Trust Constitution Adopted

A wee bit of Nairn local history was made tonight when the River Nairn Swans and Waterfowl Trust had it's first official Trustee meeting. We met at the Chairman's home in Fishertown to discuss the Constitution of the Trust. Authorise and sign Banking mandate papers, and get an update on membership details. Also discussed were our aims and strategy for the current year. Paramount for the Trust is the protection of the River Wildlife and their environment, they are unable to speak up, so the Trust will speak for them. A clean and healthy river full of life, is a magnet for everyone, a local asset that must be cared for. 
This will include responsible dog ownership, where all dog owners should conform to the Scottish Outdoor Access code. This is in everyone's interest, including the wildlife ! Half of Scotland's birds are ground nesting and need an element of protection. Dog owners are responsible for their dogs, this means cleaning up after them and keeping them under close control around wildlife. The Scottish Outdoor access code states that close control means the dog trained well enough to walk close by the owner, if the owner does not have  recall ability then the dog should be kept on a lead no longer than 6 feet. With the proliferation of dog ownership in Nairn, it's time the authorities bit the bullet and started taking control of the dog situation. Everyone complains about dog mess and bad owners giving all the good dog owners a bad name. The Trust intend to have some positive input to this perennial problem. People have to be made aware that waterbirds are vulnerable many months of the year.

 An example of the Swans for instance, they take nearly 2 months to nest and hatch their young.Then the Pen takes 6 weeks during the summer to Moult when she cannot fly, after she regrows her new feathers the cob takes 6 weeks for his moult when he cannot fly, all this time they and their cygnets are vulnerable to dog attack. All the ducks are also ground nesting and their ducklings are constantly under threat until they are 10 weeks old and able to fly. Dogs being allowed to run free chasing and sometimes killing wildlife, is just not acceptable even in an urban environment.