CAIRNGORMS CAPER­CAIL­LIE PRO­JECT Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Work­ing with the dog walk­ing com­munity Septem­ber 2022 to Septem­ber 2024

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Stages 1 and 2: Listening

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We listened to 265 mem­bers of the dog walk­ing com­munity in Badenoch and Strathspey.

265 … Dog own­ers Com­mer­cial dog walk­ers Dog train­ers Dog breed­ers Vets Dog groomers People who work dogs pro­fes­sion­ally People with assist­ance dogs

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They told us that …

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Their primary drivers for going out­doors with their dogs are to exer­cise their dogs first and fore­most; enjoy nature, recharge their bat­ter­ies and enhance their emo­tion­al health and men­tal wellbeing.

To bond with my dog/​s To enjoy nature To enhance To exer­cise my emo­tion­al my dog/​s well­being To enhance To train my health or days men­tal well­being It’s my job my phys­ic­al health To social­ise my dog/​s To see awe- inspir­ing things, places or views To help friends / fam­ily / neigh­bours with their dog/​s To escape To stim­u­late To meet oth­er and recharge my cre­ativ­ity my bat­ter­ies / be inspired people

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Most feel happy, relaxed and respons­ible when they’re out­doors with their dogs. A small num­ber feel anxious, restric­ted and annoyed.

Annoyed Stressed Wel­come Anxious Con­fid­ent Ener­gised Restric­ted Enjoy­ment Ful­filled Happy Proud Relaxed Responsible

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Wood­lands and forests are their favour­ite places to walk their dogs.

Fields Loch­sides Woodland/​Forest Riverb­anks Moun­tains Dog park Villages

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The vast major­ity feel a respons­ib­il­ity towards the envir­on­ment where they walk their dogs and are will­ing to change beha­viours to pro­tect the environment.

I am con­fid­ent in chal­len­ging to pro­mot­ing and dis­cuss­ing respons­ible dog own­er­ship with dog own­ers I don’t feel l know enough about the impact that dogs can have on the envir­on­ment I am wor­ried my I think there are dog(s) will chase few­er places now where I can live­stock exer­cise my dog(s) / oth­er people’s dogs off lead I want to exer­cise my dog(s) away from oth­er dogs I feel a I want to be a respons­ib­il­ity respons­ible dog towards the envir­on­ment where I walk my not always easy pro­tect the dog(s) / oth­er people’s dogs nat­ur­al envir­on­ment I am will­ing to change cer­tain owner/​dog dog(s) / oth­er people’s dogs walk­er but it’s It’s gen­er­ally not clear where lead I think it’s easy to be a respons­ible dog own­er / dog walk­er beha­viours to dogs can be off exer­cise my on a lead I find it

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Sig­nage is their pre­ferred source of inform­a­tion. After sig­nage, most respond­ents are likely to use inform­a­tion shared by oth­er dog owners.

Sig­nage Posters Inter­act­ive app cre­ated by dog walk­ers for dog walk­ers Fly­ers, maps, leaf­lets — things to carry with you Advice from can­ine pro­fes­sion­als, e.g. dog train­ers, vets Guid­ance from Rangers Inform­a­tion from Online videos Online blog posts Events, e.g. Top oth­er dog own­ers Dogs Day Out

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Most respond­ents think ​‘close con­trol’ means a dog being on a short lead.

Dog on a short lead Dog on a long lead Dog at heel Dog in sight Dog on the path Dog respons­ive to com­mands I don’t know

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Sig­nage which is con­sist­ent and pos­it­ive through­out the strath is the most import­ant idea to the major­ity of respond­ents. Oth­er import­ant ideas are more dog-friendly routes and trails, and an inter­act­ive digit­al plat­form for dog walk­ers to share and access dog-friendly routes and advice.

