Scone Palace plays leading role in local wildlife project

Mar 2 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

NATURAL resources at a Perthshire attraction are helping educate youngsters about Scotland’s native wildlife.

The Tayside Wildlife Group, which meets at Scone Palace each month, teaches children up to the age of 12 about our native flora, fauna and birdlife, and involves them in practical projects aimed at conserving the rich wildlife and habitat that can be found across the historic venue’s grounds.

The group was set up with the RSPB and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scotland’s leading wildlife charities, and is run as one of Scotland’s first joint Wildlife Explorer/ Watch groups.

The group’s most recent project saw them building a number of new nesting boxes for Scone Palace’s gardens.

Other initiatives have included taking part in the ‘Big Garden Bird Watch’, the longest running and biggest bird survey in the world, while the children have also made tasty treats for birds and built bug hotels for hibernating insects.

Scone Palace’s assistant gardener Jonathan Campbell, who runs the group along with organisers Daniel and Gayle Spinks, said: “The group has met three times now, and already we’ve been able to make a positive difference to the wildlife inhabiting the grounds here.

“The children are extremely enthusiastic and take to each project with real passion. For many it’s an opportunity to see wildlife they wouldn’t normally see in their own garden.”

Future projects for the group, working towards the RSPB’s Bronze Action Award scheme, will include finding mini-beasts in the palace gardens, and finding and identifying native pond life, butterflies and moths.

During the summer they also hope to have occasional meetings centred on local specialities such as the Perth peregrines and Loch of the Lowes ospreys, with visiting experts in attendance.

The grounds are home to a variety of wildlife. More than 50 bird species breed there, including hawfinches, woodpeckers, warblers, owls and siskin.

The list also now includes the nuthatch, one of Scotland’s rarest birds, and an exciting new arrival to Perthshire in the last few years.

Red squirrels, now the subject of a major conservation programme, can be spotted frequently throughout the woodlands, with otters, heron, and kingfishers frequent visitors to the river and surrounding area, while the colourful butterfly garden is home to an array of butterflies including the rare ‘comma’ species, which was spotted for the first time by visitors last year.

For more information about joining the Tayside Wildlife Group, e-mail taysidewildlifegroup@yahoo.co.uk, or call 07950 095336.