The Scottish Ornithologists' Club (SOC) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ornithological body, founded in March 1936 at the premises of the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland, founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

. As of 2008, the SOC has 2,200 members. The Club runs the Scottish Birds Records Committee, which maintains a list of birds recorded in Scotland. In 2007, the club was awarded the

Silver Medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

by the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

. The SOC publishes a quarterly journal entitled ''Scottish Birds''.

Waterston House

The SOC has its headquarters at Waterston House in

Aberlady Aberlady (, Gaelic: ''Obar Lobhaite'') is a coastal village in the Scottish council area of East Lothian. The village had an estimated population of in . Etymology The name ''Aberlady'' has Brittonic origins. The first part of the name is t ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

. The building overlooks

Aberlady Bay Aberlady Bay in East Lothian, Scotland lies between Aberlady and Gullane. In 1952, Aberlady Bay became the UK's first Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and is served by the East Lothian Council Rangers. The Scottish Ornithologists' Club has Wa ...

and the Aberlady Local Nature Reserve, the first LNR in the United Kingdom. The building is named after George Waterston (1911–1980), an ornithologist and conservationist who was Director of the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

(RSPB) in Scotland. It is said to house the most comprehensive ornithological library in Scotland, with over 3,500 volumes. Waterston House's art gallery space is named after

Donald Watson Donald Watson (2 September 1910 – 16 November 2005) was an English animal rights and veganism advocate who co-founded The Vegan Society. Early life Watson was born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, the son of a headmaster in a mining community. As a ...

(1918–2005), a

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, who was President of the SOC. Image:AberladyWaterstonHouse.jpg, Waterston House Image:Waterston House Gallery.jpg, Interior of Waterston House Image:Scottish Ornithologists Club.jpg, Waterston House

BirdTrack

BirdTrack is an online

citizen science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...

website, operated by the

British Trust for Ornithology The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The William, Prince of Wales, Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020. History Beginning In 1931 Max Nicholson ...

(BTO) on behalf of a partnership of the BTO, the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

, BirdWatch Ireland, SOC, and the Welsh Ornithological Society ().

References

External links

Scottish Ornithologists' Club website
1936 establishments in Scotland Ornithological organisations in the United Kingdom Charities based in Scotland Clubs and societies in Scotland Ornithology in Scotland Nature conservation in Scotland Organizations established in 1936 Organisations based in East Lothian Bird conservation organizations {{Ornithology-stub