The Alba Explorers @AlbaExplorers

There’s a hidden world beneath our feet! A teaspoon of healthy soil can contain billions of microorganisms, alongside fungi, worms and other tiny decomposers, all breaking down dead material and recycling nutrients for new plants. Healthy living soil can also hold more water and store more carbon. Mini mission: lift a plant pot, log or stone. How many different living things can you spot in 10 seconds? #MiniMeadows #LivingSoil #OutdoorLearning

Why do flowers bother being so colourful? 🌼 It's not for us. Flowers can't move to find a mate, so they use insects to carry their pollen. Bright colours are the advert: 'food here!' And each flower's shape matches its visitor, flat and open for easy landers, deep tubes for long-tongued visitors only. Mini mission: Find a flower with an insect on it. Is it walking on top, or pushing its way inside? #MiniMeadows #PollinatorFriendly #biodiverseschool

The Alba Mini Meadow Movement is underway, and the first session's results are in! 39 P5 pupils at Rowantree Primary turned a bare patch of playground into a permanent 10m² wildflower meadow in a day. 📈 +34% average understanding gain 🌱 20%→85% explaining concepts unprompted ♻️ 35%→90% on carbon storage Why it matters: a mini meadow only works if plants get to complete their life cycle. A flower mown before it seeds never feeds a bird. A stem cut short never shelters an insect. Let it grow, and the whole chain follows. #MiniMeadows #letitgrow #biodiverseschool #outdoorlearning @RowantreePS Funded by @scotgov's Climate Engagement Fund

Our sister CIC is doing incredible work - follow on Facebook for the 40-week digital environmental education campaign on this Scottish Government funded project

@theiaincameron Love this kind of post. Right up our street!

@Con_Tomlinson Seems like a good lad. Shame that he's in a party run by liars. Will be a real shame when @RestoreBritain_ take the spot. Hopefully he sees where the real patriots are.

@theiaincameron @Starkey_Comics Maw. Dunfermline native 💪

Where should illegal migrant detention centres should be located? Reform want to vindictively target Brits in potential Green constituencies to make a point and house illegals next to them - that is their choice. But I don't believe that we have time for this petty nonsense. A Restore Britain Government will not abandon residents of those constituencies who have a Green MP elected on 25% of the vote. That is not fair, and more importantly - it is not efficient. Restore Britain will focus on solving the problem, in the most ruthlessly efficient manner possible. Objective number one is quite clear - remove the illegal migrant population. That is not going to be completed through vengeful gimmicks. We won’t punish hardworking British men and women because their neighbours voted Green. We need a serious, systematic approach utilising the current state apparatus at first in order to rapidly scale our removal capabilities - our deportation paper goes into great detail about how to achieve this. This an incredibly complicated task. Removing two million plus illegal migrants will not be done overnight. It will not be done through deliberately choosing less efficient options to take revenge on constituencies who did not vote for us. We don’t have time for this petty nonsense. It is a mammoth challenge - it would be one of the biggest state policy implementations ever. We would construct detention facilities where they are most efficient, most secure, and most practical to operate - not based on shitty political point-scoring, but on what actually works and on what actually will remove these illegals on a timescale the British people expect. Because the aim is clear. To detain, process and remove those who have entered this country illegally, and to do so at scale. Millions will go. That requires infrastructure that is fit for purpose. Proper capacity. Proper security. Proper coordination with removals. Repurposed airports, ports, existing detention facilities - all of that can be deployed rapidly, wherever it is currently located. This takes proper thought, and proper planning. I am entirely uninterested in which constituency illegals are detained and removed. I don’t care about using taxpayer money to make political points that will inevitably slow down the removal process. I simply want them all deported in the most efficient timetable the British state can possibly achieve. Millions will go. That is what Restore Britain will do.

Great to host a visit from Duncan from @AlbaExplorers and show him around our nursery and our collections of rare native trees #aspen #montanewillow. We wish them well in their exciting nursery development and woodland creation plans in Glen Prosen!

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This isn’t just art, it’s introductory chemistry and materials science, using art as the vehicle… Children extracted pigments from the environment crushing charcoal and selecting earths to create colour. They made mixtures and suspensions, adjusting water and material to see how consistency and tone changed. They observed how different materials behave (charcoal, clay, plant matter etc.) and how those differences affect what they can create. They tested how pigments interact with surfaces like paper and bark. Using shells as primitive paint dishes, they worked with materials in a way that reflects how people have created for generations. They then applied that understanding to represent native Scottish animals, linking what they see in the landscape to what they create. Out here, nature is the master teacher!

