diff --git a/scrapy/log.py b/scrapy/log.py
index 4ba20bd67..385b250a1 100644
--- a/scrapy/log.py
+++ b/scrapy/log.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import logging
 
 from twisted.python import log
 
+import scrapy
 from scrapy.conf import settings
 from scrapy.utils.python import unicode_to_str
 from scrapy.utils.misc import load_object
@@ -103,7 +104,8 @@ def start(logfile=None, loglevel=None, logstdout=None):
             logstdout = settings.getbool('LOG_STDOUT')
         sflo = ScrapyFileLogObserver(file, loglevel, settings['LOG_ENCODING'])
         log.startLoggingWithObserver(sflo.emit, setStdout=logstdout)
-        msg("Started project: %s" % settings['BOT_NAME'])
+        msg("Scrapy %s started (bot: %s)" % (scrapy.__version__, \
+            settings['BOT_NAME']))
 
 def msg(message, level=INFO, **kw):
     if 'component' in kw: