 The final item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 977, in the name of John Wilson on Scottish Wildlife Trust celebrates its 50th anniversary. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I will be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press the request to speak buttons now, please. I call on John Wilson to open the debate around seven minutes, please, Mr Wilson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank the members across political parties who signed my motion, particularly those who are staying on tonight to speak in this debate. I should declare an interest having been a member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust for almost 20 years, and it is one of those things that I will go on to further explain part of the reason why I joined the Scottish Wildlife Trust. However, this is an important debate in a number of ways. It emphasises the contribution and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, especially acknowledging the important role that it has played in sustaining the vital ecology of Scotland's ecosystem. Its scale and scope speak for itself. When we think that the trust manages a network of 120 wildlife reserves across Scotland, with 12 located in the central Scotland area that I represent, it now has an excess of 35,000 members, of which I am a member. Its achievements have been vast in number, and since April 2012, the trust has raised more than £4.2 million to protect Scotland's precious wildlife and wild places. It has also successfully hosted international conference on national ecological networks and played a significant role in projects such as Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project and the Scottish Beaver trials. The Scottish Wildlife Trust displays a great deal of energy in making a meaningful contribution in supporting and promoting Scotland's natural heritage. Equally, it is critical that people realise that although the trust puts a lot of effort into conservation aspects, it is not purely involved in conserving the past. Living landscapes is an area that the trust quite rightly takes satisfaction from and is of some interest to me. In terms of planning, for example, I am aware that the trust has now established planning volunteers in Glasgow and South Lanarkshire, thereby extending its coverage to 28 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland and has played a significant role in 20 major planning applications. I also know from my role in the local government and regeneration committee that the trust has provided useful contributions to the development of the national planning framework 3 and continues to campaign to the Scottish Parliament on a wide range of issues affecting Scotland's ecological environment and wildlife. The development and protection of Scotland's natural environment is down to the part that is played by organisations such as the SWT and highlights the role of charitable organisations in those developments at both local and national level. In many ways, I come to today's debate from the background as I stated earlier of being a member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I have witnessed first-hand the work of the organisation that it does within Central Scotland. As I said earlier, I have been a member for almost 20 years and part of the reason for joining the Scottish Wildlife Trust was in relation to activities for my daughter at weekends. I am two of the places that we used to visit quite regularly. One was not in my regional area, which was Falls of Clyde. I have some stories to tell about some of the experiences there in terms of the Peregrine falcons and those pigeon fanciers who did not like the Peregrine falcons. In particular, the visits to the Jupiter Wildlife Centre in Grangemouth, a reclaimed area from industrial chemical plant, and my daughter's enjoyment at going pond-dipping and being handed a net to fish out whatever she could find in the water from pond skaters to various other creepy crawlies and beasties that were inhabiting the area. I have also made very informative visits to one of the sites in the SWT Cumbernail Living Landscape programme, which was not long ago and was impressed by the progress that has been made so far. As part of the programme, the SWT will be working alongside North Lanarkshire Council on a not-coming project that celebrates the return of pine martins to the town. A very unique project that the SWT could not believe its ears when they heard that a pine martin was raiding one of the chicken coops of one of the local residents, only to do the DNA testing to find out that it was definitely a pine martin. We can see that wildlife re-enhabiting areas that the SWT has stewardship over and brings in other wildlife as well. Programmes such as this, which look to restore the Scottish landscape and preserve wildlife, are of real value to this and future generations. One of the real achievements of the trust is getting out into the local communities and making people aware of their wildlife surroundings and how they can contribute. Members and volunteers throughout central Scotland have contributed a huge amount to conservation in the area, from tree planting to building boardwalks to improve access, and I am all sure that that has been replicated by members and volunteers throughout the whole of Scotland. By reaching out to schools and local groups, an interest is being sparked, particularly in young people and communities are being given