Creating Natural Connections

What is Creating Natural Connections? Creating Natural Connections project was a four-year initiative that aimed to make the town’s woods, parks and open spaces better for wildlife and people with the support of National Lottery players. The Project aims were: To create a community network, which connected more people to nature, giving a wider range of people the capacity to

Connecting young people to nature

Overview Our schools programme provided opportunities for children to be closely involved in practical projects, to create pockets of urban wetland habitat through rain gardens and diversifying areas of amenity grassland with wildflowers. We worked intensively with 96 young people at risk of disengaging from high schools and colleges; each group took part in a 6-month Natural Connections programme, where

Natural Connections Education

We’re working with primary and secondary schools across Cumbernauld to deliver award-winning education sessions that connect young people to nature. Sessions provide opportunities for young people to spend more time outdoors, getting to know their local greenspaces and gaining a better understanding what they can do to help protect them.   Early connections sessions Our primary school sessions get pupils engaging with the nature on

Access to Nature

Cumbernauld is incredibly green and most people live within walking distance of a park or nature reserve. However, these greenspaces are not always as accessible as they should be. Narrow walkways, uneven surfaces, tough gradients and overgrown vegetation can all cause issues for people using wheelchairs, bikes and buggies, and for people with other mobility issues or special requirements. Over

Promoting green health and wellbeing

Overview We built on the Wild Ways Well approach successfully piloted by The Conservation Volunteers and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This takes a proven methodology – Five Ways to Wellbeing – and combines it with nature to bring added benefits. Through this programme at least 200 people at risk of mental ill-health, such as adults with additional support needs and

Wild Ways Well

Spending time with nature improves wellbeing The Wild Ways Well project has demonstrated what most of us already know instinctively. Spending time outdoors, in nature, makes people feel better about themselves and their lives. Wild Ways Well gets people suffering from, or at risk of, poor mental health out into greenspaces. Whilst out amongst the trees, parks, and reserves, participants

Unlocking community capacity

Overview Our innovative, Asset-Based Community Development Approach seeks to get to know people and build relationships with them. From this, we can understand the existing assets and connect people who want to take action. This approach is built into all of the project activities and, to facilitate this in areas where engagement is traditionally low, we will link each Project

Nature Ninjas volunteering

Our Nature Ninjas volunteers helped our Creating Natural Connections project to improve local greenspaces with their hard work and dedication. The group met weekly and took part in various conservation activities, which included: Planting native trees to create more sustainable, biodiverse woodlands for the future Removing invasive plants to help native species flourish Creating wildflower meadows to expand Cumbernauld’s nectar

Brilliant Bogs

Cumbernauld Living Landscape has worked with North Lanarkshire Council to restore raised peat bogs at some of the town’s key greenspaces. Peat bogs are one of the most important habitats on the planet, providing a range of benefits often described as “ecosystem services”. Despite forming over millennia, Britain has lost as much as 94% of its peatlands in the past

Cumbernauld Community Park

We’ve been working with North Lanarkshire Council and Friends of Cumbernauld Community Park to enhance the greenspace for both people and wildlife. As part of our Nectar Networks projects, we have created a new wildflower meadow at the park, plus a meadow of unharvested oats. The wildflower meadow not only brings colour to the park in summer, it has also
 

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