| Tayside Biodiversity
- Information - Reports - Tayside Biodiversity 3
Year Review 2000-2003 |
The broad aim of the Tayside Biodiversity
Action Plan is:
To co-ordinate existing actions, as well as initiating and co-ordinating new
actions.
To preserve and enhance the region's biodiversity, taking into account both local
and national priorities. |
Report to SITA Environmental Trust
Chairman’s Introduction
This report shows the great strides that have been taken in
Tayside to protect and enhance its rich biodiversity over the
last three years. A major step forward has been in producing
the Action Plan for which all partners, group leaders, authors
and our biodiversity co-ordinator must be congratulated. Our
challenge now, that we gladly take on, is to implement our plans
on the ground and make the difference that Tayside’s biodiversity
so richly deserves.
Merrill Smith
Chairman
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership
Dundee City Council |
| Past Chairman’s Message The
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership provides a vital link between
public, private and voluntary
groups and the general
community in making plans to protect the various habitats and
wonderful variety of Tayside’s fauna and flora. The support
of the SITA Environmental Trust in providing financial assistance
to the TBP has been vital in the compilation of the Tayside
Biodiversity Action Plan. Perth and Kinross Council, along
with our Tayside neighbours of Angus Council and Dundee City
Council and all the other Partners involved, are very grateful
for the SITA Environmental Trust support for the whole project,
as it is with this assistance that such progress has been made
in the last three years in promoting biodiversity in the whole
of the Tayside area.
John B Milne
Executive Director
Environment Services
Perth and Kinross Council |
| Note from the Biodiversity Co-ordinator
The past three years have seen many
changes in the people making up the Partnership and the different
degrees of commitment
owing to people’s own very heavy workloads. But without
this hard-working Partnership we would not have the Tayside
Biodiversity Action Plan (TBAP) published, nor would there
be any dialogue with the wider biodiversity partnership of
businesses, local authorities, schools and the local community.
The
title of the Review is deliberate—we have just achieved “the
first three years”. Much of the hard work of getting
everything down on paper has passed and the First Tranche of
the TBAP is now in circulation. There is still a Second Tranche
to come, but we will be older and wiser when attention turns
to this.
The report that follows gives an extremely
brief outline of what the Partnerhip has achieved so far.
Fuller details of
some of the projects/initiatives mentioned are found in the
TBAP, together with the concerns we have regarding our local
habitats and species—and the opportunities we have highlighted
to improve or enhance them.
Now, however, we are in a position
to put the ‘action’ into
our “Every Action Counts” logo. The real work is
well under way, but only in the fourth and subsequent years
will we see our vision becoming a reality.
Catherine Lloyd |
|
| INTRODUCTION TO “THE FIRST THREE YEARS” REVIEW
November 2000 - October 2003
Tayside’s
Rich Biodiversity
Biodiversity encompasses the rare and the commonplace. In Tayside
we can therefore be proud of our garden birds, town parks,
and mature hedgerow trees, but equally we can be proud of
an exceptionally rich biodiversity of national importance.
For instance, 89 of the 391 UK Priority Species (22.7%) occur
in Tayside as do 407 of the 1,250 UK Species of Conservation
Concern (32.5%) including:
• Ospreys - a third of the UK’s
breeding population nest in Tayside;
• Atlantic Salmon -
we are responsible for one of the most important regions for
this species in
the UK;
• Pink-footed geese - we provide winter quarters for
half the world’s population;
• Barn Owls (a UKBAP
species) are present on our farmland;
• Red Squirrel, Pearl-bordered
Fritillary, Narrow-headed Wood Ant and Bluebell are found
in our woodlands;
• The only UK sites for the
Alpine fleabane and Alpine gentian are in Angus;
• Britain’s
smallest butterfly, the Small Blue, is found on our coast;
• Greater Yellow Rattle – Scotland’s
only site is on an Angus dune;
• The
Fortingall Yew (the oldest tree in Europe) is an international
icon.
There are many (often unique) threats causing loss or decline.
Partnership working and targeted actions within the Tayside
Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) will highlight opportunities
and potential projects to turn these challenges into positive
ones.
Economic Value
Much of Scotland’s economy relies on our
natural resources—from
the provision of pure water and good quality barley for our
whisky industry, to the supply of aggregates to the construction
industry. In Tayside we are particularly fortunate in the quality
of our diverse environment. It is vital that this, and the
biodiversity it sustains, is recognised as an integral aspect
of the local economy which supports tourism, agriculture and
forestry, as well as community well-being. |
A New Way of Working Together
The
strength of the LBAP process is that local priority habitats
and species can also be highlighted – we do not need
to focus wholly on national priorities. In Tayside, therefore,
a ‘Golf Course’ Habitat Action Plan (HAP) and a ‘Businesses
with Land’ HAP have been included. Both these Plans were
at the time unique to Scotland - and possibly the UK; they
have opened up opportunities to work with sectors not normally
considered part of the biodiversity partnership.
