Science Newsletter Issue 34 – January 2021 ______

NatureScot Science Newsletter Issue 34 – January 2021 ______

In this issue: Page

 Welcome from the SAC Chair 2  Planting a new bridge for twinflower in the Cairngorms 2  We’re asking hill-going citizen scientists to help count Mountain Hares 4  Nature should be the beating heart of resilience 5  The Flow Country proposed WHS 6  What next for Scotland’s diversity scorecard? 7  Mapping Scotland from Space – part 2 8  SAC CHAIR – Thank you to Bob Furness 10  Research Reports Published in October 2020 – January 2021 10  Upcoming conferences 11  Staff Profile – Alison Lee 12

Welcome from the SAC Chair Bob Furness

Welcome to the January 2021 NatureScot Science newsletter. I hope you enjoy reading the various items in this issue. My term as a Board member and chair of SAC ends in March, so I want to take this opportunity to say thank you very much indeed to all of the SAC members, past and present, for their contributions to SAC during my time as chair. Thanks to their efforts, the SAC has functioned in a highly collegiate manner – providing concise and clear advice to NatureScot staff and Board on a wide range of difficult scientific issues. I look forward to a seamless transition when the next chair is appointed.

I also want to thank the many NatureScot staff who over the years have helped so efficiently, with briefings on the topics being brought to SAC, with preparing the papers for the committee, and managing the business of the committee. I’m especially grateful to Lynne Clark and Sarah Hutcheon for managing to keep me on track (most of the time), and to Des Thompson for always being there to discuss and to advise. I have enjoyed my role very much indeed. Partly because the topics we have considered have been so rewarding and worthwhile, as well as being scientifically challenging. But mainly because the NatureScot staff and SAC members have been so great to work with.

Planting a new bridge for twinflower in the Cairngorms Pip Gullett, Cairngorms Connect

Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) is a small delicate flower, native to pinewoods in Scotland. Interestingly, the first half of twinflower’s scientific name, Linnaea, comes from Carl Linnaeus, the ‘father of modern taxonomy’ who created the system for naming organisms binomially, whose favourite flower was twinflower. If you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of these beauties in flower, you’ll understand why! It can be found growing around the northern hemisphere in what’s known as the boreal forest zone (indicated by the second half of its scientific name – borealis), ranging from northern Europe to Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland, as well as some mountainous areas at lower latitudes. Once widespread in the ancient Caledonian forests of the Scottish Highlands, centuries of deforestation and conversion of natural forests to managed plantations has greatly restricted its distribution within Scotland to small isolated patches, to such an extent that it is now classed as nationally scarce.

Pollinator visiting a twinflower patch (© Cairngorms Connect) 2

In the few places where they still persist, twinflower can form quite large, apparently healthy patches. But don’t be fooled! As twinflower can spread through vegetative propagation, even quite large patches might be made up of just a single genetic individual (aka ‘clone’). In fact, in Scotland a huge 80% or so of twinflower patches comprise only a single clone, with most of the remaining 20% of patches containing just a handful of very closely related individuals. This puts populations at risk of extinction – if patches were to become subject to disease or environmental change, all individuals would be equally susceptible, as opposed to potentially including advantageous variations of genes that could promote survival. To increase their genetic diversity, and ultimately persist into the future, twinflower needs to be able to reproduce sexually with a different clone. However, there’s another of the problems – most of the remaining neighbouring patches are too far apart for the small flies that pollinate them to travel between patches, meaning that there is very limited cross-pollination and therefore seed production. As a result, intervention is needed to help ensure twinflower’s survival within the Scottish landscape.

In 2014, as part of the Cairngorms Rare Plant Project, a series of translocations led by Andy Scobie were set up to bring together several isolated clones together at a single site, close enough for pollinators to travel between them. Two different methods were used to do this: establishing new populations (i.e. introducing multiple patches of twinflower from several different clones to the same site within areas of suitable habitat) and augmenting existing populations (i.e. planting additional clones within pollinating distance of existing healthy single-clone patches).

