Wednesday 14th October 2009 From Scotland to Africa for satellite osprey
Scientists have used satellite tracking tags on young birds of prey to
log their winter migration. The young female ospreys, named Rothes and
Mallachie, have made it to Africa. Mallachie has been recorded in
Morocco while Rothes is flying around Bijagos Islands off the coast of
Guinea-Bissau.

The tagging of the birds of prey in Scotland has had mixed results so
far. Young chicks tagged last year died in migration, and a third
chick tagged this year died after missing landfall due to a
navigational error. Th birds have been raised at RSPB Scotland’s
reserve at Loch Garten, near Aviemore. Highlands

Tuesday 29th September 2009 Encounter with rare Highland bird among Sir David’s classic moments
World famous naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has listed an encounter with the capercaillie as among his top 50 moments. Sir David came face to face with the giant grouse while filming for a BBC television series. The broadcaster can be seen to fall backwards in the footage as a male bird approaches him, flapping its wings aggressively.

Sir David chose his favourite moments from his 30 years in broadcasting, and the capercaillie joins tigers, gorillas, the blue whale and a snow leopard in the iconic collection that has recently been made available online. The birds are becoming increasingly rare, are on the RSPB list of threatened species and are normally found in the upland pine woods of Scotland’s Highland region. Highlands

Tuesday 8th September 2009 Scotland. Big hills, small insect
The spectacular scenery of the Cairngorms in Scotland is larger than
life in many ways, but this large-scale scenery also holds a very
small secret - a 1mm insect called the springtail Bourletiella
viridescens. The tiny creature was discovered and photographed at an
altitude of 880m by Tim Ransom, an expert in photographing insects.

The charity Buglife Scotland described the find of the tiny
springtail, so named because they jump into the air in an uncontrolled
manner to avoid predators, as quite amazing. The charity’s Craig
Macadam was prompted to ask; “Who knows what else is up there?” The
find is the first confirmed sighting of the species in the UK. Highlands

Friday 14th August 2009 Highland herb factory to open
A new facility in Beauly in designed to extract essential oil from the her bog myrtle is due to be opened next week. The factory, owned by Essentially Scottish Botanicals,will be officially declared open by Rural Affairs and Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead.

The factory will produce essential oils on a large scale to service demand for the oils in food, brewing and skin care products. The project has enjoyed £498,000 in grants from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Highlands

Thursday 9th July 2009 Historic documents go further North
Historical Kirk records will soon move from Edinburgh to a specially built archive currently under construction in Inverness. The Highland Archive Centre at Bught will be ready for the documents from Highland presbyteries and Kirk sessions very soon.

The documents are far from being dry records of sessions held in cold dusty chambers, instead they paint a fascinating picture of Highland life in the 17 and 18th centuries.

The new archives will also hold documents dating from before the battle of Culloden, as well as some that relate to the notorious Highland Clearances. Highlands

Thursday 25th June 2009 Crashed Microlite dismantled at sensitive beach
A microlite aircraft that came down on the beach at Sandwood Bay in Sutherland has been dismantled and carried piece by piece from the scene. Fearing damage to the environmentally important area following the crash landing, pilot Keith Brown opted to take the aircraft apart to manhandle it to the nearest car park.

Mr Brown, who was uninjured in the crash, enlisted a team of 13 helpers to remove the stricken microlite for transportation back to its base at Bedfordshire. The beach is  an environmentally sensitive area and is owned by the the conservation charity The John Muir Trust. The timing of the crash meant that taking vehicles in to recover the plane might have disturbed the birds such as skylarks and meadow pips currently using the fragile sand dunes for breeding. Highlands

Tuesday 23rd June 2009 Highlands optimistic about tourism
Local authority officials have said that tourism offers “some optimism” to counter the gloom caused by the recession and subsequent unemployment.

Tourism has been reported as being ‘upbeat’ in Scotland despite the down-turn. The Highlands have already hosted many events and attractions this year, even though the season is yet to really begin with the start of the school holidays in July.

The music festival Rock Ness, held on the banks of Loch Ness in June, attracted 35,000 people. Meanwhile 18,500 were at the Fort William Mountain Bike World earlier in June.

Big events and tourism provide a massive boost to the Highland economy. The Fort William Mountain Bike World alone is estimated to have generated £14.2m for the Highland region since it started in 2002. Highlands

Wednesday 17th June 2009 Rotten plan for Highland hover flies
A plan to re-establish the rare Pine hoverfly to Rothiemurchus near Aviemore involves leaving tree stumps to rot on the Highland estate. An artificial habitat has been carefully reconstructed for the insects to help them return to the estate.

The species was wiped out after World War II after an large-scale tree felling program ended and robbed the fly of its ideal habitat, rotting tree stumps in standing water. Now, twenty laboratory reared flies have been released onto the estate in the hope they’ll flourish.

Estate owner Johnnie Grant was reported as saying: "This estate management strategy is providing an improving habitat for a species which has been absent since around 1950 possibly because of a lack of large tree stumps due to the cessation of cutting following extensive wartime felling.

"The hoverfly is a key species that will be monitored from now on."
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Tuesday 16th June 2009 Rare Tiger Cubs On Show
The Amur tiger cubs are ready to make their first public appearance at the Highland Wildlife Park. They are the the offspring of Yuri and Sasha, from Edinburgh Zoo and the latest of eight cubs produced by the pair.

The Amur tiger cubs were born in May and would normally be found in the mountains and forests of Russia’s far east. They are also known as Siberian tigers and only 500 are thought to survive in the wild.

You can find more detail on the tigers, and the wildlife park by following the link
Learn More | Highlands