Net Zero Scotland

Spending time in nature is good for you.🌳

Getting outdoors and connecting with the natural world can reduce stress, lift your mood and even help you sleep better.

So, whether it's a walk in the park or a trip to the countryside, let's all make the most of what nature has to offer for our mental and physical wellbeing. Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 11–17 May, making now a great time to get outdoors and feel the benefits.

You can check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code to read up on your rights and responsibilities outdoors before you go: www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot

It’s puffin season in Scotland!

Known as the 'clowns of the seas', these beloved birds can be spotted along the Scottish coast at places like the Isle of May, Fidra and Craigleith.

Despite their iconic status, Atlantic puffins are actually one of the many Scottish seabirds under threat. The climate crisis is warming our oceans and reducing the energy‑rich fish puffins rely on for food. Invasive rats are preying on their eggs and chicks, while increasingly frequent storms, oil spills, and the emerging threat of bird flu are all contributing to their decline.

We can work together to protect our oceans and the amazing wildlife, including puffins, that call them home.

To find out how you and your community can help protect nature, visit: www.netzeronation.scot/take-action/nature-and-outdoors

The migration of birds between far flung countries and continents is one of the wonders of the natural world.💚

Winter isn’t the only time that birds such as swans and waders migrate to Scotland to escape harsher winters further north. As these winter visitors leave our shores, they switch places with summer migrants that arrive in spring to rear their young.

The spring migration sees some birds fly thousands of miles over seas, mountains and deserts to be with us, in what is one of nature’s most incredible shows of stamina.

Birds such as osprey, swifts, swallows, redstarts, willow warblers and arctic tern, and more have already started to be spotted across Scotland.

Not only is the bird migration beautiful to watch it, also provides key benefits to our environment. These include pest control, food sources for other wildlife and sustaining the interconnectedness of global ecosystems.

You can get involved in protecting these incredible journeys by recording your sightings. This helps scientists track how migration patterns are shifting as our climate changes.

You can record bird sightings with The Scottish Ornithologists' Club on their website: www.the-soc.org.uk/pages/bird-recording