Building on from this work, in autumn 2019, Cairngorms Connect revisited some of the patches previously augmented with additional genetic individuals to add more to each site so that each natural patch was surrounded by 8 genetically unique individuals, close enough for pollinators to travel between. This autumn, we decided to focus on reintroductions to new areas of suitable habitat within the Cairngorms Connect partnership area. We identified ten new sites within RSPB Abernethy and Forestry and Land Scotland’s Glenmore with favourable conditions for twinflower both now and in the future, as restoration work continues within the forest to expand this habitat. Twenty genetically distinct, healthy twinflower patches within the Strathspey area with similar ecological characteristics to the release sites were also identified and stolons (i.e. the creeping stems that form patches of twinflower) with plenty of roots were collected from each to be planted at the release sites. At each release site, six clones were planted in clusters of 16 stolons, with each cluster located within 10m of its neighbour to help pollinators to travel between the clones. Throughout October, 960 individual stolons of twinflower were translocated and planted within the Cairngorms Connect area.

What’s next? And so, what’s next for twinflower in the Cairngorms Connect area? In 2021, we’ll be revisiting the sites set up in 2019 to take a full baseline survey of how the new twinflower stolons have been settling into their new home and re-visiting the sites from this year to do the same in 2022. With other organisations including Plantlife Scotland and National Trust for Scotland also looking to carry out additional translocation work in the National Park, it’s a hopeful time for twinflower conservation. All going well, these new populations will form a bridge to increase twinflower genetic diversity in the Cairngorms, that will dramatically enhance the resilience of remnant populations as well as enabling them to spread and disperse, thereby ensuring the survival of the species within Scotland into the future.

Cairngorms Connect is a partnership between RSPB Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot and Wildland Limited, working towards a shared 200-year vision to enhance habitats, species and ecological processes over a connected landscape. They are assisted with funding from the Endangered Landscapes Programme. A huge thank you to Andy Scobie for his help and expertise through the project, to neighbouring land managers, including Seafield Estate, for donations of twinflower material, as well as Richard Ennos and all the volunteers who helped with the translocations on the ground.

For more information, please contact [email protected] or [email protected]

We’re asking hill-going citizen scientists to help count mountain hares Rob Raynor

When was the last time you spotted a mountain hare on your day out in the hills? If you were up any of the more easterly heather-dominated summits in Deeside, Donside or Drumochter regions, it may well have been then. But if you were out in the west or north-west Highlands, it could have been a long time ago, if ever. This is not to say that there are no hares in these areas, it is just that they are much scarcer, cryptic and more localised. Although mountain hares can be found in a variety of upland habitats, they are most abundant in heather-dominated areas, often managed as grouse moors and particularly where these overly base-rich rocks.

In recent years, there has been concern about the state of the mountain hare population and the possible effect of hare control measures undertaken on some sporting estates. The available data sources present a mixed picture of the species’ conservation status, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions on population size and trends. The picture is further complicated by the naturally cyclical nature of their populations, which can fluctuate quite dramatically over periods of 9-10 years or so. To address this, NatureScot has been working with a range of organisations to develop and pilot a new, bespoke monitoring scheme, based on night-time counts using spot-lights along fixed transects in pre-defined, random survey squares distributed across the Highlands south of the Great Glen. This method, while effective at detecting hares in certain habitats, is labour intensive and only practical in terrain that is not too steep or craggy. In practice, this means it is restricted mainly to the central and eastern Highlands, leaving extensive areas in the west and north-west where another approach to counting hares is necessary.

Therefore, in these more challenging areas, along with our partners - the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the James Hutton Institute, the Mammal Society and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust - we’re about to trial some options involving volunteer citizen scientists. Over the autumn and winter 4 months a great deal of preparatory work has been underway, modifying an existing smartphone app called Mammal Mapper and adapting the existing BTO website to allow on-line volunteer sign-up, as well as developing training and promotional material. The app plots your route and allows you to record the location and time of the target species that you record as you go. Importantly, it records your start and end time and, provided you specify which species you feel confident about recording, it will register this information even if you don’t see any during your walk.

The plan is for the trial scheme to go live in late March. Achieving good coverage of almost any species in upland Scotland is challenging, so we’re hoping to reach as wide a range of potential contributors as possible, including hillwalkers, upland bird watchers and general wildlife enthusiasts. Mammal Mapper is being specially modified to include ID information on all the target species which include a suite of characteristic upland birds that BTO are keen to gather more information on. In doing so we hope to encourage participation amongst bird watchers already involved in upland bird monitoring schemes. We’re also keen to involve as many hill-goers as possible in this project because we think the legions of Munro and Corbett-baggers can help provide much of the coverage we need to get a good picture of hare distribution, with an indication of relative abundance.

