Multi-species conservation programme arrives in the Inner Hebrides and Argyll - NatureScot

An innovative and ambitious four-year-long conservation programme, Species on the Edge, has kicked off in the Inner Hebrides and Argyll.

Species on the Edge is a bold new partnership programme of NatureScot and seven conservation charities, dedicated to improving the fortunes of 37 threatened and vulnerable species found along Scotland's coast and islands.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the partnership consists of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, NatureScot, Plantlife, and RSPB Scotland.

For the duration of the four-year-long programme, Species on the Edge will be active in seven areas across Scotland: Shetland; the North Coast; the East Coast; the Outer Hebrides; Orkney; Solway; and the Inner Hebrides and Argyll.

The Inner Hebrides and Argyll is the largest of the Species on the Edge project areas, stretching from Skye in the north, out westwards to Tiree, and south to the Mull of Kintyre.

Species on the Edge have a team of four project officers in the area, hosted by RSPB, Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, and Bat Conservation Trust. Together they are delivering activity to conserve 19 vulnerable species in the area including the great yellow bumblebee, medicinal leech, lapwing, curlew, four species of bat, and four species of burnet moth.

Much of the Inner Hebrides and Argyll is home to species that have disappeared from elsewhere in Scotland and it is thanks to generations of crofters, using low intensity agricultural practices, that many of Scotland’s threatened species continue to survive here. A core aspect of Species on the Edge activity in this area is to reinforce the value of High Nature Value (HNV) farming and to work closely with local land managers and crofting communities.