It's take-off time for winter nature watch

THE December round of The Scotsman's Wildlife Watch begins tomorrow, with readers throughout the country preparing to report back on the creatures they see in their gardens and the countryside over the the weekend.

Now entering its third successful year, our quarterly nature survey – which is supported by the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) – is helping conservationists to build up a bank of knowledge about how Scotland's wildlife is adjusting to our changing climate.

All of the readers' photographs and records will be passed on to Biological Recording in Scotland (Brisc), with a selection of notes and pictures due to appear online and in The Scotsman next week.

Brisc will distribute readers' e-mails and letters among its network of local record centres and biological recorders. Results from SWT wildlife reserves will be passed on to the trust.

You can e-mail records to or post them to: Wildlife Watch, The Scotsman, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS.

Please note down: the name of the species, the date you saw it, where you saw it (preferably including a postcode or a six-figure grid reference) and your own name and contact details.

We want to hear about any species you spot, from birds and mammals to insects and any plants flowering at unusual times of the year.

Records can be from your garden, local park or the countryside and coast. Recent Wildlife Watch successes included the first record of spindle ermine caterpillars in Fife, spotted by Sandy Edwards at St Andrews Botanic Gardens during the June round of our nature survey.

In September, tiny luminous fungi were photographed by Nick Martin in Ayrshire, and could be the first time this effect has been caught on camera.

As well as the rare sightings, Wildlife Watch produces hundred of records of more common species, which can also be useful to conservationists.

Other wildlife projects arelooking for your help too

BTO Garden BirdWatch

WEEK by week, an army of 16,500 armchair birdwatchers throughout the UK tell the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) about garden birds, such as blue tits (pictured). The project is the world's largest year-round study of garden birds. BTO recorders were the first to note a drop in greenfinch numbers in 2006. They also monitor insects and other garden dwellers.

• Call Mike Toms on 01842 750050 or visit www.bto.org/gbw

Bird Atlas 2007-11

MORE than 50,000 volunteers are expected to spend the next three winters and breeding seasons cataloguing the number and spread of birds in the British Isles. The atlas will be used as the basis for conservation work. Run by the Scottish Ornithologists' Club, BTO and BirdWatch Ireland.

• Visit www.birdatlas.net or call Dawn Balmer at the BTO on 01842 750050.

Butterfly Conservation

ONGOING surveys being carried out by Butterfly Conservation include Butterflies for the New Millennium and Moths Count, both of which cover the whole of the British Isles.

• Call 01786 447753 or visit www.butterflyconservation.org or www.mothscount.org

British Dragonfly Society

LISTS of local dragonfly and damselfly recorders are available online. Using monitoring, the British Dragonfly Society aims to protect the insects and their habitats.

• www.dragonflysoc.org.uk

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

TO MARK the 30th anniversary of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, an hour on Saturday 24 or Sunday 25 January watching the birds in your garden or local park.

• Download a form from www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch or call 01767 680551.