the tools to explore and cultivate their local areas. I note that since 2012 it has established eight new wildlife watch groups, with a total of 28 groups now engaged in young people throughout the country. Scotland has been blessed with some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, and the role that the SWT has played in the past 50 years has been crucial in its protection and development. I look forward to the on-going success of current projects, including the Cumbernail Living Landscape programme, as well as the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project. This debate is important in highlighting the efforts of the staff and some of them are in the gallery today. Members and volunteers who work alongside the Scottish Wildlife Trust does not go unnoticed. The success over the past 50 years is a testament to the time and energy that all those involved put into making Scotland's wildlife and landscape the best it can be. I wish the Scottish Wildlife Trust every success in the future in its campaigns and work with other agencies to ensure that the hard work that has been done will continue to be done. I look forward to the Government's response. Many thanks. That brings us to the open debate. Speeches of four minutes, please. Graham Day, to be followed by Claudia Beamish. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As MSPs, we are approached, lobbied, if that is not a tainted word, by a wide variety of organisations seeking to influence our thinking. Of course, the adopt a wide variety of approaches. Some send us large glossy brochures or extended emails, the middle of which, never mind the end, will never get to. There are others to secure face-to-face meetings that are unlikely to be repeated. Then there is that group who get how, through advancing well-constructed, considered argument, they can make their case and how by their action they can command respect. The Scottish Wildlife Trust is very much in that category. I genuinely offer them my warmest congratulations on celebrating their 50th anniversary. Perhaps I should declare an interest. Unlike John Wilson, I am not a member of the SWT, but I am a fan of the organisation. Indeed, as they know, I do not just welcome their contributions to issues that the Rural Affairs Committee might consider. I have, on many occasions, found myself proactively seeking their opinions on topics, such as the trust that I have in their knowledge and, indeed, their integrity. As the turnout of MSPs planning to contribute to this debate indicates, I am clearly not alone in holding them in such high regard. It is actually quite funny looking back at the comment of the SWT's founder, Sir Charles Connell, when he set out and I quote, some thought that the trust might not obtain adequate support or find work to do which would justify their existence. O yew of little faith. From fairly humble beginnings, the trust's membership has grown to 36,500 people. It manages 120 wildlife reserves and has three visitor centres, including at Montrose Basin in Angus. Its purpose is to advance the conservation of Scotland's biodiversity for the benefit of present and future generations, one that, at long last, wider society has started to wakener up to the importance of. Only one of the trust reserves is located within my constituency. 18 months ago, I had the great pleasure of visiting Seaton Cliffs in the company of their former CEO, Simon Millan, and I had seen a wide range of seabirds nesting there. It was less enjoyable, but just as important was getting a closer look at the impact of coastal erosion on one side and the negative impact of agricultural practices on the other. However, elsewhere in Angus, as the aforementioned in Montrose Basin, and the front line of the Red Squirrel project on the south-esk estate, last year I was delighted to join the environment minister, Paul Wheelhouse, and my fellow Angus parliamentarian, Nigel Dawn, in visiting the estate and meeting with Lord South-esk and trust officials to see for ourselves how this hugely important project is being implemented. I was struck by the genuine partnership working that the project involves, along with the trustee of SNH and the Forestry Commission Scotland involved, not to mention land-only interests all along the battlefront, as it were, seeking to halt the advance of grey squirrels, where all the negative consequences their presence bring for the iconic red squirrel. Almost as pleasing was hearing of the work being done by the trust in educating primary school youngsters on the project and the need for it. That visit also confirmed something that I had picked up through other dealings with the likes of Simon, Johnny Hughes and Maggie Keegan, that the real strength of the SWT is the people who work for it with their passion, commitment and, at times, pragmatism. Presiding Officer, aware as I am of the number of colleagues who wish to contribute to this debate, I will conclude my contribution there. Can I congratulate John Wilson on securing us this opportunity to be tribute to the Scottish Wildlife Trust and say that, contrary to the fears that were raised 50 years ago, the trust has undoubtedly gone on to justify its existence and will, I am sure, continue to do so for many decades to come. I thank John Wilson for bringing this motion to the chamber today. The wide range of members who have signed his motion congratulating the Scottish Wildlife Trust on celebrating its 50th birthday is testament to the geographical