Skip to main content
Menu

We use cookies to provide you with a better service. Continue browsing if you consent to this, or view our Cookie Policy.

NatureScot Logo NatureScot Logo
Close navigation
  • Home
  • About NatureScot
  • Climate change
  • Funding and Projects
  • Gaelic
  • Information hub
  • Landforms and geology
  • Landscapes and habitats
  • Plants, animals and fungi
  • Scotland's Biodiversity
  • Home
  • About NatureScot
    • Our work
      • What we do
      • How we plan our work
      • How our work is funded
      • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
      • Responsibilities and other organisations
      • Transforming How We Work
        • Openness and transparency
        • Evidence
        • Workforce Plan
        • Efficiency
        • Raising awareness
        • Regulation
      • Organisational structure
      • Our performance
      • Our policy and guidance
      • A Net Zero organisation
      • Working with government
        • Joint Nature Conservation Committee
        • Central Scotland Green Network
        • National Performance Framework
        • Local government
        • Support for National Parks
        • mygov.scot
      • Joint working agreements
      • Natural Heritage Futures
      • Community empowerment and Scotland’s environment
        • Participation request
        • Asset transfer request
        • Our approach
        • Helping the local environment
        • Support for communities
        • How to engage with our work
        • Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015
        • Public register of land holdings
    • Working and Volunteering with us
      • Current vacancies
      • Working at NatureScot
      • What we offer you
      • Our employment values
      • How do we support you
      • Placement Schemes
        • Potential Masters Projects
      • Volunteering with NatureScot
      • Volunteer in the outdoors
    • Board, Directors and Committees
      • Our Board
        • Board members
        • The role of our Board
        • Board Meetings
        • Code of Conduct
        • Register of Interests
        • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Senior Leadership Team
      • Audit and Risk Committee
      • Protected Areas Committee
      • Scientific Advisory Committee
        • SAC members
        • SAC Expert panel members
    • Consultations
      • Our responses to external consultations
    • Contact us
      • NatureScot Headquarters
      • Area offices
      • Complaints procedure
      • Cùram luchd-cleachdaidh
      • Key services
    • Access to information and services
      • Access to information
        • Privacy Notice
          • Privacy Notice Summary
          • Data Protection Policy
          • Your Personal Data Rights
          • What kinds of personal data we use
          • How we gather your personal data
          • How we use your personal data
          • Our legal basis for using your personal data
          • Sharing your data or receiving your data from others
          • How long we keep your data
        • Funding Privacy Notice
        • Publication scheme information
        • Freedom of Information requests
        • Public service reform reporting
        • Using NatureScot information
        • National Fraud Initiative
      • Faclan Nàdair
      • Equality and diversity
        • Our commitment
        • Public sector equality duty
        • Documents relating to our specific duties
        • Equality Impact Assessment
    • Supply goods and services to NatureScot
    • Battleby Conference Centre
  • Climate change
    • Net Zero statement­
    • Our changing climate
    • Climate change impacts in Scotland
      • Impacts on habitats
      • Impacts on species
      • Impacts on people and our economy
      • Impacts on the coast
      • Impacts on landscapes
      • Impacts on Geodiversity
      • Marine impacts
    • Nature-based solutions
      • Peatland ACTION Project
        • What we do
        • How to apply
          • Peatland ACTION – Open Data
          • Peatland Action case studies
          • Peatland ACTION - logo
        • Project resources
        • NatureScot calendar 2023 - Photo competition to mark Peatland ACTION 10 year anniversary
      • Land and soil
      • Marine
      • Urban
      • Wee Forests
      • Local authorities
    • Helping nature to adapt
    • What can you do
    • Climate Change and Nature
  • Funding and Projects
    • FIRNS - The Facility for Investment ready Nature in Scotland
      • FIRNS - Aims and Outcomes
      • FIRNS - How to Apply
      • FIRNS - Contacts and Resources
    • IRNS
      • IRNS - Aims, Outcomes and Eligibility
    • Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund
    • Working with Rivers Fund
    • Nature Restoration Fund
      • Outcomes and Eligibility
      • How to Apply
      • Contacts and Resources
    • NatureScot and the Year of Coasts and Waters 2020/21
    • Better Places Fund
      • Better Places Fund - outcomes and eligibility
      • Better Places Fund - how to apply
      • Better Places Fund - contacts and resources
    • Future Routes Fund
    • Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Project
      • Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Handbook
      • Marine Training
      • Marine Equipment Fund
      • Marine Survey Data
    • Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention
      • About the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention
        • Outcomes and Horizontal Themes
        • Green Infrastructure - News and Events
        • Green Infrastructure - Useful links and research
      • Projects
        • GI Fund Projects
          • Canal and North Gateway
          • Fernbrae Meadows
          • Middlefield Greenspace and Regeneration Project
          • Malls Mire
          • Halfway Community Park
          • Foresterhill
          • Community Rewilding
          • Melfort Park
          • Climate-Ready Bishopbriggs!
          • Greater Easterhouse
          • Cuningar Loop Phase 2
          • The Treehouse
        • GI Community Engagement Fund Projects
          • Wild Ways Well
          • Broomhouse Market Garden
          • Recovery through Green Infrastructure
          • 10,000 Raingardens: Glasgow Pilot
          • Garnock Connections
          • Renfrewshire Living Water Project
          • Newbattle Community Forest
          • The Hidden Gardens
          • Growing Connections
        • GI and GICEF Project Updates
      • Green Infrastructure Grantee Resources
    • Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund (NCHF)
      • Outcomes and eligibility
      • Our Projects
        • Wildlife Watch Abernethy
        • Project Updates
      • Grantee Resources
    • Biodiversity Challenge Fund (BCF)
      • Outcomes and eligibility
      • How to Apply
      • Contacts and Resources
  • Gaelic
  • Information hub
    • News
    • Publications and documents
      • Archived publications and documents
    • Podcasts
    • Blogs
    • Webinars
    • Seminars
    • Research
    • NatureScot data services
    • Indicators & trends
      • Scotland's indicators
      • Scotland's Trends
    • Official statistics
      • Marine and Terrestrial Species Indicators
      • Protected sites
      • Terrestrial breeding birds
      • Natural Capital Asset Index
    • Newsletters
  • Landforms and geology
    • Scotland's rocks, landforms and soils
      • Rocks and minerals
        • Three billion years of earth history
        • Scotland’s geological foundations
          • North-west Seaboard: geological foundations
          • Northern Highlands: geological foundations
          • Grampian Highlands: geological foundations
          • Central Belt: geological foundations
          • Southern Uplands: geological foundations
        • How Scotland's geological foundations came together
          • Collision with England
          • Grampian Event
          • Scandian Event
        • Rocks formed since the foundations joined
          • Devonian rocks
          • Carboniferous rocks
          • Permian to Cretaceous rocks
          • Palaeogene and Neogene rocks
        • Fossils
      • Landforms
        • Caves and karst
        • Coasts
          • Scotland’s varied coasts
          • Our coastline’s geological and glacial inheritance
          • Sea-level history
          • Present and future sea levels
          • Coastal erosion
        • Ice Age landforms
          • The Ice Age
          • Ice-carved landscapes
          • Ice-transported debris
          • Meltwater channels and deposits
          • Periglacial features
          • After the ice
        • Landslides
          • Causes of landslides
          • Types of landslide
        • Rivers
          • Where our rivers run
          • How rivers and burns work
          • River types
      • Scotland's soils
    • Importance of geodiversity
      • Ecosystem dependence on geodiversity
      • Geodiversity and cultural heritage
      • Geodiversity and natural resources
      • Geodiversity as a scientific resource
      • Learning from past climate change
    • Pressures on geodiversity
      • Pressures on buried ancient pollen
      • Pressures on fossils
      • Pressures on landscape sculptures
      • Pressures on rivers and coasts
      • Pressures on rocks
      • Pressures on soils
    • Protecting our geodiversity
      • How to help safeguard geodiversity
      • Local geodiversity action plans
      • Geodiversity in protected areas
      • Codes for researchers and collectors
        • Helping to safeguard Skye's fossil heritage
        • Responsible fieldwork
        • Sampling for cosmogenic dating
        • Scottish Fossil Code
        • Scottish Core Code
        • Guidance on collecting geological samples from SSSIs in Scotland
      • Scotland’s Geodiversity Charter
      • The Geological Conservation Review
  • Landscapes and habitats
    • About Scotland's landscapes
      • What is landscape?
      • Why our landscapes are important
      • Landscape variety in Scotland
    • Habitat types
      • Coast and seas
        • Large-scale features and Marine Protected Areas
          • Seamounts
          • Continental slope
          • Shelf Deeps
          • Shelf banks and mounds
          • Ocean fronts
        • Coastal habitats
          • Coastal cliffs
          • Coastal shingle
          • Machair
          • Saline lagoon
          • Saltmarsh
          • Sand dunes
        • Marine habitats
          • North sea fan and sponge communities
          • Circalittoral sands
          • Seagrass
          • Burrowed mud
          • Cold-water coral
          • Flame shell beds
          • Horse mussel beds
          • Kelp beds
