Blogs

BY SDC Volunteer Ruby In May I attended the Orkney Nature Festival along with SDC staff Katie, Lorna and Emma. It was my first time visiting Orkney and I was so excited to see it, and hopeful for sightings of Risso’s dolphins and Orca. On the ferry over I was blown away by the views

By WDC Volunteer Ruby It’s one of the more exciting facts of life that you can start a day with an idea of how it’s going to go in your head, but what actually happens is often completely unexpected and different.   As it was still only our second week as residential volunteers at the

By WDC Residential Volunteer Christiana. One of my dreams has always been to see the Northern Lights. Now living at Spey Bay as a residential volunteer guide is one of the best things I’ve ever done in my ecological journey, nay, my life. I can spend part of the day shore-watching, which is where I

By WDC Volunteer Eilidh Bleary-eyed WDC’s Cath Bain and I stood on Shorewatch Hill awaiting our attendees for our first ‘Early Morning Wildlife Photography Walk’ of the season. We couldn’t have asked for better weather… the sun poking through the clouds, calm mirror-like sea and very minimal wind (which if you have ever visited Spey

By WDC Volunteer Christiana. If you go on one of my tours of the Tugnet Ice House at the Scottish Dolphin Centre, as well as the history of the ice house and the fishing community that’s been here since the eleventh century, I talk about the model of the basking shark in the main chamber

Common Lizard A small reptile with adults measuring 15cm from nose to tail. They are usually brown in colour with various stripes and spots covering its body, however, they can vary and have found to be black or even an olive green. They typically live in woodland, heathland and moorland but the best place to spot

by 2022 Residential volunteer and guide Michael Amos For many years, orcas had been at the very top of my wildlife bucket list. And yet, it’s fair to say that, for the longest time, I had the absolute worst of luck trying to see these animals. During my time as a Residential Volunteer at Spey

By WDC residential Volunteer Jess In April, I was lucky enough to go to Shetland with Emma for a Shorewatch trip and help gather data about the marine mammals in the area. I have always wanted to go to Shetland, especially having grown up watching the BBC series ‘Shetland’ and the many David Attenborough documentaries

PING! Normally your phone going off before 8am on your day off would be a cause for irritation but there is only one group in my phone that makes that noise, and it can only mean one thing…… ORCA! But where are they? Fraserburgh the message says, that’s an hour and a half away, so

By WDC Volunteer Abi As part of the Shorewatch programme, we visit the Shorewatch sites that are scattered across Scotland to help our community volunteers by providing them with support and some company while doing surveys. I was lucky enough to go with the Katie, our Shorewatch Officer, on a trip to the isle of