Wild Animals of Scotland Update

Ospreys in 2023

Here is a wee wild animals of Scotland update. For those of you who have followed Scotland’s osprey visitors in previous years, we have some great news! NC0 and her mate LM12 have returned to Loch of the Lowes and have been getting the nest ready and it looks like there’s one egg so far. The webcam is live so you can follow the birds and hopefully their young over the summer months.

Not to be outdone by his Perthshire cousins Louis has returned to the Loch Arkaig nest in record time and is busy fishing and looking out for his mate Dorcha.

Hopefully, there will be plenty to see on the webcams over the summer!

Wildcats

Furthermore, in very exciting news the first-ever Scottish wildcat release has been approved. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) will oversee the trial release of these endangered wildcats into the Cairngorms National Park. These beautiful creatures have become almost extinct. Years of habitat loss, persecution and hybridisation with domestic cats have brought the Scottish wildcat population to the brink of extinction. (source). Hopefully, this plan will help to save these “Highland Tigers”.

Beavers

In addition, another animal that was successfully introduced was the Scottish beaver back in 2009 and things are going well with a growing population. Similarily to the Wildcats this began as a trial and has now seen the beaver population reach over one thousand.

Managing Ecosystems

The reintroduction and conservation of Wildlife, however, is a complicated matter, with many factors involved. You can read more on these subjects using Librarysearch.co.uk 

Read more on the Ospreys in earlier articles on them like this one: The Ospreys have returned

By Vivienne Hamilton

Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash