Look out for the Birds
Reports
As spring moves into summer and more people take to the outdoors please look out for the birds. It is an important time of year for birds as breeding is to the fore.
Man has been and will be a major factor on Arran’s bird life whether it is global impact of climate change, change in land use, increasing visitors, pressure on outdoors for recreation and adventure or the demand for tidiness as suburbia encroaches more on island life. If we fail to see the interconnectedness of life, if we do not make room for life other than self-centred human life, then Arran’s bird life will suffer, and Arran will be a poorer place.
Want to help protect birds in the nesting season? Keep your dog on its lead this spring.
For some there may be few sights more joyful than a dog bounding through the countryside or along a shore. But for ground-nesting birds and other wildlife, the experience is quite different. It is stressful and life threatening. For example, a crow, noticing a disturbance created by a person and their dog, can locate a nest when they otherwise would not have spotted it. The vulnerability of ground-nesting birds is reflected in statistics. Around 66% of ground-nesting species are in decline in the UK, compared to 31% of species which don’t nest on the ground, such as robins and blackbirds.
Letting a dog off its lead can disturb several species without the owner even noticing. During the breeding season for a vast array of wildlife, most environmental charities are urging people to keep their dogs under control and to stick to paths. In Scotland, you can walk your dog on most land as long as you follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code and keep your dog under “proper control”. If in doubt about a dog’s obedience, keep your dog on a lead no longer than two metres between March 1 and July 31.
Although the impact on ground-nesting birds is unintended, disturbance by dogs during the breeding season is one threat to wildlife that people can easily prevent. Please look out for the birds.
For information about the community lead project being done in Kildonan to help protect nesting shore birds click here.