reach and the robust range of the trust's In my region of South Scotland alone, the trust boasts almost 6,000 members, 33 reserves, four watch groups and two conservation teams. I first encountered SWT over two decades ago as a community activist in Clydesdale for two reasons. First, upon Fich Glen, a small piece of woodland, which local community council saw as inappropriately threatened by opencast mining, SWT ranger David Wilson advised on how our concerns fitted with planning policy, about which, frankly, I did not have a clue, enabling us to submit an objection to Scottish to South Lanarkshire Council. The input in the planning process that we have heard from John Wilson has really gone in leaps and bounds, and there is support across much of Scotland for volunteers wanting to look at the planning process. Secondly, SWT advised about the falls of Clyde ranger John Derbyshire, which helped to change what was a dreadful fly tipping site at Loudon Pond on the Douglas Water into a community nature reserve of some significance. This SWT advice for conservation volunteers over the years is one of the reasons why the 1,553 local biodiversity sites across Scotland are in existence because of that support. One of the 33 SWT reserves is falls of Clyde, which stretches along both sides of the Clyde and the dangerous gorge that is there, but the boardwalk that I opened this year has done much to help to make that safer. I have had the delight of visiting the reserve with my family over many years when the children were small experiencing the thrill of the badger sets, seeing badgers snuffling out of their sets at dusk as the children became old enough to hold binoculars, catching a glimpse of the peregrins nesting in the crevices across the Clyde, so well protected around the clock by the peregrine watch by volunteers, or simply absorbing the tranquil atmosphere along the walkway in the dappled sunlight and leaving the reserve refreshed. Since I had the honour of opening the new visitor centre earlier this year, there have been 20,000 visits and a further 50,000 to the reserve itself, and the importance of SWT species projects also cannot be overestimated. Last summer I visited the Laidlaw families woodland site, where they are helping to protect the Red Squirrel as part of Saving Scotland's Red Squirrel project. At the recent Scottish Parliament reception, we welcomed Scottish Wildlife Trust volunteers from all over Scotland. Scotland Bland, aged 20, started at the falls of Clyde aged six, and the East Lothian wildlife watch group, whose helpers and young detectives have worked tirelessly, won a UK award. Without their contribution, the trust could not operate, and it is right that we thank them again today as part of the 50th year celebrations. At a strategic level, Europe-wide and Scottish biodiversity targets have been missed, and I know that the minister will agree with me that this must not happen again in 2020. SWT does make a significant contribution to Scotland's biodiversity, and I was especially pleased to see the conservation progress made by SWT in all their sites, with 99 per cent of the SWT triple SI's in favourable or unfavourable but recovering condition, which is much better than that achieved across the triple SI range. I hope that we can count on continued financial support for SWT, and looking to the next 25 years, in their natural connections, a vision for rebuilding Scotland's wildlife. SWT calls for government to provide sufficient financial support for landscape-scale action for wildlife and real recognition of the economic and social value of our environment, full recovery—sorry—full delivery of the Scottish biodiversity strategy for an innovative and ambitious programme of actions, and a strategic approach to tackling key threats to ecosystem health. I'm sure that the minister will agree that calls such as these are very much worthy of support. Good luck to SWT for the next 25, indeed, the next 50 years. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'd like to congratulate John Rolson on bringing this debate to the chamber this evening, because 50 years of the Scottish Wildlife Trust is something well worth celebrating and is celebrated by people who are volunteers within it, but by the wider public because of the fantastic work that they have done. I just want to mention a couple of items in particular, because I've been involved myself in the direct influence of their involvement in bringing to our attention the kinds of policy problems that exist in our own landscape. In my constituency, there are three of the reserves, and I'm going to mention in particular two of them, and the third one I'm hopefully going to visit this summer, although I pass through it quite often. The two that I mentioned in the west coast are Hand Island, which belongs to Scourie estate, which is managed by the SWT. It was like a Robinson Crusoe island on the day that my self and my colleague George Farlow visited it with Maggie Keegan. You could see the great skew is only about 10 metres away sitting on the heather and all the other birds and so on in that beautiful summer day, but the importance of making sure that people could visit and could study in that area means that there's the expense of making sure that the facilities are up to scratch and that there was new modern toilets and indeed meeting places and so on, so that the resident in the summer could make sure that the visitors got the best experience. The Wildlife Trust is