Rural services

In recent weeks monitoring by NatureScot and partners, including the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), RSPB Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland, has revealed worrying signs that more seabirds may be succumbing to the virus.

In particular there has been a rise in reports of dead kittiwakes, black-headed gulls, herring gulls, terns and guillemots being washed up on the east coast of Scotland, stretching from Wick in Caithness to St Abbs in Berwickshire.  

Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Community Workshop

Please join us in a community workshop and help us shape and inform our approach to the Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition. This in-person event will be held on Wenesday, 26th July, 2023 at Templar Arts & Leisure Centre, Harbour St, Tarbert, Argyll and Bute, PA29 6UD.

Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Community Workshop

Please join us in a community workshop and help us shape and inform our approach to the Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition. This in-person event will be held on Tuesday, 25th July, 2023 at Gairloch Community CentreGairloch, IV21 2DN.

Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Community Workshop

Please join us in a community workshop and help us shape and inform our approach to the Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition. This in-person event will be held on Monday, 24th July, 2023 at Hawick Rugby ClubMansfield Road, Hawick, TD9 8AW.

Preparing for the future of agricultural support - Get ready for 2025

Agricultural support in Scotland is changing. From 2025, new conditionality will start to be introduced to agricultural payments, targeted towards biodiversity gain and a drive to low carbon approaches.

Scottish Government are working with farmers and crofters on the detailed proposals and how they will be implemented. To support this, Officials representing the programme are visiting agricultural shows, marts and area offices across Scotland, to share information and answer questions about agricultural reform in Scotland. You can find them at:

Agricultural support in Scotland is changing. From 2025, new conditionality will start to be introduced to agricultural payments, targeted towards biodiversity gain and a drive to low carbon approaches.

To help support farmers, crofter and land managers, Scottish Government have produced a range of information sheets to help farmers and crofters prepare for these changes, to identify recommendations that can lower emissions and increase efficiencies.

The widespread effects of the virus on seabirds and wildfowl in Scotland and throughout the U.K. have been well documented, but the effect on birds of prey is less well known.

Peer Support in Scotland - National Network event

Heidi, Trish and Ross, peer leaders from Moray, Fife and the Borders, would like to welcome you to connect and start to build a network we can all benefit from and enjoy.

Peer support is where a person with lived experience of, for example a health condition, offers support to another person with a similar condition. Some peer supporters are paid, while others do so on a formal volunteer basis, and others provide informal pro bono support.

In response to the independent Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) Taskforce report, the Scottish Government is proposing to bring forward provisions to allow for a limited extension of the Scottish SPCA’s current powers to investigate wildlife crime.

Vital in the fight to tackle climate change, peat covers more than 20% of Scotland and is crucial for water quality, richly diverse landscapes, slowing floods and wildfires, sustaining rural jobs and storing carbon.

Pages