We hope this trial will be well supported and can subsequently form part of a more comprehensive national monitoring scheme that includes night time lamping counts, thereby providing more reliable population information for use in assessing conservation status and to help inform management decisions. This is particularly relevant in relation to the recent announcement by Scottish Government that mountain hares will receive full legal protection from 1st March, as the issue of any associated licences will require reliable supporting monitoring data.

More information about the scheme will become available over the coming months on the NatureScot website on this page.

Nature should be the beating heart of resilience Francesca Osowska

Covid-19 has hammered home our lack of resilience. The virus has hit every part of our lives – health and wellbeing, education, finances, relationships, family and friends, and prospects. The reach is global, with only Antarctica escaping, and until we have a vaccine, we are all going to suffer pulses of ‘lockdown’. Social inequalities are cruelly exposed. Even though many have come to value being outdoors and securing solace from nature, a lot of us simply cannot get to decent greenspace.

This pandemic originated from an unhealthy relationship between the human world and the natural world, which can lead to disease jumping and mutating from species to species. This same unhealthy relationship is also contributing to the degradation of nature across the planet and climate change. Therefore, it follows that ensuring society is more resilient against future pandemics must involve tackling the climate and nature crises.

We must create more space for nature. Globally, over the last few decades, wildlife had got more tightly compressed into smaller and more fragmented areas to make way for farming and forestry. Moreover, these land uses have come to rely on fewer species or clones. For example, just 15 of more than 7,000 edible plant species make up over 90% of crops. This lack of connectivity and diversity, including the wild crop relatives and native breeds on which our food systems ultimately depend, renders our primary life- support system – nature – highly vulnerable to shocks.

Encouraging ecological diversity has to be the solution to the twin and chronic crises of nature losses and climate heating. If our natural world can become more resilient, then it follows resilience will grow across

5 our economic and societal spheres, protecting us from acute emergencies such as the recent pandemic. Changes to land use to increase the space for nature with more networks of nature-rich areas will undoubtedly support resilient natural systems…

For the full blog, go here.

The Flow Country proposed World Heritage Site Brigid Primrose

The formal nomination of the Flow Country as a proposed World Heritage Site (WHS) is progressing steadily towards delivery as a Nomination Dossier to UNESCO in late 2022. The key feature of its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is founded on the blanket bog ecosystem, which you get a hint of in the wonderful image above.

The development of the nomination to UNESCO is a partnership project, involving NatureScot as a key member of the Peatlands Partnership overseeing the WHS bid. Dr Sam Rose, who is working as an adviser to the Flow Country WHS bid, is proposing that UNESCO makes a change to the way its World Heritage Committee, and its natural advisory body, IUCN, interprets the criteria so as to allow the values for carbon storage and sequestration to be recognised. Sam believes this would be both a symbolic and practical global gesture to raise our awareness of some incredible ecosystems helping combat climate change.

Sam is available at [email protected]. Further information on UNESCO World Heritage Sites and World Heritage UK. Futher information on The Flow Country.

What next for Scotland’s genetic diversity scorecard? David O’Brien, Pete Hollingsworth and Rob Ogden

Scotland’s genetic scorecard was published a year ago: Aichi target 13 genetic diversity maintained. The scorecard approach was recently recognised in the Nature of Scotland awards, winning the innovation category, but one may ask why do we need a scorecard and what do we hope to achieve?

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognises three strands to biodiversity: species, ecosystems and genetic. However, genetic diversity and conservation are underrepresented at a policy and a reporting level (Hoban et al. 2020). Concerned that what little reporting there is on genetic diversity focussed almost exclusively on commercially exploited species and crop wild relatives, a group of scientists came together at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) to see if it would be possible to produce a meaningful genetic assessment for wild species. Led by RBGE, NatureScot and Edinburgh University, the project has established a world-first method to report on wild species genetic diversity under CBD Aichi target 13, and to help understand and conserve genetic diversity in some of Scotland's wild species. We used an easily transferable scorecard approach for wild species of cultural and socio- economic importance to promote long-term conservation of genetic diversity and address Aichi Target 13. This list includes species of importance using the following criteria:

 National conservation priority wild species;  Species of national cultural importance;  Species providing key ecosystem services;  Species of importance for wild harvesting (food and medicine);  Economically important game species.