          • Maerl beds
          • Sea loch egg wrack beds
          • Sea lochs
          • Serpulid reefs
          • Tideswept channels
      • Farmland and croftland
        • Arable fields
        • Hedgerows and field margins
        • Lowland grassland
        • Lowland heathland
        • Traditional orchards and wood pasture
      • Habitat definitions
      • Lochs, rivers and wetlands
        • Freshwater lochs
        • Lowland wetland
        • Ponds
        • River, stream and headwater
      • Mountains, heaths and bogs
        • Blanket bog
        • Grassland
        • Heath
        • Inland rock
        • Mountain heath and montane scrub
      • Urban habitats
        • Green networks
        • Urban greenspace
      • Woodland habitats
        • Scotland's Rainforest
          • Atlantic hazelwood
          • Western oakwood
        • Ashwood
        • Birchwood
        • Caledonian pinewood
        • Minor woodland types
        • Montane scrub
        • Wet woods
        • Wood pasture and parkland
    • Habitat Map of Scotland
  • Plants, animals and fungi
    • Algae
      • Freshwater algae
        • Green algae
        • Blue-green algae
        • Yellow-brown algae
        • Golden algae
      • Marine algae
    • Amphibians and reptiles
      • Adder
      • Common lizard
      • Great crested newt
      • Marine turtles
      • Natterjack toad
      • Slow worm
    • Birds
      • Farmland and croftland birds
        • Chough
        • Corncrake
        • Wintering geese
      • Freshwater birds
        • Dipper
        • Osprey
        • Red-throated diver
      • Seabirds and shorebirds
        • Eider
        • Puffin
        • Storm petrel
      • Upland birds
        • Golden eagle
        • Red grouse
      • Urban birds
      • Woodland birds
        • Capercaillie
        • Crested tit
        • Redstart
    • Ferns
      • Bracken
      • Clubmosses
      • Horsetails
    • Fish
      • Freshwater fish
        • Allis shad and twaite shad
        • Arctic charr
        • Atlantic salmon
        • Brown trout
        • European eel
        • Lamprey
        • Other freshwater fish
        • Sparling
        • Stickleback
        • Vendace and powan
      • Sea fish
        • Skatespotter
        • Basking shark
        • Sandeel
        • Flapper Skate
    • Flowering plants
      • Coastal and marine plants
        • Scottish primrose
      • Farmland plants
      • Loch, river and marsh plants
      • Mountain, heath and bog plants
      • Urban plants
      • Woodland plants
    • Fungi
    • Invertebrates
      • Freshwater invertebrates
        • Dragonflies and damselflies
        • Freshwater pearl mussel
        • Riverflies
      • Land invertebrates
        • Bees, wasps and ants
        • Beetles
        • Butterflies and moths
        • Flies
        • Other land invertebrate groups
        • Slugs and snails
        • Spiders and harvestmen
        • Worms
      • Marine invertebrates
        • European spiny lobster
        • Native oyster
    • Lichens
    • Mammals
      • Land mammals
        • American mink
        • Badger
        • Bats
        • Deer
        • Eurasian beaver
        • Hares and rabbits
        • Other carnivores
          • Fox
          • Polecat and ferret
          • Stoat and weasel
        • Other small mammals
        • Otter
        • Pine marten
        • Red squirrel
        • Water voles
        • Wildcats
      • Marine mammals
        • Dolphins, whales and porpoises
        • Risso's dolphin
        • Bottlenose dolphin
        • Minke whale
        • Seals
    • Mosses and liverworts
  • Scotland's Biodiversity
    • Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and COP15
      • Countdown to COP15
        • The Edinburgh Process and Edinburgh Declaration
      • An ecosystem approach
        • How to apply an ecosystem approach
        • Ecosystem approach case studies
        • Ecosystem services - nature’s benefits
      • Biodiversity Strategy reporting
      • Biodiversity Duty
        • Biodiversity Duty Reports
        • Biodiversity Duty Reports 2015-2017
      • Local Biodiversity Partnerships
      • Scottish Biodiversity List
    • Scotland's Biodiversity - What is biodiversity?
    • Make Space For Nature
      • Make Space For Nature - Summer
      • Make Space For Nature - Autumn
      • Make Space For Nature - Winter
      • Make Space For Nature - Spring
      • Podcasts
      • Campaign Toolkit
    • Species on the Edge (SotE)
      • About the project
      • Safeguard Coast and Island Wildlife
      • Community Involvement
      • Species on the Edge - Vacancies
    • Helping Scotland's Pollinators
      • Get busy - get involved!
      • Pollinator - resources
    • Benefits of Biodiversity
    • Key pressures on biodiversity
    • Biodiversity - what can you do?
      • The Volunteer Mountain Hare Survey
      • Citizen Science for biodiversity
    • Where to find data
Back to top Back to top

Quick Links

  • What we do
  • FAQs
  • Contact us
  • Our work
  • Licensing
  • Careers
  • Gaelic
  • Events
  • Sitemap
  • Publications & Documents
  • Board and Committees
  • NatureScot data services
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Wordpress
  • Flickr

 

© NatureScot 2020

  • Privacy policy
  • Cookie policy
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
  • Links policy
  • Feedback