Soil is more than just dirt

March 13-19 is UK Compost week and, if you’re not already excited about the magic of making compost, hopefully by the end of this blog you will be. Healthy soils need a world full of microorganisms and organic matter. This is a world of living breathing things, cooperating and competing in search of food, allies, and safety.  When we help

A helping hand for bees

Spring is beginning to awaken and last week our Project Officer spotted her first tree bumblebee of the year. As you can imagine, the bee was a bit sluggish after a long winter sleep. The bee would have been seeking food and heat. The risk is that this mild period of winter could be a false start for many of

Teaching the teachers of tomorrow

Despite the pandemic, over the past four years of the project, we have been fortunate to work with many schools in the Cumbernauld area. During this time, we have delivered both Early Connections and Natural Connections sessions for pupils and teachers – in both Primary and Secondary schools – across Cumbernauld. The pandemic has made us ever more aware of

A New Home for Our Little Yellow Friends

Everybody loves daffodils. Those yellow trumpets that herald the arrival of spring. I don’t think I could name a more cheerful plant. Their Latin name “Narcissus” is also the name of a Greek legend where a beautiful young man fell in love with his own reflection and stared for so long that he starved to death. Daffodils might also be

Planting seeds for the future

The last few months have seen the Cumbernauld Living Landscape project engage and support a wonderful group of young people and leaders from the 20th Cumbernauld Girl Guide Group – keen to experience the joys of habitat creation first-hand. Wildflower Meadow Sowing event at Seafar Woods in March 2022: The 20th Cumbernauld Girl Guide Group – as well as some

Spring Clean Success

Some of the litter cleared during our recent campaign. Picture (c) Cumbernauld Living Landscape The National Spring Clean campaign has just come to an end, uncovering a multitude of rubbish in Cumbernauld’s greenspaces. The scale and quantity of litter recovered could have not been achieved without the amazing hard work of our Cumbernauld Living Landscape volunteers. Since January the volunteers

I’ll miss Cumbernauld’s amazing people!

After a fantastic six months, I will soon be leaving Cumbernauld Living Landscape and wanted to take the chance to share some of my highlights from my time here. In my previous role at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, I had the privilege of helping with Cumbernauld Living Landscape projects and saw first-hand how fantastic they were for the local communities

Our beloved mammal needs our assistance!

Hedgehog numbers have halved since the millennium with rural areas being the worst affected. The spiny mammals are identified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List – which is the international list of all the species at risk of extinction. Luckily, hedgehogs have seen less of a decline in our towns and villages. Cumbernauld is a great location for our

A New Beginning

Sadly I have come to the end of my time as a Creating Natural Connections Trainee with Cumbernauld Living Landscape, so I wanted to take some time to reflect on my past few months helping to protect and enhance Cumbernauld’s many green spaces! Months ago I came to the project desperate to expand my knowledge and to develop more skills

Learning to love the greenspaces on our doorsteps

Learning to love the greenspaces on our doorsteps Last week I had the pleasure to join an education session at Cumbernauld Academy. The secondary school is perfect for outdoor activities, the Glen is right on their doorstep! We discussed how nature is great for our health and wellbeing and practised grounding activities. The grounding activities allowed students to connect with