle bat is making a comeback, with numbers
increasing by around 79% since 2009, according to a new report.
And because a single pipistrelle can eat up to 3,000 of our pesky
midges in one night, this has to be great news for everybody! The
report, Trends of Bats in Scotland, presents trend estimates for
three of the country’s 10 bat species.
read more >>>
Online tool launched for people
interested in protected nature
sites
We’ve made information and trends affecting
more than 2,000 species and 3,000 habitats
available to everyone with our new Protected
Nature Sites web tool. The interactive
tool searches by habitat type or species
or geographically, and it can identify the
condition of special features, associated
pressures and underlying trends within
Scotland’s sites of national and international
importance for wildlife and geodiversity.
Information is presented using maps,
charts and data that can be download to a
spreadsheet.
Andrew Bachell, SNH’s director of policy
and advice, said: “We want to make
information accessible to those who need
it, to improve understanding of what makes
Scotland so special, and to foster wider
appreciation of sites designated for wildlife
and earth heritage interest.”
read more >>>
Volunteers to help tackle stoats on Orkney
People interested in volunteering to help out on a project to control
non-native stoats on Orkney are being asked to contact SNH.
Stoats can have a negative impact on some of the islands’ native
wildlife, such as the Orkney vole, and sightings of the mammal
have increased significantly over the past year. Up to 50 volunteers
will be trained initially and provided with equipment to monitor and
trap the stoats.
read more >>>
Scotland’s Nature blog
Our blog looks at work to promote and protect our
natural heritage. Recent highlights for you to enjoy
include:
–
Scotland’s Great Trails: this month focuses
on the West Highland Way
–
From Beinn Eighe to bees: a project working
for the return of our native dark bees
–
Species of the month: there’s more to the
maligned common wasp than you might
imagine
–
Natural bookshelf: a look at some recent
additions to the natural history bookshelf
–
Helping nature adapt to climate change: our
climate is changing - what can we do?
Win a family forest retreat
with the dog!
We’re lucky to have fantastic access rights in
Scotland and we want to encourage people to
make the most of them. So we’ve teamed up with
VisitScotland, Forest Commission (Scotland) and
Forest Holidays to promote some top tips from
Jess the Dog and offer you a chance to win a
luxury forest break in Ardgarten, with the dog, plus
£100 travel expenses! Enter by the end of
November.
read more >>>
Luchd-sabaid na h-Iarmailt
’S e an geamhradh ràith mhath airson a bhith a’
coimhead air na speuran air an oidhche, agus corra
uair chithear na fir-chlis, taisbeanadh de dhathan is
cumaidhean iongantach anns an iarmailt ris an robh
iomadh sluagh ann an ceann a tuath na Cruinne
a’ dèanamh gàirdeachas fad nan linntean. Ged as
e ‘dannsairean’ a bha na Gallaich a’ gabhail air a
leithid anns an dualchainnt Ghàidhlig aca (’s e ‘merry
dancers’ a chanas mòran ann am Beurla ris), ’s e Na
Fir-chlis no Fir-chlisneach a chanadh, agus a chanas,
a’ chuid as motha de Ghàidheil riutha. Bhathar a’
dèanamh dheth gur e a bh’ annta ach nàdar de
shìthichean a thuit a-mach à Nèamh nuair a dh’fhalbh
na h-ainglean, ach nach do ràinig an Talamh.
Tha seanfhacal ann Nuair a bhios na fir-chlis ri mire, ’s gann nach dèan iad milleadh; bhiodh inbhich ag innse do chloinn gun
robh na fir-chlis a’ sabaid anns an iarmailt. Thigeadh fuil bhuapa gu talamh agus chìte sin an ath latha tiormaichte air na creagan
(no an e crotal dorch a bh’ ann?!) Chanadh a’ chlann an uair sin thug na fir-chlis fuil à càch a chèile a-raoir. Agus bhite a’ cur
na leithid gu feum ann a bhith a’ dèanamh ro-aithris air an aimsir. Tha seanfhacal ann: ’S e fir-chlis san àird a tuath a chumas
rinne reothadh cruaidh. Agus bha iasgairean Leòdhais dhen bheachd gun atharraicheadh an aimsir an dèidh taisbeanadh nam
fear-clis. Bha sin gu sònraichte fìor nuair a bha na fir-chlis àrd, dathte agus mar ribeanan – leanadh droch shìde orra (ach anns
a’ gheamhradh ’s dòcha nach biodh sin na iongnadh!)
The Heavenly Fighters
Winter is a great time to see the heavens during the long dark nights, and the lucky ones among us might be afforded a
glimpse of the aurora borealis, a magnificent phenomenon which has been celebrated by human societies in the higher
latitudes since ancient times. The old Caithnessian Gaelic word for the phenomenon was dannsairean, ‘dancers’, perhaps
reflecting the name ‘merry dancers’ often given to it in English, but in general in Gaelic they were, and are, known as Na Firchlis or Fir-chlisneach, ‘the nimble or swift, agile men’. In contrast to the benign view of them as ‘dancers’, they were interpreted
as being creatures akin to the fairies who, during the emptying of heaven, had not fallen to the Earth.
There is a proverb Nuair a bhios na fir-chlis ri mire, ’s gann nach dèan iad milleadh, ‘when the nimble men are playing, they will
often cause destruction’, and adults would tell children that patches of dark lichen on the rocks were dried blood that had fallen
from the sky during the night, when the nimble men took to fighting. The children would say thug na fir-chlis fuil à càch a chèile
a-raoir, ‘the nimble men bled each other last night’. And the Northern Lights would be employed in weather forecasting, as in
the expression ’S e fir-chlis san àird a tuath a chumas rinne reothadh cruaidh, ‘the aurora in the north will ensure a hard frost’.
Fishermen in the Western Isles would consider the higher, streaming, coloured auroras (in contrast to the lower arching ones)
to be harbingers of bad weather.
NEWS IN BRIEF
–
The Nature of Scotland out now: Issue 22 of our popular magazine features articles on The Great Trossachs Forest,
mountain biking progress in Scotland, a peatland restoration project in The Flow Country, native dark bees at Beinn Eighe
and much, much more. read more >>>
–
Licence restrictions in wildlife crime hotspots: SNH has restricted the use of general licences on four properties where
there is clear evidence that wildlife crimes have been committed. General licences allow landowners or land managers
to carry out actions that would otherwise be illegal, such as controlling common species of birds to protect crops.
read more >>>
–
Lottery millions to help care for landscapes: The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £7.5 million to be invested in three
large-scale Scottish landscapes. The cash will be shared across the remotest islands of Orkney, the Galloway Glens, and
Callander’s Pass on the edge of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. read more >>>
Follow Scottish Natural Heritage on social media using the links below
Scottish Natural Heritage is the government’s adviser on all aspects of nature and landscape across Scotland. Our role is to
help everyone understand, value and enjoy Scotland’s nature now and in the future. For more information, visit our website at
www.snh.gov.uk. SNH media is also now on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SNH_Tweets
Contact us by email at [email protected]
Communications Unit
Scottish Natural Heritage
Battleby
Perth
PH1 3EW
Scotland
Published: November 2015
All images copyright Lorne Gill/SNH, except: peacock worms on flame shell bed, Ben James; dark bees, Margie Ramsay.
Unsubscribe from this newsletter