John Poyner
@rothiemoon.bsky.social
Wildlife Guide & Birder based in the Scottish Highlands. Highland SOC Bird Recorder. Owner www.highlandnature.co.uk
Not a shooting party in sight around Grantown yesterday, empty shooting butts and sheep fill the local moor now instead of beaters. Things don’t seem to be going too well do they. The not so glorious 12th.
Northern Gannet in my garden 😀. Whatever it is, a pretty good impression anyway. app.birdweather.com/soundscapes/...
Soundscape August 11, 2026 18:49 @ Highland Nature Abernethy PUC
app.birdweather.com
Amazing to see the local Slavonian Grebe pair with a couple of days old chick being fed on the females back…..10th August !! First successful brood. #birdingscotland #highlandbirds
Quite remarkable to see a Blackbird still collecting worms and feeding a brood somewhere nearby…..has anyone encountered this so late ?
The local flock of c11 Swifts still screaming around Nethybridge, Tree Pipits notable passing over quite regularly still. The large number of Siskins that have been around seems to have declined significantly. Already moving ? #birdingscotland #highlandbirding
Breaking News! Code: Bonkers! El Nino continues to spike towards an all-time record high anomaly, with the Nino 3.4 sea surface temperature more than 2.6°C above the 1991-2020 baseline as of August 4th, and more than 1.0C° above the previous August 4th record set in 1997.
parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2026/08/05/t...
The Cairngorms wildfire and pinewood recovery- PART 2 - parkswatchscotland
A previous article on this (see here) created a significant level of interest and useful feedback, including from BBC Rado Scotland Drivetime and Radio 4 researchers. The message from the post above w...
parkswatchscotland.co.uk
I’m very surprised an official map hasn’t been produced yet of the fire area. This courtesy of a Nethybridge resident with permission to share. The P in bottom left the lower parking area on the ski road to get a bearing. NB This is quite a rough sketch.
This really does sum up how serious the situation was last weekend. The emergency firebreak dug out overnight half a mile from Nethy. Had this been needed, most of Abernethy Forest would have gone by then. They clearly thought this a possibility. The unthinkable…saved by the wind.
Using “Tweet Sheet” Application allows amazing analysis of all PUC data.
Fire has worsened again in last few hours. 1am from Nethybridge Broomhill
Just hearing the fire has worsened again this evening, this is never ending.
What I don’t understand is there are numerous large helicopters sitting at Aberdeen airport all with highly trained pilots and fire fighting equipment for the North Sea oil industry. Why couldn’t these have been used ?
Nae state of emergency for the wildlife eh
John Swinney@johnswinney.bsky.social · 3w agoUpdate on the wildfire in the Cairngorms. 👇
Looks like the wind is helping the fire to move more east than into the forest this morning. A few overnight showers should have dampened the vegetation which will help. Large firebreaks still under construction in Abernethy and towards Dorback.
Such an incredible response this evening to see workers and equipment from estates all over the Highlands streaming in to Nethybridge to help save RSPB Abernethy.
Edge of Abernethy Forest this evening. It’s not looking good. Declare a major incident Scotgov and get the military in.
Our teams on the ground are fighting a significant wildfire at our Abernethy nature reserve. It has now grown to cover more than 400 hectares of this special place for nature and people.
A new Buzzard colour-ringing project has started in Central Scotland to better understand the local population and dispersal. The project is using red ring with a three letter code. If you spot a ringed bird, please report your sighting to buzzardcolourringing@gmail.com #ClydeBirding
RSPB Abernethy is an incredible place for nature, supporting more than 5,000 species including some of the UK's rarest and most threatened wildlife. Its importance is recognised not just on a UK level but an international one by many protected area designations.
Glenmore area now much improved but considerable fire still burning in the Strath Nethy area this morning. Helicopter called in again.
Wildfire this evening from Lurg Nethybridge, towards Strath Nethy
Thought the helicopters had finally arrived to help fight the fires….oh the irony of the only ones in the sky being these two transporting wealthy golfers between courses. Landed at Royal Dornoch. Far too busy to help out.
Huge wildfire just on the boundary of Abernethy Forest. Wind currently taking it towards Glenmore. Cairngorm Mountain resort and Glenmore residents evacuated.