In
the same way, HAPs – currently
at their draft stage - will highlight further local priorities: ‘Burial Grounds (including kirkyards and cemeteries)’,
‘
Hospitals, Sheltered Housing and Nursing Homes’,
Roads and Paths’,
‘
Cropped Areas’,
‘ Private Gardens and Allotments’
‘ Planted Coniferous Woodland’
Both the published and draft Plans
have provided opportunities to reach new sectors (especially local communities).
Links
are being made with many new partners: a wide variety of landowners
and land managers, housing associations, businesses and schools,
and small community-based environment groups (Appendix 2).
The
Local Biodiversity Action Plan is directly helping to deliver social and economic
benefits
such as greenspace for
different types of communities, as well as helping to deliver
government priorities such as Community Planning. It is also
encouraging active citizenship and lifelong learning opportunities
for all backgrounds and ages. The Local Patch Survey Project
is helping people discover the wildlife on their own doorsteps,
proving that biodiversity does not have to focus on the ‘rare’,
but that well-known species are just as important.
The LBAP
is successfully working with local communities. The Barn Owl
Interest Group and the Swift
and Swallow Interest
Group arose from a willingness to work in partnership with
a common aim. We are now seeing pilot projects being set up
right across Tayside that involve landowners, local authorities
and community groups all keen to make a difference (see pages
11 and 17). Individual members within the Education Sub Group
are beginning to forge their own joint ventures—for instance,
the Broughty Ferry Environmental Project is now making links
with the John Muir Trust Award Scheme.
Other sub-groups, including the Urban and Water & Wetland
Sub Groups, are forming partnerships within their membership.
Concerns in the increase of invasive plant species along the
Dighty Burn have spurred Angus and Dundee City Councils’ joint
plans for an Invasive Plant Survey. Likewise, Angus and Perth
and Kinross Councils are considering pilot projects for the
proposed Green Graveyard Initiative which will also involve
the local community in environmental enhancement in a number
of rural and urban churchyards.
The Partnership’s “Guide
to Incorporating Biodiversity into Local Services” has
encouraged the introduction of a programme of ‘Building
Better Biodiversity’ lunch-time
seminars for local authority staff and guests. These are proving
to be both popular and much-needed and are widening out to
encompass half-day workshops, site visits and conferences.
The
Partnership (Appendix 1) has achieved a great deal from its
small beginnings three years ago. It is a working
partnership and all the networking and information-sharing
is now paying off with many ideas coming out of the published
Biodiversity Action Plan and its associated booklets and
leaflets. The Partnership has been afforded a baseline
from which to grow; the resulting action ‘on the
ground’ is now coming to fruition. |
Annual Report: November 2000
- October 2001
A Year of Progress
Back at the Beginning
In August 1998 the new Partnership’s membership was agreed.
Dundee City Council was invited to join Angus and Perth & Kinross
Councils in forming a Tayside regional LBAP area (Appendix 3).
Perth & Kinross Council Environment Services took the lead
in setting up the Partnership. The Scottish Wildlife Trust was
instrumental in helping the Partnership to secure funding from
SITA through the Landfill Tax Credits Scheme. When SITA funding
was granted in late 2000 the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Angus
Council took on the financial management of the Partnership and
agreed to Chair the group. A Biodiversity Co-ordinator was employed
in November 2000.
Establishing the Working Groups
The Partnership itself consists of a Steering Group and a Management
Group (Appendix 1). To ensure existing targets within the
UKBAP, as well as local needs were taken into account, six
Habitat Sub-groups were set up: Coasts & Estuaries; Farmland;
Upland; Urban and Built Environment; Water and Wetlands;
Woodland. The membership of each of these sub-groups has
been purposely diverse to ensure that many organisations
and individuals have been involved in the local biodiversity
process.
With the many changes of Action Plan authors, progress was
initially hampered, but this led to a re-evaluation of the
timescale chosen for publishing the LBAP. A Species sub-group
was later formed to discuss how best to integrate species information
into the LBAP – Tayside has led the way in its unique
layout of species vignettes within each of the Habitat Action
Plans and the case studies showing work already underway within
the region. It was also decided to publish the lists of UK ‘Priority
Species’ and ‘Species of Conservation Concern’ in
their entirety as this would help clarify the information available
for planners and developers.
