RSFS corporate member BH Wildlife Consultancy have captured unique footage of Scottish wildcats for Forestry and Land Scotland, using a drone-mounted thermal imaging camera to locate the well-camouflaged and critically endangered creatures.

Three 1000-year-old Scottish oaks are among a dozen in contention to be named the UK’s Tree of the Year in the Woodland Trust annual public vote. Pictured is the Skipinnish Oak on Achnacarry Estate in Lochaber, hidden in a thick conifer plantation. © Gus Routledge

Three 1000-year-old Scottish oaks are among a dozen in contention to be named the UK’s Tree of the Year in the Woodland Trust annual public vote. Pictured is The Michael in Dalkeith Country Park. © George Anderson

Three 1000-year-old Scottish oaks are among a dozen in contention to be named the UK’s Tree of the Year in the Woodland Trust annual public vote. Pictured is the Capon Oak, one of the last survivors of the ancient Jed Forest. © Ann and Steve Troon

RSFS members enjoyed a Northern Region field visit to Beinn Eighe reserve in Rossshire on 9 August, hosted by NatureScot. The focus was on protection and augmentation of trees within the reserve, deer management and safeguarding of the ancient woodland remnants. © Simon Stuart

On 24 August veterans of the M77 road protest in Glasgow’s southside gathered to mark the 30^th anniversary of the declaration in 1994 of the ‘Pollok Free State’ by environmental campaigners who had sought to save veteran trees including beech, ash, oak and birch on the urban green site.

A c.30-year-old stone carving depicts woodland and wildlife – an artefact of the 1994–96 M77 road protests in Glasgow, created by an activist at the time. Veterans of the protest gathered to mark the anniversary in Pollok Park on 24 August.

A new citizen science study by RSPB and FLS in the Affric Highlands rewilding landscape near Inverness has found black grouse populations are recovering well at sites carrying out large-scale nature recovery, including restoration of native woods.