interested in that biodiversity argument, but also interested in making sure that people have a chance to experience that and to benefit from it. I was very interested in that respect during the discussions about the national planning framework. One of the points that was made in their briefing at that time was about getting children who have severe attention deficit involved in nature, and they gave us a quote from Richard Louve, the author of The Last Child in the Wood, which said, Time in nature is not leisure time, it's an essential investment in our children's health and also, by the way, in our own. That possibility, which has been made, the hallmark of the Scottish Wildlife Trust's activities is something that I think is very precious indeed. The biodiversity issues have been mentioned already by Claudia Beamish in particular, but one of the things that the Wildlife Trust has done, as my previous example shows, is to think about the human aspects of that landscape and so on. The second area that I want to talk about is the call project, Coyarch and Ascent, which is a 50-year time horizon landscape scale project that allows us to think about the regeneration of the biodiversity but also with the place that humans have in that, in the hope that we can have more people living in those areas and that they can live sustainably. It's interesting when you look at the Akaltybuie end at Coyarch in the land, which is the largest area that the Wildlife Trust owns, that they've been able to support the local community when they sought to have some means to use wind power to be able to support local activities. The Scottish Wildlife Trust sought no difficulty in supporting that because it realised that if there's going to be means to look after the whole of the area and its natural beauty and its biodiversity, then the local population must be able to sustain itself. I think that symbiotic relationship between nature and people is one of the highlights of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I'd just like to finish by thanking Alan Bendick for being the chair in a momentous period for the officers that support him and wish Robin Harper, the incoming chair, all the best for many years to come. Thank you very much. I now call Nigel Dawn to be followed by Alex Johnston. It's conventional on those occasions to thank the sponsor of the motion, but I genuinely want to thank John Wilson for bringing this to us. I'll also first move in seamlessly from his previous speech and the previous debates of this one, really, as that I suspect what happens. I note the very wide range of Scottish Wildlife Trust sites and can I endorse everything that Graham Day has just said about their ability to influence us, their professionalism, the fact that they are actually sought out for their views. I think it says quite a lot about the organisation and the people who work for it, and it is indeed rare. Talking about rare things, of course, I actually have the Montrose Basin just down the road from where I live and in my constituency, one square mile of mud, which, twice a day, gets extremely wet. Absolutely fabulous and iconic bird sanctuary, and of course it's not just the birds, because it's everything else that lives around it, a point to which I will return. Yes, I've been there, and of course when I got there, well, the top brass turn up and the managers there and I get to see it the way they want me to see it, but of course the people who really make the SWT work of the volunteers, and I really want to point that out, that without them it just wouldn't happen. They're the ones who are there at the hours when nobody else is. They're the ones who make sure that when there are some 12,000 visitors each year to Montrose Basin that they get a welcome and the information that they need, I noticed that there are two and a half thousand educational visits each year, that adds up to pretty much every local school is engaged and get there pretty often. I noticed that their programme tells me that one of the things they do is called mud, glorious mud, and then boringly it tells me that's for children. I think that's pretty unreasonable really, but apparently there's also a walk, I haven't done this one, out to the middle, so you can walk out to the middle of this. It must be a half hour, sorry, half an hour, walk out half a mile out into the middle of the mud. I guess you'll need Stuart Stevens, aforementioned Willys, and then you must remember to come back before the water does because it's a respecter of no man. The highlight, I guess, is late September early October when they tell me that some 60,000 pink footed geese decide to take off looking for themselves for breakfast at about half past six in the morning in the local fields, and if you're there it's a spectacular sight. I have to say that's one I've not yet managed to do, but I know just how noisy it is from living close by. The Scottish Wildlife Trust also has a very good working relationship with GlaxoSmithKline, GS Clare, as it's known locally. I think that's an important indicator of how you make these things work. If you actually engage with the local community and you engage with the local industry, then there's ways and means of extracting significant sums of money not only to get the visitor centre built, but possibly to be refurbished, and that's an important part of what they do. I note in passing, Presiding Officer, that not only do we have all these pink-feeted geese and many others, but actually we