The Action Plan was split into two parts - the first tranche
consisting of Habitat Action Plans only. In hindsight this
enabled the implementation of the first actions at an early
stage and this format has, in fact, become common practice
in other LBAP areas.
Liaison with Funder
In September 2001 the Partnership hosted a biodiversity tour for John Leaver,
the Chairman of SITA’s Environmental Trust. The visit started at the RSPB’s
Vane Farm Reserve and continued on to Errol where the work of the Tay Reedbed
Company was demonstrated. As part of the Scottish Biodiversity Week celebrations
Mr Leaver then joined children at the Library, Broughty Ferry making kites in
the shape of swallows and swifts.
Tayside Biodiversity Seminar - September 2001
Over a hundred people attended the Partnership’s first seminar which was
hosted by SNH. Each sub-group set up a ‘Habitat Corner’ featuring
individual projects and information. Delegates included councillors, local authority
heads of department, businesspeople and landowners, representatives from local
environment and community organisations and many statutory and non-governmental
bodies.
 The Game Conservancy Trust highlighted their role as the UK Lead Partner for
Brown Hare and Grey Partridge. The Partnership Chairman, Alex Anderson, and the
Biodiversity Co-ordinator introduced the Scottish Executive’s new “Flying
Start” report and gave an overview of biodiversity issues throughout Scotland.
The butterfly that flitted in front of the overhead projector seemed highly appropriate
at the time of the Scottish Executive’s new “Do a Little, Change
a Lot” butterfly logo.
|
CASE STUDY 1
Awareness-raising
With the Local Biodiversity Action Plan to prepare, much of the
Partnership’s work in the first 18 months would be predominately ‘behind
the scenes’. It was decided at the outset that two sets
of exhibition boards would be the ‘public face’ during
this period. These high-quality display boards have consequently
toured the area extensively – including libraries, Country
Parks, local authority offices, museums and tourist information
centres as well as at the Dundee Botanic Gardens and the Birnam
Institute. The need to have a display to lend to schools and
businesses, as well as occasional use at agricultural shows and
flower festivals, led to a third, much lighter banner-type set
also being funded. (Appendix 5) |
CASE STUDY 2
Partnership Working
Worldwide, there appears to be a general decline in the Swift
population and the focus on swift nest site conservation is now
an international one. In Tayside renovation or demolition of
older buildings can lead to whole colonies being lost, but as
there has been no integrated survey our knowledge base is poor.
A number of Partners therefore launched small ‘Swifts,
Swallow and House Martin Pilot Surveys’ throughout Tayside – the
NTS worked with the Highland Perthshire Community Partnership
to distribute survey forms, a Dundee Tenement Swift Survey got
underway and the Broughty Ferry Environmental Project (BFEP)
set up a similar pilot survey in their area. They supplemented
this with nestbox-making workshops and identification walks.
The British Trust for Ornithology’s ‘National Nestbox
Week’ around St. Valentine’s Day was celebrated when
the Angus Ranger Service, BFEP and RSPB Vane Farm ran nestbox-making
events in a variety of venues.
Ultimately all this work led to the launch of the Swift Interest
Group which draws a wide membership from a large number of interested
parties. The group is overseeing specific projects in Tayside
(including putting up nestboxes), plus the preparation of the
Swift Species Action Plan. |
CASE STUDY 3
An Innovative Idea Launches the Consultation Draft – September
2001
In making the Consultation papers available to as wide an audience
as possible, the Partnership pioneered a paper-saving idea by
offering a mini CD-ROM version of the Draft; there was also a
limited print run of the Consultative Drafts. The local press
featured the Tayside company that undertook the mini CD work
for its part in saving resources. Many LBAPs (including Tayside)
have since been published in CD format.
To coincide with the publication of the Consultative Draft, a
summary document “From Summit to Sand” was also produced;
its integral “What You Can Do To Help” poster proved
popular with local schools.
The Consultative Draft was launched at the Scottish Wildlife & Countryside
Fair, Vane Farm, Kinross with over 60 paper copies being requested,
together with a very large number of CD-ROMs and summary documents.
A simultaneous launch of the Draft took place at the Dundee Flower
Show. |
Annual
Report: November 2001- October 2002
A Year of Achievement
Partnership Working
Several Partners raised awareness of the biodiversity process in the run
up to the launch of the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan: the Angus Council
Rangers, for instance, gave a presentation at SNH’s “Business
and Biodiversity” course highlighting the Orchardbank Industrial
Estate wildlife corridor project; Perth & Kinross Council included
a biodiversity theme at the Perth Flower Show; and the NTS incorporated
biodiversity awareness into their Killiecrankie Woodland Awareness Days.
