Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre

My time at Loch of the Lowes
19 August 2019

Hello there, everyone. On the 16th of August I will leave Loch of the Lowes, I will have been a Visitor Centre Assistant at Lowes for a full year. I have very much enjoyed my time at Lowes, learning the wildlife and watching the Osprey chicks’ lives unfold, I’ll be taking my leave alongside them but I probably won’t venture as far as Senegal in West Africa! I took on a project at Lowes which lasted the duration of the year;…

Putting Moths in the Spotlight
09 August 2019

With the mass emergence of butterflies taking the limelight in recent wildlife-related news, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about their much less popular cousins, the moths. Perhaps it is a result of many moths being nocturnal, or that one or two species have a ferocious taste for clothes and carpets, but I feel like moths have gained themselves an unjustifiably bad reputation.   The Painted Lady Butterfly (left) has been spotted in it’s multitude here in New…

Basking on the west coast
08 August 2019

The west coast of Scotland is a magnificent and visually spectacular region. Marine vistas, rugged cliffs and coastal landscapes give a sense of awe, inspiration and excitement to those fortunate enough to spend time there. Key to the beauty of Scotland’s seascapes is its diversity of marine wildlife. With skyscraper high colonies of seabirds, as well as the chance of seeing orcas, white-tailed eagles and minke whales, it’s no wonder that many wildlife enthusiasts place Scotland on their bucket list.…

A Painted Lady Summer
30 July 2019

At the weekend I experienced something I’ve never experienced before: I walked through a cloud of butterflies. I watched as they flew around my head in all directions, dividing their time between the seemingly impulsive actions of flitting through the air, feeding on the nectar of the nearby buddleia flowers, and resting in the fairly weak afternoon sun. I took lots of photos and, keen to know the species instantly, I googled “UK butterflies”, scrolling through the results until I…

From today, we’re living on ecological debt. Again.
29 July 2019

The world is living as if we have 1.75 Earths, while only a small minority are responsible for most of this overshoot. Earth Overshoot Day is the point in the year that we start living outwith our means – if you like, it’s the point in the year that our outgoings exceed our income ecologically. It includes species populations like fish and forests, as well as carbon emissions and waste. Every day from now until the end of the year…

Sublime lime
26 July 2019

June and July are the months where lime trees (Tilia species), (no relation to the tangy green citrus fruit), bloom, showering us with the sweet smell of their honey like nectar. They may also be known as linden trees in other parts of Europe. Small-leaved lime © Clare Toner, 2019. There are three species of limes found in the UK; small leaved lime, (Tilia cordata), large leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) and the hybrid, common lime, (Tilia x europaea), which has characteristics of…