Con­sist­ent, pos­it­ive si gnage for dog walk­ers through­out the strath More inform­at­ive sig­nage and inform­a­tion for dog walk­ers More traffic An inter­act­ive More dog light sig­nage as used in Boat of Garten, e.g. green sign = off lead / red sign = on lead app with dog friendly routes friendly walks and trails for dif­fer­ent times of the year and live updates, e.g. sens­it­ive areas to avoid, areas where live­stock are present etc. Leaf­lets pro­mot­ing dog friendly routes and trails More fenced dog parks / zones dur­ing zones all year round Dog free Dog free play areas for­sens­it­ive times dogs to exer­cise and play off lead of year ​‘Wild­life Friendly’ accred­it­a­tion for Good Dog Award Scheme Free dog obed­i­ence train­ing tailored for res­id­ent dog dog walk­ing own­ers in the ser­vices Nation­al Park Dog enrich­ment and train­ing infra­struc­ture activ­it­ies, e.g. on or near my usu­al routes Free dog enrich­ment train­ing agil­ity, sensory

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Their oth­er most Top two … import­ant ideas?

1. Free, book­able dog exer­cise areas, spe­cific­ally in wood­lands and access­ible by foot from communities.

2. More inform­a­tion and know­ledge shared to enable more respons­ible dog walking.

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Stage 3: Action planning

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Using the research and through a series of facil­it­ated work­shops, we developed an Action Plan with mem­bers of the dog own­ing community.

The vis­ion A dog friendly Cairngorms where wild­life can thrive.

Pri­or­ity actions

1. Devel­op free dog walk­ing spaces in Badenoch and Strath­spey, ideally in wood­lands and access­ible on foot from com­munit­ies, to meet the needs of dogs and their own­ers away from sens­it­ive areas for wildlife.

2. Build know­ledge around caper­cail­lie by devel­op­ing an act­ive com­munity of dog own­ers in Badenoch and Strath­spey with inform­a­tion and under­stand­ing at its heart.

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We cre­ated an ini­tial map of spaces, places and routes in Badenoch and Strath­spey val­ued by res­id­ent dog own­ers and com­mer­cial dog walkers.

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We scoped a paw­print rat­ing sys­tem for the mapped areas used by dog own­ers. A sim­il­ar rat­ing sys­tem is used suc­cess­fully by the Nation­al Trust as part of their Dogs Wel­come project.

Simon Reeve TV presenter & adven­turer In part­ner­ship with Forthglade NATOTE PET FOOD The Nation­al Trust and Forthglade have launched the Dogs Wel­come project

“The pro­ject provides dog own­ers with essen­tial inform­a­tion ahead of their vis­it to help them get the most out of their day. The inform­a­tion is also designed to help those without a four-legged friend enjoy their vis­it too.”

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We developed the paw­print rat­ing sys­tem with a view to pilot­ing it in Boat of Garten and Abernethy.

Dogs are wel­come here. Oppor­tun­it­ies for walk­ing your dog off the lead are lim­ited because pro­tec­ted wild­life lives here and is eas­ily dis­turbed by dogs.

Oth­er haz­ards to your dog include live­stock and open access to roads.

Dogs are very wel­come here. You will find the best oppor­tun­it­ies for both you and your dog to enjoy.

It is very unlikely that pro­tec­ted wild­life will be dis­turbed by your dog here, or that you will encounter live­stock or open access to roads.

• These are draft descrip­tions to give a fla­vour of the approach.

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Draft bound­ary for the pilot area

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To increase the like­li­hood of a suc­cess­ful pilot with­in the short pro­ject times­cales, we nar­rowed the focus to Boat of Garten and com­mis­sioned the Lane Agency to help us devel­op and deliv­er the pilot using ​‘nudges’ based on beha­vi­our­al principles.

Lane

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We focused on four key beha­vi­our­al prin­ciples and cre­ated the ​‘Neigh­bourly Advice’ campaign.

NEIGH­BOURLY ADVICE

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We defined the inten­ded out­come for the cam­paign and launched the cam­paign in April at the begin­ning of the caper­cail­lie breed­ing season.

Boat of Garten dog walk­ers have changed their mind­set and habitu­al dog walk­ing prac­tices to pre­vent dis­turb­ance to the loc­al Caper­cail­lie population.

Pro­ject outcome

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Stage 4: Delivery

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How can you and you dog con­tin­ue being g caper­cail­lie neighbo Beha­vi­our­al prin­ciple #1 Mere expos­ure effect People tend to devel­op a lik­ing or dis­lik­ing for things merely because they are famil­i­ar with them, so the cam­paign con­sisted of mul­tiple touch points with uni­ver­sal imagery deployed around the vil­lage and online on the com­munity channels.

PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US PLEASE BE A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR Walk your dog on a short lead here. BAIRNS ON BOARD PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US THIS IS A CAPER­CAIL­LIE-FRIENDLY WOOD STRATH­SPEY Tod­dler Group Z Z Z 2 EPAIRO 2 CAFE RNCORMS SUMMED PLEASE DEST­LIRE LIS TRY NOT TO MCCAR­RT OF GARTE ATL­LIE-FRIENDLY WO BAIRNS ON BOARD 2 THANK YOU BOAT OF GARTEN FOR BEING GREAT NEIGH­BOURS PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US WE’RE BUSY RIGHT NOW THANKS FOR BEING A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR You can now walk your dog off-lead. PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US

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Beha­vi­our­al prin­ciple #2 Mere own­er­ship effect People who feel own­er­ship over some­thing tend to eval­u­ate it more pos­it­ively than people who do not, so the cam­paign mes­saging was framed around the community’s own­er­ship of loc­al caper­cail­lie con­ser­va­tion, in part­ner­ship with the land manager.

Keep up the good work Thanks to the care taken by Boat of Garten res­id­ents and Strath­spey Estate, there are now twice as many caper­cail­lie liv­ing in Deshar Woods com­pared to just four years ago. In fact, the birds in our woods now account for 2% of the nation­al pop­u­la­tion! But, with only 532 caper­cail­lie left in the UK, keep­ing them safe has nev­er been more import­ant They cts about ail­lie Now one or ​‚the UK caper­cail­lie pop­u­la­tion has declined by over 50% in the last five years. They mate in April The birds gath­er at tra­di­tion­al mat­ing sites called leks where the malon How our do be good cap bbours Fro in the w lead in the se likely to be dis­turbe and

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Beha­vi­our­al prin­ciple #3 Com­mit­ment and con­sist­ency After an ini­tial com­mit­ment, people feel com­pelled to align future actions with that com­mit­ment for con­sist­ency, so at the end of the cam­paign we invited res­id­ents to an event to tell them about the pos­it­ive impact of their com­mit­ment and to inspire consistency.

OGS WEL­COME NEIGH­BOURLY GET TOGETH­ER This Sat­urday, 10am to 3pm Boat of Garten Com­munity Hall Caper­cail­lie talks | Home bak­ing | Chil­drens’ activ­it­ies | Raffle | Stalls Scent­work | Dog groom­ing | Man­trail­ing | Bon­fire Field proposal

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Beha­vi­our­al prin­ciple #4 Feed­back loops Feed­back can rein­force pos­it­ive beha­viour and motiv­ate con­tin­ued effort, so we shared caper­cail­lie 10/04/2024 05:29:26 WED KEEN and Ranger patrol data with res­id­ents to provide 12 10 8 Dog on a short lead Dog off lead but on the path and under close con­trol Dog off lead and not under close con­trol feed­back on their 4 pro­gress towards the 2 Broods (fam­il­ies) in Deshar Woods goal of con­tinu­ing to keep 0 Anagach Boat caper­cail­lie safe whilst 2 still enjoy­ing the woods. 2021 2022 2023 2024

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Cam­paign ele­ment #1 Leaf­lets delivered to all homes We delivered a cam­paign leaf­let to every home in Boat of Garten to share with all res­id­ents, includ­ing dog own­ers, inform­a­tion about the loc­al caper­cail­lie pop­u­la­tion, the chal­lenges they face and ways to help look after them.

PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US CAIRNGORMS CAPER­CAIL­LIE PRO­JECT Cairngres

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Cam­paign ele­ment #2 Posters in com­munity spaces Busi­nesses in the vil­lage includ­ing the café, vil­lage shop, cara­van park and com­munity hall, dis­played posters rein­for­cing the mes­sages shared in the leaf­lets delivered to all homes.

PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US CAIRNGORMS CAPER­CAIL­LIE PRO­JECT Cairngorms Mhon­aidh How can you and your dog con­tin­ue being good caper­cail­lie neigh­bours? From 1 April to 31 August in Deshar Wood… Please keep your dog on the path and under close con­trol wherever you are in the wood. Walk your dog on a short lead where asked in the area marked as sens­it­ive for caper­cail­lie. • Use our new caper­cail­lie-friendly map of the wood if you want to plan a route that avoids the area where caper­cail­lie are most likely to be dis­turbed. Bag and bin your dog’s poo, or take it with you. Keep an eye on the bohfire fied (the moor at the top of the vil­lage) which we’re work­ing to make dog-friendly. Find out more about caper­cail­lie at cairngormscapercaillie.scot STRATH­SPEY WINDS OAST

• Tod­dler Group 00 EPAIRO CAFE URNGORMS SUM­MER 2024 DAY 19 MAY NDAY 16 JUNE DAY 22 SEPTEM­BER 20M DAT DE GARTEN OMMUNITY HALL PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US 20 Septem­ber 2024 How can you and your dog con­tin­ue being good caper­cail­lie neigh­bours? Walk your deg h the cred morlind on wood if you want to plan art the orvo where cap­utty be stated Boy and bin your moke dag trendy MCCARRY OF GARTEN BOAT OF How can you and your dog con­tin­ue being good caper­cail­lie neigh­bour BOAT FAPER­I­ENCES 410/​car CAR BOOT SOATH­AIL Boat of arte Com­munity Hall Express­ive Move­ment BOAT kalks

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Cam­paign ele­ment #3 Inform­a­tion pan­els and leaf­lets We installed inform­a­tion pan­els and leaf­lets at the entrances to the woods rein­for­cing the mes­saging else­where in the village.

THIS IS A CAPER­CAIL­LIE-FRIENDLY WOOD Thanks to the care taken by Boat of Garten res­id­ents and Strath­spey Estate, Deshar Woods is home to a happy caper­cail­lie pop­u­la­tion. To help keep up this good work, from 1 April to 31 August: Please walk your dog on a short lead in the sens­it­ive area where the birds are most likely to mate and breed. Be aware that caper­cail­lie nest and raise their young through­out the wood, so to help avoid dis­turb­ing them please keep your dog on the path and under close con­trol. If in doubt, please walk your dog on a lead. If spooked, caper­cail­lie may not return to their nests and fam­il­ies may not regroup. one mile one kilo­metre 7 Deshar Wood A95 Milton Deshar Road 7 red squir­rel feed­er BOAT OF GARTEN Sta­tion Square Post Office, Com­munity Hall Milten Loch Caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive area Fain K Hill سمسسسس 7 Spey­side Way Strath­spey Rail­way Kin­churdy Rd golf course K 7 Strath­spey Rail­way River Spey Loch Vaa The Yard Spey­side Way Lo D Cairngorm CAIRNGORMS CAPER­CARLIE SCOT­TISH OUT­DOOR ACCESS CODE Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Based on Ord­nance Sur­vey map­ping with the pass PRO­JECT NORTH road track path sta­tion toi­lets P car park bus stop THIS IS A CAPER­CAIL­LIE-FRIENDLY WO BOAT OF GARTEN BAIRNS ON BOARD Z Z 2 2

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Cam­paign ele­ment #4 Sig­nage on paths in the woods We installed sig­nage on paths and at key junc­tions in the woods to rein­force the mes­saging on the inform­a­tion pan­els at the entrances to the woods.

PLEASE BE A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR Walk your dog on a short lead here. PLEASE BE A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR Keep your dog on the path and under close con­trol. THANKS FOR BEING A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR You can now walk your dog off-lead. CAPERCAILLE

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Cam­paign ele­ment #5 Park Author­ity Rangers The Park Author­ity Ranger team were on hand in and around the woods through­out the cam­paign pro­mot­ing adher­ence to the mes­saging. Ranger/​Maor-dùthca Wind Farm ger Ser­vice Calmgorms AOKAL MAK Columbia

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Cam­paign ele­ment #6 Social media assets Busi­nesses in the vil­lage and the com­munity Face­book group shared inform­a­tion online, rein­for­cing mes­saging on the ground.

Avie­lochan Cot­tages 7 May at 16:30 Help us keep the caper safe! 5 facts about the caper­cail­lie… They’re extremely rare only 532 are left in the UK, and 2% of those live in the Deshar Woods, around Boat of Garten. They mate in April — gath­er­ing at leks where the males per­form to attract the females. They nest in May the females nest any­where on the forest floor includ­ing near paths, and they lay around eight eggs which hatch in late May. They fledge in Septem­ber the chicks wander the forest floor feed­ing on insects from May to late August. They’re eas­ily dis­turbed and may not mate or may aban­don their eggs and chicks leav­ing them vul­ner­able to pred­at­ors and the ele­ments. Togeth­er with the Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject, the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is encour­aging bird­watch­ers, pho­to­graph­ers and wild­life guides to Lek It Be, and not to look for caper­cail­lie at this crit­ic­al time. Find out more about the Lek It Be cam­paign at https://lekitbe.scot/ Inform­a­tion provided by the Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject and the Cairngorms Nation­al Park. Cairngorms Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject Cairngorms Nation­al Park

caper­cail­lie #RareBirds #Scot­tish­Wild­life #Avie­lochan­Cot­tages #BoatOfGarten

Cairngorm­sNa­tion­al­Park #Cairngorm­s­Ca­per­cailie Project

PLEASE TRY NOT TO DIS­TURB US Boat of Garten Co… Nest­ing is under­way in our loc­al caper­cail­lie areas, includ­ing Boat of Garten As we hope to bring news of some new arrivals, it’s import­ant to be caper­cail­lie-aware in Deshar Woods and try not to dis­rupt these eas­ily-spooked birds. A dis­turbed caper­cail­lie hen may flee the nest and not return. That means her eggs are unlikely to sur­vive, or her young chicks will be exposed to pred­at­ors and the ele­ments. BAIRNS ON BOARD Avie­lochan Cot­tages Z Z Z Z Z Z Z

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Cam­paign ele­ment #7 End of cam­paign event We invited res­id­ents to an event at the end of the cam­paign to thank them for being great caper­cail­lie neigh­bours and tell them about the pos­it­ive impact they had on help­ing to keep caper­cail­lie safe from dis­turb­ance this spring.

DOGS WEL­COME NEIGH­BOURLY GET TOGETH­ER This Sat­urday, 10am to 3pm Boat of Garten Com­munity Hall Caper­cail­lie talks | Home bak­ing | Chil­drens’ activ­it­ies | Raffle | Stalls Scent­work | Dog groom­ing | Man­trail­ing | Bon­fire Field pro­pos­al THANK YOU BOAT OF GARTEN FOR BEING GREAT NEIGH­BOURS HELLO BOAT FOLK! Thanks to the care taken by Boat of Garten res­id­ents and Strath­spey Estate, Deshar Woods is home to 2% of the nation­al caper­cail­lie pop­u­la­tion. YOU’VE MADE A POS­IT­IVE IMPACT Caper­cail­lie are an eas­ily-spooked bird, so any unex­pec­ted vis­it­ors can scare them away. But in Deshar Woods this year, because more res­id­ents have been fol­low­ing the signs, walk­ing their dogs on a lead and using the new caper­cail­lie-friendly map, nest­ing caper­cail­lie and moth­ers with chicks have been giv­en the best chance of thriv­ing. This has helped the birds have a suc­cess­ful breed­ing sea­son, wel­com­ing TWICE as many new feathered fam­il­ies than last year. When there are so few of these mag­ni­fi­cent birds left, every healthy chick is some­thing to cel­eb­rate! BOAT OF GARTEN Z HERE’S TO NEXT YEAR Z Z Let’s keep up the good work. If you’ve any ideas or feed­back, we’d love to hear it. CAIRNCORMS Cairng CAPER­CAIL­LIE PRO­JECT Nation­al Ptek

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Our find­ings …

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Poten­tial influ­ence of the Lek It Be cam­paign The Lek It Be cam­paign tar­geted at bird­watch­ers, pho­to­graph­ers and wild­life guides was run­ning at the same time as the Neigh­bourly Advice cam­paign, so may have also influ­enced the beha­viour of dog own­ers in Boat of Garten.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a Mhon­aidh Ruaidh Please do not go look­ing for caper­cail­lie this spring. This breed­ing sea­son lek it be. Caper­caille are pro­tec­ted under UK law. This means it is a crim­in­al offence to dis­turb the birds dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Dis­turb­ance is one of the pres­sures that is push­ing the spe­cies closer to extinction.

LekltBe

f SCOT­TISH OUT­DOOR ACCESS CODE outdooraccess-scotland.scot POLICE SCOT­LAND Keep­ing people safe POILEAS ALBA

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Slightly more people walk­ing dogs From 1 April to 5 May, between the hours of 5.30am and 9am when caper­cail­lie are lekking and highly vul­ner­able to dis­turb­ance, Rangers on patrol encountered slightly more people walk­ing their dogs in Boat of Garten com­pared to the same peri­od in 2023.