have ospreys in the area, which are rarer in Scotland even than golden eagles, and that's maybe something which we will develop. I'd like to close by going back to the issue which Claudia Beamish first mentioned and Rob Gibson has also mentioned, and that's biodiversity because I think there's a hugely important point in here that I'd like to reiterate. We can try to measure biodiversity, and the report which comes from Scottish Wildlife Trust makes this point, it's easier to measure the bigger ones, rather more difficult to measure the smaller ones, extremely difficult to count the bugs and the beetles, but I would suggest to you it's impossible to count the even small obesity, the wee ones are a struggle and the micro ones are impossible, and therefore one of the things that I would suggest we need to do when we're thinking about biodiversity, whilst we will try to measure what we can measure, and I'm sure we should, is that I should simply look after the landscapes. If we look after the habitats, then we will, without knowing how to measure it, be looking after the species which the habitat supports, and I would therefore like to suggest to us that we should really think about look after the habitat, look after the environment, and maybe the bugs and beetles will actually look after themselves. Thank you very much. I now call Alex Johnston to be followed by Angus MacDonald. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I stand here tonight as a substitute and bring forward the apologies of my colleague Alex Ferguson, who was a signatory to the motion, a supporter of the motion, and had hoped to be here himself tonight to speak to it. However, he has been called away in other parliamentary business and, as a consequence, he asked me to step in at the last minute. What a pleasure it is to step in at the last minute and express my personal support for this motion and for the Scottish Wildlife Trust and its work over 50 years. As has been mentioned by a number of speakers already, my local connection, nearest reserve that the trust manages, is, of course, Montrose Basin, and I am a regular visitor. It is, of course, one of the examples of an absolutely unique habitat that we have here in Scotland and one that requires to be protected and is perfectly well done so by the Wildlife Trust itself. However, as I did some research into the activities of the Wildlife Trust, I was delighted to see that they are, of course, heavily involved in protecting the site at the Loch of Lohs, where the ospreys regularly nest. Perhaps they also need to be commended for the work that they are doing with a number of extremely rare species in Scotland, including the Scottish Wildcat and the increasingly rare red squirrel, under threat from the greys. However, my research also caused me to discover that the Scottish Wildlife Trust is no danger to controversy, having taken the lead in criticising Donald Trump for his activities in creating a golf course north of Aberdeen. It was, from my notes, also interesting to see that some have criticised the Wildlife Trust for changing its position on wind farms, while perhaps Donald Trump had more to do with that than he realises. It should be said that sometimes your enemy's enemy should be your friend. The work that I also note from the research that I have done is that the Wildlife Trust is involved in is the work with the Scottish beaver. It is quite topical because there has been some television coverage this week of the activities of the Scottish beaver. The public sector reintroduction in Argyll is one that the Government has done a great deal to support. The beavers have branched out in a far more independent way in Tayside, and there are far more interesting things happening there too. However, it is good to see that our wildlife is prepared to make an effort to preserve itself. The work of the Scottish Wildlife Trust is vital. Sometimes the RSPB has been criticised for being a bit too bird focused, and I think that that argument can be made. However, the work that the Scottish Wildlife Trust has done over 50 years has demonstrated that it is an effective and very functional organisation that is protecting some of Scotland's rarest species. It deserves full congratulation for the 50 years of hard work, the effort that has gone in, and the continued good work, which I am sure it will carry out in the future. At the outset, I am pleased to contribute to this debate this evening and join with other members in highlighting the goodwill that the organisation enjoys. I also thank John Lawson for ensuring that the 50th anniversary of the Scottish Wildlife Trust is recognised in this chamber for what is undoubtedly an important milestone. I note that John Lawson's motion makes reference to some fantastic initiatives by the SWT around the country, as have members in this debate. However, I am pleased to say that there have been some exciting initiatives within my own Falkirk East constituency, all thanks to the SWT. We have the unique Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre, a reserve in Grangemouth, which John Lawson has already referred to. We also have the Carren Dam local nature reserve, which I was pleased to open, along with pupils from Robert High School a year ago. We have the exciting development of the Cineal foreshore local nature reserve in Bones, which was once home to Cineal Colliery. The first good news story, the Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre, was opened in 1992 by