We sought to develop an approach that could be used in any country, not solely those able to deploy high levels of scientific and financial resource to biodiversity assessment. It is thus practical for all nations and relevant to post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity targets focusing on genetic diversity.

It is early days, but with support from the IUCN Conservation Genetics Specialist Group, the GEO-BON Genetic Composition Working Group, and now the UK Government, we hope it may be the beginning of wider application of our methods. We are also working with the University of Edinburgh and the University of Benghazi to explore the use the scorecard in other countries that have different challenges and opportunities. Conscious that the original scorecard deliberately confined itself to terrestrial species, we are also working with Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), to develop a marine scorecard. We hope to be able to report back soon on the influence of the scorecard on conservation policy and practice.

Reference: Hoban, S., Bruford, M., D'Urban Jackson, J., Lopes-Fernandes, M., Heuertz, M., Hohenlohe, P., Paz-Vinas, I., Sjögren-Gulve, P., Segelbacher, G., Vernesi, C. Aitken, S., Bertola, L., Bloomer, P., Breed, M., Rodríguez- Correa, H., Funk, C., Grueber, C., Hunter, M., Jaffé, R Liggins, L., Mergeay, J., Moharrek, F., O'Brien, D., Ogden, R., Palma-Silva, C., Pierson, J., Ramakrishnan, U., Simo-Droissart, Tani, N., Waits, L., Laikre, L. (2020): Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved. Biological Conservation; 248:108654.

Mapping Scotland from Space – part 2 Philippa Vigano

NatureScot and our partners have been mapping habitats for a long time. These surveys were usually site based on Protected Areas. They provided information on the location and distribution of habitats and species on special sites across Scotland.

These surveys used the NVC (National Vegetation Classification), the spatial data was supported by a written report and tables of target notes and quadrat data.

This data is part of The Habitat Map of Scotland (HabMoS) which also contains data from national surveys of woodlands by Scottish Forestry and Forest and Land Scotland and surveys of coastal habitats like saltmarsh and sand dunes.

HabMoS brings the best available habitat data together into one classification, one place and it is available as Open data. The data in HabMoS is based on site surveys and so there are gaps and large areas where there is no data.

Users of the Habitat Map told us that they needed spatially continuous data that could be repeated so that we could begin to measure and monitor change. This data could be used to improve habitat connectivity and to asess and measure our Natural Capital.

The Natural Capital Asset Index monitors the quality and quantity of terrestrial habitats in Scotland. It is one of the National Performance Framework indicators used by the Scottish Government. There is more information about the Natural Capital Index on the NatureScot website

In 2019 the Can Do Innovation fund set a challenge “AI for Good. How can we use Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to tackle the climate emergency?” We worked with Space Intelligence an Edinburgh based satellite data company to create a complete and repeatable map of land cover in Scotland for the Natural Capital Asset Index calculations. This data will help us to measure Natural Capital in Scotland and begin to track changes. We are also working with Space Intelligence to use this data to identify opportunities for habitat restoration and to improve habitat connectivity.

Space Intelligence have completed land cover maps for 2019 and 2020 using data from Sentinel 1 and 2 satellites, part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth Observation programme. They have developed AI to classify this data into EUNIS (EUropean Nature Information System) habitat types. Space Intelligence have also been able to produce a map of change between 2019 and 2020, giving us, for the first time a way of measuring how our Natural Capital is changing over time.

We are working with Space Intelligence to map the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland and the complete data will be available to everyone as Open Data. We are developing systems to verify the maps and provide training data for the Artificial Intelligence that classifies the satellite data.

SAC Chair – Thank you to Bob Furness Des Thompson

I’ll be frank with you, you never quite know how a newly appointed Chair of the SAC will fare! We have had some wonderful chairs. Professor George Dunnet warmly shared his expertise on marine and ornithological matters, and on Australian fleas. Environmental historian Professor Jim Hunter surprised many of us with his healthy appetite for scientific detail. Professor Janet Sprent was wonderful fun - at times coruscating on bad scientific arguments, but much more often determinedly supportive of good science and ‘good people’ (and she still writes us about the contents of these newsletters). So having Bob join this cadre was quite something - and he has lived up to it!