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 Aver­age num­ber of dog walk­ers encountered each day dur­ing dawn patrols in Boat of Garten in 2023 and 2024 0 2024 2023

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More dogs walked away from the sens­it­ive area 30 for caper­cail­lie 25 Rangers encountered more dogs being walked 20 in less sens­it­ive parts of 15 the wood in Boat of Garten. 10 5 Dog walk­ing beha­viour in and out­side the caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive area in Boat of Garten in 2024 0 Sens­it­ive area Out­side the sens­it­ive area

• Com­par­at­ive data not avail­able for 2023 Dog on lead Dog off lead but under close con­trol Dog off lead and not under close control

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Num­ber of dog walk­ers encountered in and out­side caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive areas across five dif­fer­ent sites in 2024 More caper­cail­lie friendly beha­viours com­pared to Anagach 60 Anagach is a com­par­able 50 site also patrolled by 40 Rangers – there, 60% of dogs encountered were 30 being walked in the sens­it­ive area for 20 caper­cail­lie com­pared to 10 23% in Boat of Garten. 0 Aber­nethy Anagach Bad­aguish Bad­den­gorm and Craigmore and Tolquhonie Boat of Garten Tomvaich

• Com­par­at­ive data not avail­able for 2023 Sens­it­ive area Out­side the sens­it­ive area

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Dog on lead Dog off lead but under close con­trol All dogs encountered in the sens­it­ive area were under con­trol All dogs encountered in the caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive area in Boat of Garten were under con­trol with the major­ity of dog own­ers adher­ing to the cam­paign mes­saging and walk­ing their dog on a lead. Dog walk­ing beha­viour in the caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive area in Boat of Garten in 2024 27% 4 dogs 73% 11 dogs

• Com­par­at­ive data not avail­able for 2023

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Pro­por­tion­ally more dogs were encountered on a lead com­pared to last year Num­ber of dog walk­ers encountered walk­ing their dog on and off lead in Boat of Garten in 2023 and 2024 80 Dog on lead In Boat of Garten woods over­all, Rangers 60 Dog off lead 40 encountered 91% of dogs being walked on a lead 20 this year com­pared to 85% of dogs in 2023. 0 2024 2023

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More dogs walked on a lead com­pared to oth­er patrolled sites Com­pared to oth­er 12 Dog walk­ing beha­viour in caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive areas across five dif­fer­ent sites in 2024 10 Ranger patrolled sites, more dogs in Boat of Garten were encountered being walked on a lead regard­less of wheth­er they were in a 8 6 4 sens­it­ive caper­cail­lie area or not. This graph shows beha­viours with­in sens­it­ive 2 0 Aber­nethy Anagach Bad­aguish Bad­den­gorm caper­cail­lie areas. and Craigmore and Tolquhonie Boat of Garten Tom­vaich Dog on lead Dog off lead but under close con­trol Dog off lead and not under close control

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This graph shows dog walk­ing beha­viours out­side of sens­it­ive caper­cail­lie areas. 30 25 20 15 10 5 Dog walk­ing beha­viour out­side caper­cail­lie sens­it­ive areas across five dif­fer­ent sites in 2024 0 Aber­nethy and Craigmore Anagach Bad­aguish Bad­den­gorm and Tolquhonie Boat of Garten Tom­vaich Dog on lead Dog off lead but under close con­trol Dog off lead and not under close control

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Online engage­ment was pos­it­ive Cam­paign posts tar­geted at Boat of Garten res­id­ents received over 1,000 engage­ments which were over­whelm­ingly positive.

Kirsty Taylor We paid atten­tion to the friendly advice on the signs last week

PLEASE BE A GOOD NEIGH­BOUR Walk your dog short lead ben 1 w Like Reply Example response to the cam­paign on Face­book. 500

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SEARCH INTRA Have yo seen t Res­id­ents engaged with feed­back oppor­tun­it­ies Over 100 people atten­ded a Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er event at the end of the cam­paign. Inform­a­tion was shared at the event about how caper­cail­lie fared dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son and res­id­ents were invited to share their thoughts about the campaign.

