A Moray wildlife tour operator is offering people the chance to brush up on their knowledge of nature online.
Speyside Wildlife had been preparing to take 10 people through the Cairngorms, to identify the various plants and animals there, when all such activities were abruptly placed on hold in March.
The 12-month course usually involves five study weekends from March to December, with successful participants receiving an accredited qualification in wildlife identification.
Owner Sally Dowden decided that they would run the initial stages of the course online to avoid disappointing those who had been looking forward to it.
Ms Dowden said: “Each weekend would normally comprise a day in the classroom and a day in the field and this year was no different – except the classroom day was delivered remotely and the ‘field’ day was cleverly constructed from a variety of scenarios, with audio and video clips.”
Students learned about how to identify the birds of the Cairngorms National Park from the comfort of their homes.
This year, the firm welcomed two recipients of the Cairngorms Nature Identification Youth Scholarship on to the course.
Head of conservation at the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), Andy Ford, said. “The natural heritage of the Cairngorms National Park is outstanding, offering many world-class opportunities for nature tourism and cutting-edge conservation for some of the UK’s top ecologists.
“We ran a competition in 2019 to find two young people who we could sponsor to take a place on the 2020 course.”
