Category: Volunteering

First Impressions

, by Paul Barclay
Two months ago, I became a Volunteer Officer for Cumbernauld Living Landscape’s Wild Ways Well Project. Having recently moved to the central belt from Galloway, I knew very little about Cumbernauld other than it was a built up New Town. So you can imagine my joy when I learned that 50% of the town centre is made up of green…

Beech cleans in Cumbernauld?

, by Tracy Lambert
I bet you thought I spelt the title for this week’s blog wrong. Fear not, I haven’t not lost my dictionary. There has been a recent upsurge in beach cleans happening around the globe due to our increasing understanding of the damage that plastics are doing to wildlife. While this is great, surely it’s better to tackle the problem at…

The toast of Cumbernauld

, by Paul Barclay
Did you know that today is National Toast Day? You might be wondering where Cumbernauld Living Landscape stands on the great debates about whether to cut toast horizontally, diagonally or not at all, or if a dropped slice of toast will always land butter side down. But surely the most important issue is how do we make sure we can…

Conservation day at Luggiebank Wood

, by Tracy Lambert
We are very excited to be heading out to Luggiebank Wood Wildlife Reserve for a spot of conservation work at the weekend. This is a wee gem looked after by the Scottish Wildlife Trust located just behind the train station at Greenfaulds. It is the Trust’s smallest reserve in Cumbernauld but what it lacks in size it makes up for…

Frost Beards

, by Paul Barclay
Sometimes you find beauty in the strangest places. Last Sunday was spent out with the Nature Ninja Volunteers at St Maurice’s Pond, removing invasive rhododendron and litter picking. St Maurice’s Pond itself is a beautiful place but you don’t normally get the best view of it while patrolling with a bin bag. On this occasion keeping our eyes to the…

Wild Ways Well 2018

, by Paul Barclay
Have you broken any New Year’s resolutions yet? We’re barely into the first week of 2018 and I’ve broken most of mine, which generally focus around eating less chocolate and bacon rolls. Why do I set myself such impossible goals? Time markers can be stressful events for many people. For those of us with depression they can be used as…

Natural Connections – A great effort at awards

, by Tracy Lambert
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.

Natural Connections – A Beautiful day for judging

, by Tracy Lambert
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.

Natural Connections – Weeding out undesirables

, by Tracy Lambert
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.

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