Bob is not your typical ‘committee person’. For one thing, he is shy and softly spoken. He’s not really a ‘committee person’, but rather an academic and ecologist much more comfortable and happier in the field. But as a NatureScot Board member, and Chair of our SAC, he has excelled in conduct and in the oversight and delivery of outstanding advice. Several newcomers to SAC meetings approached them with trepidation, but rapidly came to ease through the example set by Bob – and it has to be said his colleagues, who have followed his lead of respect and gentle authority.

Professor Emeritus of Seabird and Fishing Interactions, and currently working as Principal Ornithologist at MacArthur Green Ecological Consultancy in Glasgow, Bob was exceptionally well qualified to lead the SAC.

Having supervised 50 PhD students (including SAC member Professor Neil Metcalfe) working on topics as diverse as pollutants in deep-sea fish, the ecology of Lyme disease, and long-line bycatch of albatrosses in Brazil, he was exceptionally well equipped to deal with the great range of topics coming to the committee. His long-term study of great skuas in Shetland, lasting more than 30 years, is one of his great passions - his Poyser monograph The Skuas is a classic. If you nudge him, he will reveal that he chaired the ICES Working Group on Seabird Ecology, and the IAPEME (a panel of experts appointed to overview monitoring programmes for marine wind farms in Denmark). He has been a member of MSC certification teams assessing the sustainability of several major fisheries, including the USA pollock fishery and the Alaskan halibut fishery. But I tell you now, you will struggle to extract any of this from him!

However, ask him about local birding and he is off – ringing a pair of hawfinches in his west Scotland garden during spring ‘lockdown’ was a treat. He is a fervent bird ringer, and one of his achievements was, some years ago, ringing 1000 black-legged kittiwake chicks in a day at a colony in the Norwegian Arctic – with the help of his wife, Sue. And if you are on the ‘phone to him and mention birds featuring in Birds of Argyll (which he co-edited) you had better hope you are not on a ‘pay-as-you go’ tariff!

In the years under Bob, our SAC has had to deal with some truly challenging issues covering marine and terrestrial biodiversity. If you want a sense of these just read the latest formal committee report to the NatureScot Board. In overseeing all of this, Bob has been delightful to work with, and I speak for all my colleagues in thanking Bob for his uncanny stewardship, expert judgement and wonderful friendship. Warm wishes for the future, Bob.

Research Reports Published in October 2020 – January 2021

NatureScot Research Report 1227 - Scotland's People and Nature Survey 2019/20 - outdoor recreation, health, and environmental attitudes modules

Scotland's People and Nature Survey (SPANS) is a large-scale quantitative survey conducted among a representative sample of adults in Scotland. The survey collects information on how people living in Scotland use, value and enjoy the natural environment.

The 2019/20 survey updates the findings from the 2017/18 and 2013/14 surveys. The 2019/20 survey fieldwork period, originally scheduled to run for 12 months, ending in April 2020, was concluded early just before the introduction of social distancing on 23 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research findings contained in this report do not therefore cover the 'lockdown' period which followed. A separate piece of on-line research, commissioned in May 2020 and available on the NatureScot website, examines outdoor visit behaviour and engagement with nature during lockdown.

NatureScot Research Report 881 Third cycle Site Condition Monitoring report for bryolgical interest – Achnahaird SSSI

This report provides an assessment of the condition of the bryophyte interest of Achnahaird SSSI. An introduction to the bryophyte interest of the site is provided by the previous assessments (Rothero, 2004; 2009) and is not repeated here. This report should be read in conjunction with those assessments. Petalophyllum ralfsii was first found here in 1974 by David Long and the site has been visited by other bryologists over the years and the rare Bryum species added to the list.

NatureScot Research Report 1152 Conservation strategy for red-billed choughs in Scotland: Assessment of the impact of supplementary feeding and evaluation of future management strategies

Red-billed chough (Annex 1, Schedule 1, SBL, BoCC4 Green listed although British endemic subspecies Amber listed) in Scotland are declining, and are currently restricted to the islands of Islay and Colonsay (<50 pairs in 2018). They are threatened by lack of food (principally affecting first year survival), parasite burdens and low genetic diversity. An emergency supplementary feeding programme was therefore initiated in 2010 at three sites on Islay with treatment of parasites from 2014. These birds have been monitored since 1983, giving exceptional data with which to model the population. The report summarises this work (2010-2019), and also uses models to assess overall ecological and genetic threats to the chough, with evaluation of future management strategies.