DOGS WEL­COM E NEIGH­BOURLY GET TOGETH­ER This Sat­urday, 10am to 3pm Boat of Garten Com­munity Hall Caper­cail­lie talks | Home bak­ing | Chil­drens’ activ­it­ies | Raffle | Stalls Scent­work | Dog groom­ing | Man­trail­ing | Bon­fire Field pro­pos­al Grange Garage

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Pos­it­ive feed­back was shared about the caper­cail­lie talks at the Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er The talks delivered at the event saw caper­cail­lie and Ranger patrol data shared with res­id­ents. 10/04/2024 05:29:26 WED KEEN 12 10 8 Dog on a short lead Dog off lead but on the path and under close con­trol Dog off lead and not under close con­trol 6 4 The aim was to provide feed­back, rein­force 2 Broods (fam­il­ies) in Deshar Woods 0 Anagach Boat pos­it­ive beha­viours and 2 motiv­ate con­tin­ued effort. 2021 2022 2023 2024

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Caper­cail­lie pro­ductiv­ity increased in the woods com­pared 2.00 1.75- 1.50- to last year A sum­mary of this Chicks per hen 1.25 1.00 0.75 data from the most 0.50 recent years was 0.25 shared with res­id­ents 0.00 at the Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er. Num­ber of chicks per hen in Boat of Garten woods 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

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All cam­paign ele­ments were seen Signs in the woods about walk­ing your dog on a lead Col­lect­ively, the Leaf­let pos­ted through your door res­id­ents that atten­ded 12 3 10 Signs in the woods about keep­ing your dog on the path and under close con­trol 10 Pan­els at entrances to the woods the Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er repor­ted see­ing all the cam­paign 9 Inform­a­tion on social media 3 8 ele­ments, with the signs Poster and leaf­lets in the vil­lage shop 4 7 in the woods and the Leaf­lets at entrances to the woods 7 7 leaf­lets delivered to all Poster and leaf­lets in Osprey Café 7 5 homes being seen by 4 Poster and leaf­lets in the com­munity hall 5 the most people. Con­ver­sa­tions with Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject staff 5 4 The graph is based on num­ber of votes Con­ver­sa­tions with Rangers 6 4 Seen 5 Not seen by attendees at the event. Con­ver­sa­tions with Seafield Estate staff 2

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Per­ceived effect­ive­ness of cam­paign ele­ments varied

Signs in the woods about keep­ing your dog on the path and under close con­trol Signs in the woods about walk­ing your dog on a lead 4 2 8 7 Leaf­let pos­ted through your door Res­id­ents at the Get 5 7 5 4 5 3 Pan­els at entrances to the woods 1 5 1 Inform­a­tion on social media Togeth­er shared mixed views about the 2 3 1 Poster and leaf­lets in the vil­lage shop 1 2 1 Leaf­lets at entrances to the woods 2 effect­ive­ness of the Poster and leaf­lets in Osprey Café 2 2 2 Poster and leaf­lets in the com­munity hall 1 cam­paign ele­ments, with Good the signs in the woods about walk­ing your dog on a lead 1 Con­ver­sa­tions with Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject staff 1 1 Ok Con­ver­sa­tions with Rangers con­sidered the most 1 Con­ver­sa­tions with Seafield Estate staff Poor effect­ive element.

The graph is based on num­ber of votes.

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Some res­id­ents shared pos­it­ive com­ments about the cam­paign elements

“New graph­ics and inform­a­tion is a lot bet­ter — it’s enga­ging and more notice­able.” ​“I’ve enjoyed the new friendly pub­lic face of the information.”

“Rangers and stuff have been kind and friendly.” ​“Dog versus caper­cail­lie map very use­ful for let­ting my dog off.”

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Some res­id­ents raised con­cerns and questions

“Huge rise in bird­watch­ers this sum­mer.” NB: Lek It Be patrol reports this year show a 55% reduc­tion in bird­watch­ers encountered com­pared to last year. ​“Why advert­ise where you can see caper­cail­lie?” (re map on pan­el) ​“Con­cerned about lack of park­ing and it impact­ing where we have our vil­lage bon­fire night and mak­ing an impact of wild­life.” This com­ment relates to the pro­posed dog exer­cise area on the Bon­fire Field.