Magnus Magnuson, and it sits cheek by jaw with the agri-chemical industry in Grangemouth and continues to attract a great deal of goodwill from the multinational companies operating in the town, with the owners of the land, CalaChem, previously Chemfine, renting it to the Scottish Wildlife Trust for the nominal rent of £1 per annum. Apart from it being the venue last summer for the launch of by the minister of the 2020 challenge for Scotland's biodiversity, the centre attracts a large number of local school pupils with four local Grangemouth primaries, Murray, Bowhouse, Beancross and Sacred Heart, all within walking distance and all visit regularly. In addition to those, both primary and secondary schools from across the Falkirk council area come for formal education sessions with an estimated 18,000 local school children having visited the Jupiter Centre over the past 22 years. In addition, the local Forest Valley College, both the Falkirk and Alloa campuses spend a lot of time there with their students over the winter. To have wildlife such as kingfishers, barn owls, greater spotted woodpeckers, sparrow hawks, willow warblers, eight species of dragonfly, ten species of butterfly, toads, frogs, palmit, newts, newts, pipestrel bats, to name just a few, and that's all only metres from a firm's manufacturing agri-chemicals. It's simply amazing. The centre's attracted funding from major firms such as Cala Caem and Syngenta, also Falkirk Environmental Trust, and it's recently secured funding of 36,000 from Viola Environmental Trust for the wildlife garden redesign and almost £10,000 from communities and families Scotland to run a forest school programme for the local schools. There's great work going on, tremendous work going on actually, and I'm sure that we all wish them decades more of success and continued support from the local industry. I continually remind the local industry of the need for them to continue their support. Another great wee success story that we have in Falkirk East constituency, thanks to the Scottish Wildlife Trust, is the Karen Dams local nature reserve, which, through close working with Robert High School, delivers enhanced learning experiences and skills development for the young people and staff, enhanced transition opportunities, enhanced outdoor learning and sustainable education experiences, enhanced community involvement and enterprise activities, which overwhelmingly fit in with the core thesis of curriculum for excellence. Robert High School's developed a very strong relationship with Karen Dams SWT reserve, which was part of the management group that was formed last year and consists of SWT pupils and staff at Robert High, members of the local community, Falkirk Council, communities along the Karen Association, and Robert and Stennis Muir Environmental Response. There's a real sense of ownership by the community and another excellent good news story. I see that I'm out of time again, unfortunately. In closing, all the three projects that I've referred to are all thanks to major input from the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In fact, without SWT, they simply wouldn't have happened. On behalf of the people of Falkirk East, I can say many, many thanks to the SWT and I wish them another successful half century. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and let me thank John Wilson, as others, for the opportunity to have this debate, which is of course about thanking the Scottish Wildlife Trust for the work that they've been doing over the past 50 years. I'm sure that the current Minister for the Environment will value, as I do, the sage words that many of the forums that ministers find themselves chairing. I always found it useful to listen to what was being said. One of the core things that the Wildlife Trust promotes is ecological diversity. One of the actions of my predecessor, Mike Russell, in office, our first SNP environment minister, was to introduce the beavers at Napdale. I visited these as a minister, and wasn't it impressive? Those little chappies had done a huge job. The dam was twice the height of me. Over an acre of forest had disappeared under the Loch, thus farmed. The evidence of their chewing the trees could be seen all around. More fundamentally, the biological diversity that came from that had been reintroduced was very substantial indeed. The effect of that tiny number of beavers was quite large, so it illustrates the need for care, for monitoring, for long-term looking after the effects. Just letting new animals go in an unsupervised and unmanaged way is grossly irresponsible. In this country, as in many other countries, we have experienced introductions. There was certainly not down-to-nature starting perhaps with the brown hair, which has been here. There has been a long debate as to whether the Normans brought it, but there has been an archaeological dig in Essex that has found that the Romans actually did brought it, and that is thought to have resolved a very long-standing debate. So it has been here a couple of thousand years, and indeed they brought the rabbits. I wish they hadn't brought those. The two things in my garden had rather they didn't. On the other hand, the existence of the rabbit means that the buzzards are doing incredibly well. They are having a very good season. A month ago, they were still flying around with twigs in their mouths, building another nest for this year. They are now hunting avidly the rabbits, and I hope that they continue to do