What a hectic and amazing few weeks we’ve had! As you will have seen last week we won the acclaimed Youth and Education at the Nature of Scotland Awards ceremony. For me that was a huge slab of icing on the cake for the end of our Engaging Communities project – locally known as Natural Connections. So, what’s next for…
We are the champions! Last Thursday night Ian and I along with two lovely teachers from St Maurice’s High school attended the RSPB Nature of Scotland awards in Edinburgh. These awards are the equivalent of the Oscars for Conservation, and what a night! Everyone was done up to the nines and sitting on the edge of their seats to see…
Left to right Provost Jim Leighton MBE, me, Gemma CLL Community Engagement Assistant CJS, Doreen Tesco Community Champion and William our first ever Nature Ninja volunteer
Last Thursday a group of participants in the Cumbernauld’s Bloomin’ Wild attended the Beautiful Scotland award in Dunfermline coordinated by Keep Scotland Beautiful. It was a fantastic day with people from all over Scotland celebrating what make their place special. These awards are a way of recognising hard work and determination, mostly carried out by volunteers, to improve parks, reserves, business districts and residential gardens. Read on to find out how Cumbernauld's Bloomin' Wild got on.
Visitors to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Forest Wood reserve may have come across the carved wooden pine martens hiding in their natural habitat, but did you know this woodland has now sprouted four statues based on Easter Island’s famous moai too?
Moai in Forest Wood Wildlife Reserve
Workday at St Maurice's Pond to close the gaps in the boardwalk. Thanks to NLC Country Parks and The Conservation Volunteers, one section complete 4 more to go! Well done guys.
At the start of August we had two lovely volunteer judges from Keep Scotland Beautiful out assessing areas in our town for the Beautiful Scotland of Cumbernauld’s Bloomin’ Wild. It was a mixed day of sun and showers but that didn’t stop our local groups from shining on the day.
I would like to say a huge thank you to Adam Smith of the Cumbernauld Environmental Society for organising and delivering Cumbernauld’s previous entries over a number of years. This is a huge undertaking and one that surprised us in its depth and requirements.
SUDs pond now has Azolla growing in it
Cumbernauld Living Landscape has a new Intern! Katherine is with us for 12 weeks surveying Invasive Non-native species on the three Natural Connections sites. Her work will let us compare a previous survey of 2015 to let us see how far it has spread, if our volunteer days of clearing it have made an impact and it will map precisely where each plant is for us to be able to clear it out in the future.
Common Green Lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
I recently had a visitor to my garden the other day. A lacewing had flown in and had taken up residence on one of my plants to sleep off a busy night collecting pollen and nectar. Mainly nocturnal these insects are named due to the almost glass like transparent lacing of the wings, which rest in a tent shape over the abdomen. You might spot them on a late summer evening, weakly flitting through meadows or even your own garden plants.
From the sun drenched woodlands in Tenerife to the snow covered trees of home, it was good to be back!
With the office quiet over Christmas, I decided to take off to a warm and sunny island in the Atlantic for a wee holiday. Whilst it was a bit of a shock to come home to snow, the beautiful crisp countryside and a chance sighting of a deer at the back of my fence made me glad to be back – I had missed Scotland’s wildlife!
I can’t believe that I have been on placement for a year with the Cumbernauld Living Landscape, what a busy time it has been. Over 500 children have now taken part in my pine marten workshop! The past five months have been spent developing and delivering pine marten and habitat workshops to spread the news of the town’s wildlife and ask young people what changes they would make to improve it. So far we have delivered the workshops to 5 primary schools and 7 local groups. Next year looks to be just a productive with 8 bookings already. So what’s all the fuss about?
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