A wildlife expert who tended to the now world-famous osprey Lady claims he has now been banned from visiting her nesting site.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust has come under fire for the way it has allegedly treated Peter Ferns, who was manager of the Loch of the Lowes reserve until he left this year.
He told The Courier that he has effectively been banned from visiting the Dunkeld visitor centre unless he is supervised by a senior member of staff, despite despite dedicating 18 years to the conservation charity.
It has meant he has had to take a step back from his care and observation of Lady, who has captured hearts and minds with her fight against illness and old age to return year after year to mate and raise chicks.
Although he cites “personal reasons” for leaving the organisation, Mr Ferns insists he has no outstanding issues with his former employers and so was stunned to be warned against entering the reserve.
During his time at the Loch of the Lowes visitor centre, Mr Ferns played a pivotal role in the annual visits by the famous osprey.
He was part of the team that held 24-hour vigils over her nest to protect it against egg thieves, as well as keeping avid fans updated on the blog.
When commenting was withdrawn from the facility as part of a time-saving exercise by SWT, causing upset and controversy among its users, Mr Ferns set up a separate and independent site for those wishing to discuss events on the osprey nest.
He told The Courier he had been astonished to discover he was no longer welcome at the reserve and claimed he’d had no warning of the decision.
“I only found out about the situation when I returned to Loch of the Lowes to collect some camping gear that I had left there some time ago,” he said.
“I called the visitor centre beforehand to tell staff there that I wanted to pick up the equipment, so they knew to expect me and I was advised that it would be okay.
“However, I received a phone call just before I left the house from another manager asking me to phone from the car park of the reserve so that someone could bring my belongings to me.”AwkwardnessWhen he queried this, he was told he was being denied entry to avoid any awkwardness for the younger members of staff, despite his never having met or worked with many of them before.
He decided to ignore the request and entered the reserve for the first time in several weeks. There he met an employee who introduced themselves to him before going off to get one of his colleagues.
“He was very pleasant, shook my hand and said it was good to meet me,” Mr Ferns said.
“He did not come across as uncomfortable with my presence and seemed quite happy to go and get my contact, so I Mr Ferns told him he would have a look at the ospreys while he did this.
“As I walked round to the screen, a volunteer broke off from speaking to a visitor and immediately came over to me and said that I was meant to meet someone at the back door.”
After a conversation with another employee, Mr Ferns claims he was told that an agreement had been reached that he would never enter the reserve without being accompanied by a manager.
He said, “It was never agreed that this would happen at all times and I find it very upsetting that I cannot visit Lowes without this kind of behaviour and insult.
“It does make me very sad to know that people think I would do anything to disrupt the visitor centre in any way.”
An SWT spokesman said the charity had no statement to make.