that. Some of the introductions that have happened in a variety of ways are hugely damaging, like the American signal crayfish, which we just bluntly don't know how to get rid of. It is possible to get rid of things. We seem to be on the verge of getting rid of the mink in the western Isles. We know that the Australians managed to eliminate the rabbit in 1973, so it can be done. However, they have still got the dingo that was, of course, dogs taken into their area. Of course, the grey squirrel came from North America and continues to threaten the red squirrel. In the north-east of Scotland, Steve Willis of the SWT is the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels project officer. We are making some progress there. We are isolated from the main body of grey squirrels, and that is good and helpful. I have to say that I worry about some of the squirrels. I was driving up a country road last year and there was a grey squirrel standing in the middle of the road, and it wouldn't even move. I had to stop and wait for it to get off the road. Ospreys, Nigel Donne referred to, the Loch Garten reservoir in 1971, saw the first ones in Scotland, but they have moved further south and are now breeding in Rutland. If you make a start, you can do well. Huge contribution to biological and ecological diversity. Significant importance for the climate change agenda. The SWP's tentacles spread wide. Let's hope that they continue to do so, Presiding Officer. Many thanks. I can now invite Paul Wheelhouse to respond to the debate. Minister, you have seven minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to add my own thanks to John Wilson for bringing this debate and thank members present for their contributions. I certainly like to join them in congratulating the Scottish Wildlife Trust in the Sea, Maggie Keenan, Alan Bantic and Johnny Hughes for the excellent work that they do for Scotland's wildlife and for reaching their 50th anniversary. My colleague Richard Lockhead was pleased to attend a reception in the Scottish Parliament recently to mark the 50th anniversary of the trust, and I readily acknowledge the conservation work carried out by the trust over the past half century. In particular, the contribution made over the years by volunteers, mentioned by a number of members—John Wilson himself, Claudia Beamish and Nigel Dawn, among others—to talk about the important role that they play. Others have gone over the numbers and the membership numbers and the number of reserves. John Wilson started with that, but I want to pick out some of the reserves that are mentioned. Lock of Lows is one of my first ministerial engagements, so I enjoyed the visit to see the satellite data for Osbys and to see the red squirrels there and birds that were feeding avidly in the picture window that was in the main visitor centre. The Montrose Basin was mentioned by a number of members, Graham Day, Nigel Dawn and, indeed, Alex Johnson, so that is clearly an important one locally for communities in Angus and the north-east of Scotland. Claudia Beamish and John Wilson mentioned the falls of Clyde as being one that is important to them. My first engagement with the Scottish Wildlife Trust was when I undertook some tree weeding at the wonderful Peasdeen nature reserve in the Scottish Borders as part of a group of coburns path and cove community councillors. It was hard work, but it is hugely satisfying, too, and I commend that activity to others. John Wilson mentioned the Jupiter Centre and, indeed, Angus MacDonald, who is the constituency member, then talked about the inspirational location that it is for local school children to visit. I was really struck by that when I visited it. I thought that it was a hugely inspirational site and a fitting location, as Angus MacDonald said, for launching the revised biodiversity strategy. Rob Gibson talked of reserves in the scoury area before talking about landscape scale projects, and I will come back to the latter. Angus MacDonald also mentioned the Karen Dams and Canill foreshore. Those are all great examples of the local work that the Scottish Wildlife Trust is doing across the length and breadth of Scotland. The trust has also been at the forefront in helping to conserve Scotland's red squirrels, and a number of members mentioned that important work. I would like to take this opportunity to record my own thanks for what has been done to date by the trust and its partners, who are now involved on the front line with red squirrel conservation. A special mention should again go to the very many volunteers who undertake that work. Last year, I was fortunate, as Graham Day said, to visit Canary Castle and Angus at Graham Day's invitation. I went along with Nigel Dawn to see the excellent red squirrel conservation work, which is being carried out by the Canary State and the Scottish Wildlife Trust as part of the Saving Scotland's red squirrel project. It was very clear from the informative discussion on the visit that the public-private voluntary partnership approach is the best way and the only way to tackle the landscape-wide conservation effort that is required to ensure the continued presence of red squirrels in our countryside. Stewart Stevenson, like Graham Day, referred to the project, and I was very heartened to hear the positive view being taken by those who work on the front line that, while the battle to contain squirrelpox virus goes on in the south, where grays are dominant, we seem to have a realistic prospect of