Scottish Environment LINK

This week’s Nature Spotlight is on the water vole, a vital wetland species championed by Fulton MacGregor MSP in collaboration with RSPB Scotland.

Known as ‘Radan Uisge’ or ‘Lamhallan’ in Gaelic, these busy herbivores must eat a whopping 80% of their body weight every day, feeding mainly on grasses, waterside plants, twigs, bulbs, and roots.

Typically living in riverbanks and reedbeds, water voles are considered a key sign of a healthy wetland ecosystem. However, they face serious threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, water pollution, climate change, and predation by invasive American mink.

Conservation efforts focus on securing full legal protection for water voles in Scotland, continuing efforts to eradicate American mink, recruiting volunteers for the National water vole Monitoring Scheme, and increasing funding for nature-friendly farming.

Stay tuned for next week’s Nature Spotlight and keep celebrating Scotland’s incredible wildlife.

Comment below your favourite water vole facts! 💬🐾

Learn more about Nature Champions project on our website!
https://www.scotlink.org/link-campaigns/nature-champions/about/

We are pleased to be part of this joint statement unveiled at the Royal Highland Show today from NatureScot, Scottish Land and Estates, NFU Scotland, the Nature Friendly Farming Network, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and a number of other organisations. This statement emphasises the importance of healthy ecosystems for food production and food security.

As LINK’s Chief Executive Deborah Long said: “It’s vital that we work together to achieve the transformation needed to ensure that everyone can enjoy healthy food produced in thriving land and seascapes, now and in the future.”

🔗Read the full press release here: https://www.nature.scot/agreement-better-nature-and-more-secure-food-scotland

Want to position your brand at the forefront of Scotland’s marine future? 🌊

We are officially looking for sponsors for Sea Scotland 2026 on the 27th of October, hosted at Discovery Point, Dundee.

This year is a massive milestone—Sea Scotland are celebrating their 10th anniversary!

Your sponsorship is vital to helping us deliver our most engaging, diverse, and inclusive conference yet. This year, your brand will be directly aligned with our critical theme: "Joining the dots to safeguard Scotland's seas."

🤝Why partner with us?
By partnering with us, your brand will be directly tied to the vital discussions tackling the biggest questions in marine governance and conservation today:
- Aligning small-scale, place-based initiatives with national frameworks.
- Shaping how regional priorities feed into national strategy.
- Ensuring marine planning and restoration efforts are coherent, mutually reinforcing, and adequately resourced.

Don't miss the opportunity to partner with us for this special milestone event!

Learn more about Sea Scotland at www.seascotland.scot

A big welcome to our two newest network members, Beaver Trust and Surfers Against Sewage! 🦫🌊

We are absolutely thrilled to have them join our growing community of over 50 diverse organisations across Scotland. Both of these fantastic groups are doing incredible work for our society, environment and wildlife.

👉 Check out their websites to learn more about what they do and how they are making a difference!

Beaver Trust
https://beavertrust.org/

Surfers Against Sewage
https://www.sas.org.uk/

Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our Stand Up for Nature demo today!
We had an incredible turnout! A special thank you to the MSPs who also took the time to show up. We also want to give a massive shoutout to our guest speakers for their inspiring words, and to our talented musicians for keeping the energy high.
Check out some highlights from the event below! 👇
📸 Colin Hattersley