RSPB Scotland is working hard to improve protected areas on its reserves. Our 100% LIFE project aims to have all the most important sites on our reserves in the best condition. But we are worried about what’s happening elsewhere in Scotland.

Key sites for nature are protected by law and monitored by the Government’s nature body SNH. There are over 1,800 in Scotland and they are home to our most important wildlife. Recent data released by SNH is worrying.

Over a third of protected features are not in “favourable condition”. This means they are not at the standard nature needs them to be. The percentage of protected wildlife that has reached favourable condition has not improved since last year and is worse than in 2004.

RSPB Scotland is also concerned that levels of monitoring have declined over the same period meaning we don’t always know what condition the protected wildlife is in.

Our State of Nature report has shown how much trouble nature is in. Protected areas that are connected to our wider landscapes are critical for restoring nature, so improving these sites is key to addressing that. https://nbn.org.uk/stateofnature2019/

We will be doing everything we can to get every single site on our land into favourable condition. We hope this work can show others practical ways this can be done. Scotland’s nature needs action on this now.