NatureScot

🌍 Biodiversity loss is one of the most significant strategic risks facing businesses today.     Regulatory pressure is rising. Market expectations are shifting. Stakeholder scrutiny is intensifying. Businesses that ignore nature loss face real, measurable costs to their competitiveness and long-term resilience.     📢 Today, business leaders, senior government officials, scientists and conservation experts have come together in Edinburgh for Biodiversity + Business Live, hosted by JNCC, the UK Business & Biodiversity Forum (UKBBF) and NatureScot.     🔓 The event - building on the IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment - will explore how businesses can use the latest scientific evidence to integrate nature into decision-making, manage risks, build resilience and unlock opportunities for sustainable growth.     The event - brings together expertise from across the private sector, government and civil society, ahead of key global meetings later in the year,   including the next Convention on Biological Diversity’s Conference of the Parties (CBD COP17).      🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e59f_EiX    #BioBusinessLive #NaturePositive #Sustainability #NaturalCapital #COP17 

After further consultation with stakeholders, we are releasing an updated Muirburn Code. The Code will support the new muirburn licensing scheme which will start on 15 September 2026. It includes guidance on how to carry out muirburn safely and appropriately. See our website for more – follow the link in the comments.

Gulls are as much a part of the seaside as fish and chips.🐟 🍟 But did you know that human food is bad for gulls? And feeding encourages them to link people with food. Help gulls and your local community - caring means not sharing 😊

We're very pleased with our new FarmBioScot tool and the value it can add to help farmers map habitats and record biodiversity changes.

Walking and talking trees and hedges: Transforming Cowhill Estate Heathfield Farm, Dumfries - Tuesday 18 August, 10am to 1pm Join forester Sam Boley and farm manager Stuart Neish to hear how they are working together, planting trees and hedges to support biodiversity, improve livestock welfare and produce quality timber. The discussion will cover what and where to plant, protection choices and practical insights. Scottish forestry will be on hand to share advice on grants and getting started with your tree planting project. Book your free place: https://lnkd.in/eVax3Feg

We're looking forward to joining partners and leaders from across business, finance and government in Edinburgh next week for what promises to be an important conversation on biodiversity and long-term resilience 👇

Dragonfly or damselfly — can you tell the difference? 🔎 They might look similar at first glance, but once you know what to look for, they're surprisingly easy to tell apart. Here's your quick guide 👇 🦋 Wings: Dragonflies hold their wings out flat to the sides when resting. Damselflies fold theirs neatly along their body. This is the easiest trick to remember. 👁️ Eyes: Dragonflies have large eyes that wrap around their head and almost touch in the middle. Damselflies have smaller, rounder eyes set wide apart on either side — a bit like a hammerhead shark. 🐛 Body: Dragonflies tend to be bigger and more robust. Damselflies are slimmer and more delicate-looking, almost twig-like. 🛩️ Flight: Dragonflies are powerful, fast and agile fliers. Damselflies have a lighter, fluttering flight — more floaty than fierce. Both are brilliant signs of a healthy wetland habitat, and both are worth celebrating this Dragonfly Week. Which have you spotted near you? #DragonflyWeek #Damselfly #Dragonfly #MakeSpaceForNature British Dragonfly Society 📷 L-R Common blue damselfly ©Brude Hyde; Common hawker dragonfly ©David Kitching; Northern damselfly ©Dave Smallshire; Southern hawker dragonfly ©David Kitching

The consultation on our General Licences is ongoing and we want to hear your views to help shape these licences in 2027 and the future. NatureScot is responsible for 16 General Licences that allow people to carry out certain actions affecting birds or mammals that would otherwise be illegal, without the need for an individual licence. As the last formal assessment of these licences took place in 2019, we feel the time is now right for a review. We’re urging all stakeholders to take this opportunity to express their thoughts for the future. Follow the link in the comments to take part 👇

NatureScot's Nature Restoration Fund will support Saving Wildcats to: 🐈⬛ Reduce the threat of hybridisation (interbreeding) with feral domestic cats  🧬 Conduct more releases to secure the population, reduce hybridisation and increase genetic diversity 🏡 Ensure a fair coexistence between wildcats and the people they live alongside 📈 Continue monitoring the newly establishing population 😻 Engage people with wildcats Read more about the project’s key focuses moving forward ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e8mvitGc 📸 P Ross

📖 In today’s guest blog, WWF Scotland's Dr Lyndsey Dodds shares the successes of Restoration Forth – an award-winning project working to restore European flat oysters to their natural home. 👉 https://orlo.uk/KL27R Image 1: Volunteers from the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) aboard a boat returning oysters to the Firth of Forth © Maverick Photo Agency Image 2: An ELREC volunteer gets ready to release a handful of oysters into the Firth of Forth © Maverick Photo Agency Image 3: Monitoring oysters with volunteers from the Scottish Sensory Centre © Emily Thorp.