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Protecting Scotland's wildlife |
Biodiversity |
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Protecting Scotland's wildlife |
Biodiversity |
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Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) at WWT Caerlaverock. |
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The Whooper Swan is largely a winter visitor to the British Isles migrating south from Iceland and Scandinavia, but has on occasion bred in Scotland. The largest flocks are found in Scotland and Ireland, the birds can often be seen on estuaries, sheltered coasts, lakes and large rivers, or feeding on arable land and wetlands. |
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Dumfries and Galloway is largely rural, only around 1.3% of its area can be classed as urban and there is little major industry, other than farming and forestry, when compared to other parts of the British Isles. As a result it contains many areas of wildlife importance now rare elsewhere in the UK, from lowland grasslands to upland heaths and bogs, its rivers, streams and lochs to its woodlands and scrub pasture. |
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Shelduck feeding on mudflats |
The Solway Firth provides food and shelter for a large number of migratory birds. Over winter the number of birds using the estuary rises to over 120,000. Species such as Knots, Dunlin, Sanderling, and Ringed Plover stop off for refuelling during their long migratory flights, whilst the entire Svarlbard population of Barnacle Geese, numbering over 20,000 birds, spend the whole winter along the estuary. Nineteen species occur in nationally and internationally important numbers and as a result the inner Solway has been designated a Special Protection Area and Ramsar site. |
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Dumfries and Galloway contains a large number of other nationally important sites, including 94 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) covering around 64,000ha, five of which are also National Nature Reserves. As well as locally important reserves managed by the local authority, the RSPB, Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, Forest Enterprise and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Dumfries and Galloway was the first local authority within Scotland to complete a Local Biodiversity Action Plan, launched in summer 1999. Want to know why is this so important? Uncertain what 'biodiversity' means? Confused by terms like BAP and LBAP? Then use the links below to find out more. |
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Dumfries Wildlife Survey, Ranger and Conservation Teams |
For further information on training opportunities with SWT go to the SWT Training page |
Part funded by the European Social Fund |
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Contact SWT Dumfries: dumfriessr@cix.co.uk |
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This website was produced by Jon Watt, Dumfries Wildlife Survey Team. Photographs: Barry Soames and Dean Heward |
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