Archive of: March, 2016

Here at Caledonian Conservation we are passionate about sharing the outdoors with other people, and work with groups as diverse as schools, woodland groups, mental health services and ranger teams.

Forestry Commission Scotland support a fantastic scheme called Outdoor and Woodland Learning (OWL) Scotland which we are keen to get involved with locally. OWL groups aim to increase opportunities for outdoor learning, and each individual group does this differently to meet local needs. There are OWL groups in lots of parts of Scotland, but there isn't one in the Stirling/Falkirk/Trossachs area currently. So, we are working with other local interested individuals and organisations to look at the feasibility of setting one up. If anyone is interested in joining in, please just get in touch and we'll add you to the contact list.

Director Chris Cathrine has been back at the University of the West of Scotland again this year to do more lectures for third year zoology students.  

As part of the 'Animal Diversity' course, Chris has been giving lectures on plankton and Cnidaria (jellyfish, sea anemones, coral etc) as well as running practicals on different aspects of invertebrate identification including spiders and freshwater invertebrates. 

Students are often not very interested in the tiny bugs and beasties of the natural world until they meet Chris, and he really enjoys spreading his enthusiasm and knowledge.  If all else fails, pointing out that some of the largest animals in the world (like this amazing whale shark) rely upon tiny animals to survive usually gets their attention!