Aberdeen City Council Countryside Ranger Service

🚮 Litter Pick at the Donmouth LNR - Monday 8th June 🚮

🌾 Join the Countryside Rangers for World Ocean's Day for a rewarding morning of litter picking at the Donmouth Local Nature Reserve.

🗑️ Help protect the Donmouth estuary by picking up litter and keeping the area clean for both wildlife and visitors

✨ For more information on how to sign up, click the link below:

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World Ocean's Day - Beach Litter Pick at the Donmouth Local Nature Reserve Join Aberdeen City Council's Countryside Ranger Service on World Ocean's Day for a community litter pick at the Donmouth LNR.

🌍🎉 Celebrating Volunteers’ Week 🎉🌍

🌱 This week marks Volunteers’ Week and we’d like to take a moment to recognise and thank the incredible people who generously give their time to support our Countryside Rangers. Their dedication and enthusiasm go above and beyond, helping to protect, preserve, and enhance Aberdeen’s amazing natural greenspaces.

So far in 2026:
✨ 186 volunteers have joined us in our conservation work
⏳ 490 hours of commitment and volunteer work contributed
🗑️ 40 bags of litter collected to keep our greenspaces clean and thriving

😊 The passion and effort shown by our volunteers has made a real and lasting impact, not only on the environment, but on the communities who enjoy these spaces.

🌟 Thank you for everything you do. You are at the heart of our mission to create a biodiverse, best value, and socially inclusive future for all 💚

⭐ Volunteers Needed ⭐

Come and join Rangers Jack and Lydia on Elrick Hill this Wednesday and Thursday for a spot of Bracken Bashing! 🌿

Meet at the Brimmond Hill North Carpark for 10:00am.

🎟️ There are two sessions available. Spaces for these events are limited, so please remember to reserve a spot by visiting the links below:

🐸 Wednesday 3rd June:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practical-volunteering-day-bracken-bashing-tickets-1988324116958?aff=oddtdtcreator

🐸 Thursday 4th June:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practical-volunteering-day-bracken-bashing-tickets-1988324746842?aff=oddtdtcreator

🦇🦋 A Wild Night Out at the Den of Maidencraig LNR 🦋🦇

⏱️ Friday 12th June, 21:30pm - 00:00am ⏱️

🌕 The UK is home to around 2500 different species of moth, many of which call Aberdeen home. Along with moths, our night skies are patrolled by several different bat species. Join the Countryside Rangers after dark for an exclusive look into this overlooked nocturnal world.

Our activities will focus on:

🐛 Moth trapping: Over the course of the evening, we will set up sugar and light traps to attract moths, which we will identify and release unharmed.

📻 Bat detection: We will also undertake a short guided walk along the Denburn, using specialised detectors to listen to the clicks and calls of hunting bats.

🎫 Spaces are limited, so please remember to reserve a spot by visiting the link below:

A Wild Night Out at Den of Maidencraig Local Nature Reserve Join the Countryside Rangers and learn about moths, bats, and other amazing wildlife that we can only see at night!

🌳 On Wednesday, Rangers Jack and Lydia joined Primary 5 pupils from Hazlehead School for an exciting day of pond dipping and minibeast hunting at the Den of Maidencraig Local Nature Reserve.

🕷️ Ranger Lydia led the pupils into the wildflower meadow to explore the variety of minibeasts living among the vegetation. Using sweep nets, the pupils searched through the grassland and discovered a fascinating range of creatures, including spiders, beetles, plant bugs, and sawfly caterpillars.

🐸 Meanwhile, Ranger Jack and his group turned their attention to the pond, investigating what wildlife could be found beneath the water’s surface. Their efforts were rewarded with sightings of sticklebacks, common toad and frog tadpoles, a range of aquatic invertebrates, and even several palmate newts.

🌟 A big thank you to the pupils from Hazlehead Primary for their enthusiasm and for asking such fantastic questions throughout the day.

Nature often grows amazing patterns 😊

🌳 World Environment Day - Guided Walk at Scotstown Moor 🌳

🐞 Join Ranger Jack on Friday 5th June as part of World Environment Day for a guided walk at the Scotstown Moor Local Nature Reserve.

🐛 Scotstown Moor is one of the four Local Nature Reserved managed by the Countryside Ranger Service. The site is home to a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which supports a wide range of different species. During the session, we will learn about the habitats found on the moor and identify some of the plants and animals that call the site home.

🎟️ There are two sessions available on the 5th. Spaces for these events are limited, so please remember to reserve a spot by visiting the links below:

🐸 10:00am - 12:00pm:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/world-environment-day-guided-walk-of-scotstown-moor-local-nature-reserve-tickets-1990475905014?aff=oddtdtcreator

🐸 12:30pm - 14:30pm:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/world-environment-day-guided-walk-of-scotstown-moor-local-nature-reserve-tickets-1990477329274?aff=oddtdtcreator

🌟 On Friday 8th May, we celebrated our final day with our intern, Charlotte. To mark the occasion, Charlotte organised and delivered her own public event at the Scotstown Moor Local Nature Reserve. The day’s task focused on tidying pathside vegetation to ensure visitors can continue to access and enjoy the moor.

🍃 Our Intern Programme, run in partnership with the University of Aberdeen, offers students a short placement within our team as part of their studies. During this time, they gain hands-on experience of life as a Countryside Ranger - carrying out practical conservation work, supporting educational sessions, and learning to identify the wide range of plants and animals found in Aberdeen’s green spaces.

😊 We thoroughly enjoyed having Charlotte as part of our team and we hope to see her again at some of our future events. Thanks again and best of luck with your studies, Charlotte!

Great news: Meadow-in-a-Box has grown to help people and pollinators in the south of Glasgow!

We are so excited to launch our Meadow in a Box project! This is a scheme that was started by the Aberdeen City Council Countryside Ranger Service to encourage pollinators and we were thrilled to receive funding to bring it to our community. We are offering local residents, organisations and businesses the chance to receive a free wooden planter, compost and native wildflower seeds. All we ask is that you plant the seeds and water them.

The scheme came about as a response to the decline in native plants and the devastating knock-on effect on bees and butterflies. We hope that by having more patches of native wildflowers across our community, our pollinators will thrive.

If you could give a box a home, please email us at [email protected] and tell us why you'd like one - we have limited numbers available so don't delay!

In the picture you'll see our first delivery of boxes to CrossReach Williamwood House. Many thanks to the East Renfrewshire Community Payback Team for building and delivering the boxes.