Do you want to volunteer some time at your local country park? Would you like to help prevent nature loss and champion local biodiversity?
Well, if you are free between 10am and 12pm on Wednesday, July 10, you could well be exactly who North Ayrshire Ranger Service are looking for…
Taking place by foot throughout various locations across Eglinton Country Park, our Countryside Rangers are in need of local volunteers who can join a group of ten nature enthusiasts to help conduct Eglinton’s contribution to the annual Butterfly Transect Wildlife Survey.
The session is the first in a series of ‘have-a-go’ nature surveys taking place this summer – with bats and wetland birds surveys to follow later in July and early August…
Rhonda Leith, Head of Service for Connected Communities said: “Our Countryside Rangers play a pivotal role in ensuring we have the correct conservation planning in place to protect local biodiversity and prevent nature loss.
“If you have some free time this summer, why not consider volunteering some time with them or our many groups across Eglinton Country Park.
“With the Big Butterly Count taking place annually, the Rangers are enlisting the help of local people to help us to gain a better understanding of the presence of butterflies in North Ayrshire.
“Although our Rangers do recordings weekly, the upcoming session is to give volunteers a flavour of what it is like to run a transect-based survey. It will allow people to learn about how the data is collected, where it goes once it is completed and then hopefully will encourage and empower them to adopt their own spots to do butterfly survey’s locally.”
Countryside Ranger Graeme Walla adds: “The information gained from the upcoming survey is vital for us to plan and implement appropriately the conservation actions required to do what is best for Scotland’s butterflies.
“We are calling out to residents interested in biodiversity, conservation and those who would like to give up a few hours of their time to help with the upcoming Butterfly Transect survey.
“Not only will the wildlife survey session help the team to understand the current presence of butterflies or moths, locally, it is also a important opportunity for us to gain a better understanding of the behaviours, habitats and ecology of species, so that we can do all that we can to protect them.
“This is also a great opportunity to participate in local citizen science projects alongside our Rangers.
“From a conservation perspective, butterflies are key biodiversity indicators and they react very quickly to even slight changes in their habitat.
“If numbers start to fall, then it’s a sign that nature is in trouble therefore it is vitally important that we do what we can to ensure we track numbers of butterflies to ensure a more sustainable North Ayrshire for flora, fauna and humans alike.”
Avoid delay, book today (places limited)!
The session is free, however booking is required.
Book directly online on the Ticket Source website.
Stay tuned to North Ayrshire Ranger Service on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/North_Ayrshire for more nature sessions happening this summer and how you can get to know your local country park better.
“Not only will the wildlife survey session help the team to understand the current presence of butterflies or moths, locally, it is also an important opportunity for us to gain a better understanding of the behaviours, habitats and ecology of species, so that we can do all that we can to protect them. This is also a great way of participating in local citizen science projects alongside our Rangers.”Countryside Ranger Graeme Walla