Wed 10th Aug 2022

It was great to have the Cunningsburgh Show back on after a break for couple of years during covid.

Thanks to everyone who stopped along to chat to us. There was a lot of interest in our shark and skate eggcase collection and looking at marine invasive species under the microscope.

If you would like to find out more about marine invasives have a look at our blog posts from INNS Week 2022.

To find out all about eggcase hunting and how to report your finds head to the Shetland Shark and Skate Eggcase Hunt page

Mon 8th Aug 2022

Bairns hard at work identifying and recording moths. A total of 215 were trapped of 16 different species – not a bad haul for a damp, windy morning

This Gold Spot was perhaps the most attractive moth trapped. It is a scarce resident in Shetland, seen mostly in the South Mainland.

The Snout – guess how it got its name(!) – has recently colonised Shetland but has now reached as far as Unst. One of a number of insect species that have colonised Shetland as a result of global warming. Those attending the ‘moth morning’ saw two.

Even though it was a bit of a wet morning lots of folk still braved the weather and came out to help us empty the moth traps. Paul Harvey from Shetland Amenity Trust and Rob Fray were on hand to share their expertise and help us to identify the different species.

By mid-August catches can number in the high hundreds but our catch of 215 moths was about right for the wet and windy night we had. There were enough to allow people to have a good look at some of Shetland’s more common creatures of the night but not too many to overwhelm them.

A quick discussion on how traps worked was followed by some tips on how to identify moths and a count of the number of each species trapped. The different strategies employed to avoid predators – flying at night for starters, as well as subtle colouring for camouflage or bright colours to scare off predators were all well illustrated and it wasn’t long before the bairns in particular were fully engaged with these harmless creatures.

Sun 31st July 2022

What a great turnout for our Shark and Skate event at the Ness Boating Club. We loved meeting you all and sharing all the information and projects you can get involved in, we hope you learnt lots of fascinating things and are all ready to head out and get hunting for those eggcases!

What a creative bunch you were too. Our life sized flapper skate looks amazing with all her spots and squiggles added by everyone how come along. She will be proudly displayed in the John Goodlad building at UHI Shetland’s Scalloway Campus

Click on the links below to find out more about the projects showcased at the event:

• Shark and skate eggcase hunting in Shetland
• Become a Skatespotter
• Report sightings of Basking Sharks

To read our latest member blog from Rhiannon all about her visit to the Shark and Skate event and what she learnt here- A Plaice for Skate at the Ness

A huge thank you goes to all who gave up their time to help on the day including: Sally Huband, Leander Harlow and Angharad Powell.

Thurs 21st July 2022

It was great to spend the afternoon surrounded but flowers, bees and enthusiastic children at the Lerwick Flower Park for the Peerie Pollinators event in collaboration with Shetland Amenity trust. We had a great turn out of folk who enjoyed learning how to identify the bees, butterflies and hoverflies we see in Shetland and went away with a greater appreciation of the small critters working hard to pollinate our garden plants and farm crops.

Paul also bought along his moth trap and everyone enjoyed getting up close views of a variety of moth species. Moths are often forgotten about when thinking about pollinators but they work just as hard as their daytime cousins the butterflies.

If you would like to get involved in surveying the bumblebees and butterflies in your local area, download these handy ID and survey guides HERE. To find out more about gardening for pollinators read our blog post HERE.

Sun 3rd July 2022

The drizzly day didn’t dampen our spirits and we enjoyed a lovely few hours winding our way from Grutness up to Sumburgh Head. It was fascinating to see the change in flower species from the road side verges and Grutness Beach to the windswept cliffs of Compass Head and Sumburgh Head. Thanks to Paul Harvey and Rory Tallack from Shetland Amenity Trust for their great guiding skills!

Sun 5th June 2022

Thank you to everyone that came to visit us at Sumburgh Head Lighthouse & Visitor Centre to celebrate European Maritime Day ,it was lovely to see the sun and flat calm seas perfect for porpoise spotting.

Thanks also to all the volunteers from the different organisations who came and made the day such a success:

• NatureScot
• Shetland Amenity Trust
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation
• Shetland Bird Club
• Linda Richardson- Artist and Printmaker
• Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group-SOTEAG
• RSPB Shetland
• HM Coastguard
• UHI Shetland

16th-22nd May 2022

As part of INNS Week, the team at UHI Shetland ran a couple of events to showcase the monitoring we do as part of Shetland’s Biosecurity Plan. We welcomed members and the public at Scalloway and Burravoe marina, showing our monitoring panels and discovering some of our native and non-native fouling species. Thanks to all who came and got involved!

If you would like to read more about invasive species in Shetland, our daily blogs can be found here.

Mon 11th April 2022

We had a great time at the beginning of the month at our Art & Nature event.

Linda gave a couple of great workshops on using nature as inspiration for creating excellent egg-themed art works. We had the RSPB with a great nest building activity and DIY bird feeders, and the team here at UHI Shetland showed some of the interesting ways that marine animals lay eggs and care for their babies. Finally, we had the Shetland library team to finish off the event with a couple of excellent stories.

Thanks to all who came!

Thurs 24th March 2022

We had a great evening at Carnegie Hall listening to Richard Ashbee pass on his knowledge and wisdom about Seeing and Understanding the Aurora in Shetland, as well as treating us to some of his incredible photographs.

It was great to see so many people interested in learning more about this amazing phenomenon. If anyone is interested to learn more, joining Richard’s Facebook group ‘Shetland Aurora Hunter’ is the place to start!