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@theiaincameron Correct, Glas Maol is within The Mounth which is roughly speaking the SE portion of the Cairngorms National Park. Cairngorms to me is Cairn Gorm, Ben MacDui, Derry Cairngorm, Carn a'Mhaim, Carn Etchachan, Beinn Meadhoin and the associated tops.

Since the start of this academic year, 37 people from 13 families have signed up for our Saturday Family Workshops at Lochside PS, enjoying hands-on outdoor learning, nature crafts, cooking on the fire and time together in the fresh air. We’re now starting our third 5-week block on Saturday 15th November (Block C), and there are still spaces available! register here/ find more info - forms.gle/1QJSjkCPvneGPM… Supported by Angus Rural Partnership with funding from the Scottish Government’s Rural Community-Led Local Development Fund 2025–2026, part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme.

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More schools are reaching out for ASN and behaviour support than ever before. We see the dedication of teachers every day, and the challenges they face. Our role includes giving pupils space to reset and reconnect through meaningful skills-based outdoor learning, but lasting change needs investment in staff, pupils, facilities and environments alike. Every Scottish child deserves to learn in a calm, supported classroom, and that goes for every teacher deserving the same! #educationscotland #ASN #behavioursupport #outdoorlearning #investments

This holiday, give your children something screens can’t: real wonder !The crunch of leaves under boots. The smell of smoke on their gloves. The thrill of spotting deer tracks in the woods... So bundle up, get outside. Make memories that last longer than any toys! #AlbaExplorers #ScotlandOutdoors #WinterWonder #1000HoursOutside #FamilyAdventure #NaturePlay #GetOutsideScotland

@ForresterWBH This looks so amazing!

The air has shifted! A little chillier, a little fresher, with mushrooms starting to emerge for foraging. This term our partner schools are reaping the rewards of outdoor learning in very different ways. At one site, pupils harvested baskets of produce, carrots, beetroot, rhubarb, plums, apples, tomatoes, pumpkins, onions, and garlic - the fruits of their Term 4 planting earlier this year. Elsewhere, children studied local biodiversity through pond dipping, discovering newt larva, efts, great diving beetles, and water boatmen. And at another school, we began our woodland programme with an exploration of invasive species, learning to identify Himalayan balsam and discussing its impact compared to native plants. Every setting brings its own opportunities, but each one shares the same goal: helping pupils connect with the land, learn from it, and see their own impact over time! #outdoorlearning #natureeducation #scotlandoutdoors #thealbaexplorers

ADVENTURE Maclean brothers achieve world record A trio of Scottish brothers has set a new world record after completing the fastest human-powered crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Jamie, Ewan and Lachlan Maclean arrived in the Australian city of Cairns on Saturday, August 30 just at 1.52am BST, marking the end of the 139-day, five hour and 52 minute journey crossing the world’s largest ocean. The Edinburgh-born team is the first team ever recorded to row from South America to Australia. The previous record was held by Russian Fedor Konyukhov, who rowed 7,393 miles from Chile to Australia over 159 days and 16 hours and 58 minutes in 2014. During one storm, Lachlan was swept overboard by a large wave before being pulled back into the boat. The brothers, who have been reunited with their family and friends in Cairns, in eastern Australia, said they were looking forward to pizza - and a decent night's sleep. The MacLeans completed their row in their boat, Rose Emily, named in memory of their unborn sister. The brothers, who have so far raised more than £700,000 of a £1m target for clean water projects in Madagascar, had hoped to complete their journey in an even quicker time. "We left just with a dream to get across this ocean and raise as much money as we can... and it's just been absolutely insane, all of the support," Ewan said in an Instagram post that was published as their boat approached Cairns.

Welcome Joe! We’re delighted to welcome Joe, who joins us this academic year after being selected from a strong field of 35 applicants. Joe has a deep passion for Scotland’s wild landscapes and the animals, trees, and plants that shape them. A graduate of Gray’s School of Art, he combines impressive creativity with a strong ecological knowledge base, developed through helping in his family’s wildflower nursery and delivering nature-based events for children in northern Aberdeenshire. His blend of storytelling, ecology, and art will bring real energy and inspiration to our work! He went through 7 days of intense training, and started today highly prepared and full of ideas. Watch out for him and all he will achieve!