Wildlife
The Bennachie Wildlife Group is a sub-group of the Bailies to which everyone is welcome.
All we ask is that attendees become members of the Bailies of Bennachie. The group was set up in 2017 with the aim of encouraging local people to improve their identification skills and as a consequence discover and record the fauna and flora on and around Bennachie.
Initially three sub-groups were set up to study - Mammals, Birds and Plants.
Mammal training led by tracking experts, Lizzie Bacon and Willow Lohr was an excellent way to gain skills to identify signs and tracks of wildlife which are rarely seen. The training also included the use of trail cameras to show the importance of Bennachie as a home for many animals even if we don’t see them very often because they are avoiding contact with people. The cameras collect data about these species in a very unobtrusive way without disturbing them and regularly take pictures of roe deer, badgers, foxes, pine martens and red squirrels.
The evidence gained is collated by the North East Biological Records Centre (NESBReC) which manages a database of all wildlife for NE Scotland.
The Bird group was led by local bird expert, John Wills who conducted workshops and walks to identify birds on and around Bennachie both by appearance and their song.
The Plant group was led by plant expert David Bale who ran workshops and walks on plant taxonomy, habitat classification and management.
All this information is valuable as the Bailies can use it to encourage wildlife-friendly management of the hill and to protect the hill from inappropriate developments.
Since these initial training sessions took place the Wildlife Group has continued to enjoy numerous informative walks, talks and workshops on many interesting topics including owl walks, moth trapping, fungal foray, dawn chorus, invertebrates, bogs, mosses, bryophytes, geology and much more. These events regularly involve invited experts in their field.
If you want to help the Bailies find out more about the fauna and flora on Bennachie then please follow the volunteer sign up link below.
Want to join a wildlife event?
Participating in our wildlife events is restricted to signed up Volunteers only