NatureScot Research Report 1255 Monitoring the impact of Coronavirus and social distancing – wave 2 survey results (September 2020)

This is the second wave of a piece of research commissioned to provide an understanding of outdoor visits and engagement with nature in Scotland during the Coronavirus crisis. Wave 1 of the research (RR 1252 'Enjoying the outdoors: Monitoring the impact of coronavirus and social distancing') was published in August 2020 and covered the initial period of lockdown between 23rd March and 28th May 2020 when a 'stay at home' message was central. Wave 2 of the research was undertaken between 5th and 12th September 2020 when lockdown restrictions had been eased and covered the preceding 4 weeks (i.e. mid-August to early September). The Wave 2 research findings are based on 1,103 online interviews undertaken with a representative sample of Scottish adults including a 'booster' sample of 100 interviews undertaken with members of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethic population.

NatureScot Research Report 1201 Preparing for Post-Brexit agriculture in Scotland – case studies on alternative payments

Using case studies, this study makes a comparison of current agricultural support with alternative proposals for rewarding farmers for the delivery of environmental public goods. Options for the delivery of these public goods ranged from environmental maintenance to agroecological systems and nature restoration. The financial assessment showed both positive and negative financial outcomes for different options, with results varying sometimes substantially by farm type. Depending on the options selected and the allocation formula used for the options on different farm types, individual farms may be able to retain all or a significant proportion of their current CAP support income. There is a contrast in the optimal solutions for each farm type to maintain farm income.

NatureScot Research Report 1260 Facilitating Local Natural Capital Investment: Literature review

The report describes opportunities for private finance to support investment in Scotland's nature and the benefits it provides. To catalyse this investment, it recommends that project developers explore the potential for their projects to generate net positive cashflows and then match revenue streams with possible financing structures. It highlights actions that could support this type of investment. The report provides the basis for a pilot project that NatureScot is leading, with the Tweed Forum, to find ways for regional partnerships to facilitate investment in natural capital.

Upcoming conferences

Do keep an eye on some excellent websites giving details of forthcoming conferences and events. The British Ecological Society and Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management events pages are excellent.

Alison Lee Evidence and Operations Co-ordinator – Scotland, JNCC As 2021 brings new and hopefully brighter beginnings for us all, I too have recently started a 6-month secondment, working for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in a new role as their Evidence and Operations Co-ordinator for Scotland. My work is focused on raising JNCC’s profile in Scotland and enhancing the links between JNCC, NatureScot and the Scottish Government (SG). I will be assisting with information flows and partnership working, with the aim of capitalising on new and existing collaborations and contributing to the development of shared outputs. The JNCC supports a similar liaison post in Wales which has run successfully for several years, and recruitment to a complementary post in Northern Ireland will commence shortly.

It is an exciting time to be starting this role as significant opportunities arise for our approach to nature conservation in Scotland, for example: advances in technologies for monitoring and surveillance, changes in policies for managing our land and seas following EU-exit, and the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. There are significant challenges too with the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. All of these challenges and opportunities are placed at the heart of JNCC’s new ‘Strategy 2020-2025’. There is much work to be done!

My role will bring a renewed focus to JNCC’s work in Scotland, and with enhanced collaboration JNCC is well placed to act with NatureScot and the SG in providing the evidence and expertise to influence appropriate solutions. JNCC plays an important role in providing technical support on multilateral environmental agreements; developing cost-effective, robust evidence to underpin decision making; contributing expertise to best practice and shared solutions; and providing expertise and skills in critical work areas. Such contributions to nature conservation efforts will prove invaluable during these times of change, both for Scotland and the wider UK.

My background lies in freshwater ecology, but I am enjoying the opportunity to broaden my knowledge as I learn of the varied work areas covered by JNCC. I have already been getting my ‘virtual wellies’ a little salty by stepping out from my habitual rivers and lakes, into the salty seas of JNCC’s marine work! Collaborative working has been central to my previous roles in NatureScot and I have learned the value of working with others to capitalise on collective knowledge and experience. When inter-agency working is successful, it really does mean that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.