The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative was pleased to be able to host Churchill Fellow Michael Reid from Agriculture Victoria in his recent visit to Scotland.  Michael is looking at community based invasive non-native species control projects through his scholarship and joined us after visits to New Zealand and South Africa and before onward travel to the United States.

As part of his grand tour we took him on our very own little grand tour of Tayside to see and discuss our American mink control work at Tay Reedbeds near Errol and our Japanese knotweed control at Dunkeld.  We also were lucky to have Nicole Still from the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project to chat about the work they undertake to control grey squirrels and support the conservation of our native red squirrel.  We also has Ann-Marie MacMaster from the NatureScot Beaver Project Team to talk about the work underway to manage the Eurasian beaver as it continues to expand in range following its recent reintroduction in Scotland. We know, of course, that the Eurasian beaver is not an invasive non-native species but the issues raised following its reintroduction have required all parties to find new solutions to new species related challenges.  

Stop at the Tay Reedbeds for an overview of American mink control		Discussing Japanese knotweed control strategies at Dunkeld Bridge		Callum, Anne Marie and Michael investigate a beaver-felled tree

We were pleased to have arranged a blue sky day on Tayside for our visit (are there any other kind of days there we wonder?) which allowed us to show off the catchment at its winter finest.  We had a great day out and must also thank our friends at Scottish Wildlife Trust for our end of day visit to their Loch of the Lowes reserve and RSPB for access to their Tay Reedbeds reserve at Errol.

After our Tayside visit we arranged a webinar to allow a number of invasive non-native species projects and issues to be discussed.  A big thanks to colleagues and partners who were able to share experiences on invasive non-native species policy and legislation, control of American mink and hedgehogs on the Outer Hebrides, Scottish wildcat conservation in the context of hybridisation from domestic and feral cats, red squirrel conservation and the work of the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative itself across the north of Scotland - including our study to develop management guidance on sheep grazing as a means to control giant hogweed.  Michael was also able to share his experience of rabbit control in Australia and win the prize for best previous job title – who knew that “National Rabbit Facilitator” was a thing?

It was great to be able to host Michael for a few days and to share our work and approaches to invasive non-native species control and management in Scotland and to learn from his insights from Australia and beyond.  All of the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative team have volunteered to attend the return field trip in Victoria (date tbc)!

Our mink control project helps to protect vulnerable bird species at the RSPB Tay reedbeds reserve in Errol		Nicole Still spoke about the work being done to control grey squirrel populations and to support the conservation of native red squirrels		Beavers are a recently reintroduced species that have presented significant challenges in Tayside as well as ecological benefits