safeguarding red squirrels and pushing back the non-native grays from parts of Scotland north of the central belt. I am keen to mention the Scottish Beaver Trial in that deal, which was mentioned by Alex Johnson and others. The trust is a partner in the trial, along with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the Forestry Commission for Scotland. That has been an impressive project, with a very professionally run trial, supported by a lot of good work, carried out by a large number of volunteers. I was pleased to visit the trial last year on my way back from Mull, and I was very fortunate to see a young beaver kit swimming in the twilight. It was a magic moment. I was also pleased to mark the achievement of the conclusion of the five-year trial phase at a reception at Parliament earlier this month when I addressed and thanked many of those who had been involved. I even met the project mascot, Bruce The Beaver, and I am sure that it is possible that there is a photographic record of that event. No doubt that a caption competition is probably accompanying it, but rather more seriously, the Scottish Beaver Trial has won awards for its work, including the BBC country file project of the year award. It deserves our congratulations for that. The pressures on Scotland's landscapes need to be tackled at an appropriate scale, and they need commitment and ambition. As a number of members have observed, the Scottish Wildlife Trust demonstrates all of those things and can be proud of the outstanding living landscapes project in Cogac Ascent, which is mentioned by Rob Gibson, and at Cumbernauld. Those projects demonstrate the extent expert knowledge of the trust and their commitment to integrated land management. Cogac Ascent living landscape project is one of Europe's largest ecosystem regeneration projects, as Rob Gibson said. It is a testament to the trust's ability to tackle issues on a landscape scale. That was a point that was made by Nigel Dawn, the importance of that, looking after the landscape and letting nature take care of itself. As well as excellent environmental work, those projects also provide local training and employment opportunities and strengthen the local cultural heritage links with the land in Cogac Ascent. Equally, the project at Cumbernauld will address a wide range of land use issues and provide many benefits for local people as well as encouraging wildlife. Both projects represent the very best in partnership working and integrated land management, ensuring that local people are involved in the important issues in their area and able to drive land use choices. It is vital for it to address the many challenges of future land management, such as responding to climate change and managing our natural resources now and in the future. In the final moments, I want to turn to issue natural capital. Rebuilding Scotland's natural capital is a key priority for both the new Scottish Biodiversity Strategy natural capital group and the Scottish Forum on natural capital. SWT will make an important contribution to the valuation and future monitoring of Scotland's natural capital through its membership of both groups. The Biodiversity Strategy natural capital group was set up last year to take forward the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2020 challenge and is looking at a broad range of issues on the valuation and use of the environment. Johnny Hughes and his colleagues at SWT have championed this area of debate and are driving force behind last year's world natural capital forum gathering in Edinburgh. SWT have a superb track record of promoting a greater understanding of ecosystem services and their membership of both groups will be a tremendous asset, so I thank them for their contribution. The trust is at the forefront of that debate and aside from its role in the world forum, SWT is one of the five founding partners of the Scottish Forum on natural capital. I want to turn last to the work of environmental volunteering that members have mentioned. The conservation work of the trust, including its volunteers, helps to support the Scottish Government in achieving its conservation objectives. We are very grateful to all those who demonstrate dedication to protecting our environment. Graham Day spoke of how he trusted SWT's advice. I very much agree with that and certainly Stuart Stevenson knows from personal experience and he said so in his speech. I want to put on my own record the gratitude for their advice to myself and my officials and I absolutely agree with Stuart Stevenson on just how valuable that role is. SWT has over 800 registered volunteers. They have supported the Scottish Beaver Trial mentioned by Alex Johnson and other projects. They are helping in numerous practical conservation-based projects, such as the conservation of the Scottish Wildcat, which was also mentioned. Indeed, we should be very grateful across this chamber, which I am glad to hear everyone is, of the contribution that they make. I would like to close by reiterating my very high regard for the work of the Scottish Wildlife Trust to wish them well in their continued work in the future on behalf of Scotland's environment and wildlife. I hope that it is not just 50 years but many more years that they are after. Thank you very much from all of us in the chamber today. Thank you very much minister. That concludes John Wilson's debate on the Scottish Wildcat Trust. Celebrates its 50th anniversary and I now close this meeting of Parliament.