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Res­id­ents shared mixed views about a pro­posed dog exer­cise area This cam­paign ele­ment took time to devel­op so was shared with res­id­ents for the first time at the Get Togeth­er. Work is needed to gath­er views on the pro­pos­al from a rep­res­ent­at­ive sample of residents.

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Recom­mend­a­tions .. …

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Three main recom­mend­a­tions based on all the data and insights gathered

1. Don’t stop It’s essen­tial to main­tain dia­logue to avoid dam­aging newly formed rela­tion­ships and rein­for­cing per­cep­tions of top-down author­ity by the Park Author­ity or land managers.
2. Invest the time, plan the next steps. Ideally, any ongo­ing work with the dog walk­ing com­munity in Boat of Garten should be led by an exper­i­enced staff mem­ber with ded­ic­ated time to build rela­tion­ships and con­tinu­ity. A known con­tact helps foster long-term know­ledge and con­nec­tions needed for change. Revis­it­ing the Com­munity Action Plan­ning mod­el from the Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject and adopt­ing a more com­munity-led approach could now yield great­er success.

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Three main recom­mend­a­tions based on all the data and insights gathered

1. Gath­er the data to inform the dis­cus­sions. Any neg­at­ive con­ver­sa­tions at the Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er often stemmed from dif­fer­ing per­cep­tions of real­ity, like increased bird­watch­ers or issues with dogs in Deshar Woods. Some res­id­ents believe there’s no issue, while oth­ers dis­agree. Where there are entrenched views, lengthy debates or data prob­ably won’t change minds but where there are oppor­tun­it­ies to inform dis­cus­sions, think about the data worth gath­er­ing ready for next year and the most effect­ive ways to do that.

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Oth­er key

1. Allow time recommendations
2. Use beha­vi­our­al change prin­ciples based on the
3. Estab­lish a baseline under­stand­ing project’s learning
4. Ensure stake­hold­er involve­ment from working
5. Increase com­munity par­ti­cip­a­tion in con­sulta­tion phases with the dog walk­ing community
6. Improve feed­back process
7. Equip pro­ject team and wider ​‘advoc­ates’
8. Mon­it­or­ing and observation

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Where and what next?

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Reflect­ing on the project’s learn­ing so far work­ing with the dog walk­ing com­munity and recom­mend­a­tions in response, these are our thoughts about where and what we do next … Allow time Con­tin­ue work­ing with the dog walk­ing com­munity in Boat of Garten to allow more time to learn and build on the momentum and rela­tion­ships developed to date. Use beha­vi­our­al change prin­ciples Con­tin­ue to use the beha­vi­our­al change prin­ciples in Boat of Garten employed through the Neigh­bourly Advice cam­paign, i.e., devel­op levels of expos­ure, own­er­ship, com­mit­ment and con­sist­ency and use of feed­back loops. Estab­lish a baseline under­stand­ing We’ve estab­lished a baseline under­stand­ing to a degree, but there is more to learn about the motiv­a­tions, val­ues and beliefs of res­id­ent dog own­ers in Boat of Garten to help inform work in the vil­lage and elsewhere.

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Con­tin­ued … Estab­lish a baseline under­stand­ing (con­tin­ued) Estab­lish a baseline under­stand­ing of first-time and infre­quent vis­it­ors with dogs in Boat of Garten to bet­ter under­stand this audi­ence. Research from the Caper­cail­lie Pro­ject shows that first-time and infre­quent vis­it­ors behave dif­fer­ently from long term vis­it­ors, who act more like res­id­ents. Ensure stake­hold­er involve­ment Not all stake­hold­ers related to vis­it­ors in Boat of Garten engaged with the cam­paign, e.g. accom­mod­a­tion pro­viders, so there’s room to ensure their involve­ment next year. Res­id­ents also sug­ges­ted host­ing a Neigh­bourly Get Togeth­er event at the start of the breed­ing sea­son next year, to boost stake­hold­er engagement.

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Con­tin­ued … Increase com­munity par­ti­cip­a­tion in con­sulta­tion phases There’s a need to con­sult with more Boat of Garten res­id­ents about the pro­posed dog exer­cise area on the Bon­fire Field. Improve feed­back pro­cess Only a small num­ber of res­id­ents par­ti­cip­ated in the two