Liaison with Funder
A second opportunity arose over the winter to introduce John Leaver, Chairman
of SITA Environmental Trust, to the area. A visit was arranged to see the
new jungle playground at Moncrieffe Primary School in Perth. The Craigie
Burn Enhancement Project was also on the agenda, followed by a tour of
Abernethy to see the various projects taking place there.
|
Preparation
of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP)
Delays, compounded by staff shortages in Partner organisations and particularly
heavy work commitments, beset the publication process and it was only through
the support of each of the Partners that the 300 page Tayside Biodiversity
Action Plan was launched on time at the end of August 2002.
With funding in place for 250 ringbinder folders, 1,000 CD-ROMs and 7,500
summary booklets, the first Habitat Action Plans, numerous appendices and
a weighty introduction were published as ‘the 1st Tranche’;
Magnus Magnusson penned a Foreword.
Final costs came to just over £21,000 with contributions from SNH,
Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils, the Forestry Commission
and monies from the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s funds (Appendix
4). Many Partners – especially SNH, SEPA and RSPB - donated most
of the photographs required.
To prove that the biodiversity process is not static, but an ongoing one,
the first batch of 2nd Tranche consultative drafts were included with the
1st Tranche - a further 23 HAPs and 46 SAPs are being researched and prepared.
|
Launch
of the Tayside LBAP – August 2002
A day before flying out to attend the Johannesburg Summit, Robin Harper,
MSP was the Partnership’s guest at the second Biodiversity Seminar.
Pupils from Perth’s Moncreiffe Primary School treated Mr Harper and
the 140 delegates to a biodiversity play “It’s a Jungle Out
There”. The subsequent press coverage was excellent; both Robin Harper
and the Biodiversity Co-ordinator were also interviewed by Radio Tay.
The event was a true Partnership one: SNH hosted the event and SEPA designed
the programme and handled the conference bookings. Presentations were given
by Plantlife Scotland, Perth and Kinross and Angus Councils, the Highland
Perthshire Communities Land Trust, the Forestry Commission and Orchardbank
Environment Group.
‘
Habitat Corners’ were manned by the sub-groups
and included displays on species including barn owls,
swifts, and osprey and habitats - urban waterways, woodland,
and the community project at Dun Coillich, Perthshire.
At the Open Business and Biodiversity Forum the consultative draft “Guide
to Incorporating Biodiversity into Local Authority Services” was
launched and the Scottish Biodiversity Forum’s new Business and Biodiversity
presentation given. This was particularly relevant as it featured a number
of Tayside companies working towards enhancement of biodiversity.
|
| Three workshops were
also held:
_ The Barry Buddon Tern Project – which included some
hands-on clay tern decoy painting;
_ Restoration Projects on Urban Waterways;
_ Community Art and Biodiversity
The seminar’s success was marked by the excellent networking opportunities
for Partners and guests; the correspondence and comments received afterwards
congratulated the Partnership in staging such an ambitious launch and such
a wide-ranging seminar.
Change of Chair
With the publication of the LBAP, Alex Anderson (Angus Council) retired
as Chairman of the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and Merrill Smith (Dundee
City Council) took up the challenge of Chair.
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CASE STUDY 1
The Sheltered Housing Biodiversity Project
In Angus a three-year pilot project was started ahead of targets proposed
for the 2nd Tranche ‘Hospitals, Sheltered Housing & Residential
Complexes Action Plan’. The Countryside Ranger Service has been instrumental
in siting bird tables in six sheltered housing complexes. In addition to
introductory talks by the Rangers, bird identification posters and binoculars
have also been provided, plus bird tables and birdseed, funded by SNH.
There has been a very positive response from all concerned which, in one
case, resulted in a feature article in an internal newsletter.
The project’s success will be featured as a case study in the forthcoming
Action Plan and will be included in the Scottish Biodiversity Forum’s ‘Best
Value, Community Planning and Biodiversity’ document. It is hoped
more nursing homes and sheltered housing complexes will be encouraged to
set up similar projects throughout Tayside.
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CASE STUDY 2
Business and Biodiversity
Many businesses aspire to improving their surrounding environment, but by
extending the biodiversity process to their employees and suppliers (and
the wider business and local community) there is often the bonus of it being
good for business.
By featuring appropriate case studies in the LBAP dialogue was set up as
early as possible with a variety of local businesses. These included:
_ Orchardbank Industrial Estate, Forfar: Brogan Fuels offered to plant a
small ‘orchard’ area of plums, cherries, crab apple and elder
trees to encourage wildlife. The Angus Ranger Service assisted the Orchardbank
Environmental Group in planning this.
_ Sturrocks, another Angus company, improved its car park with biodiversity
in mind and now has a portfolio explaining the staff project in its customer
waiting room. Again the Angus Ranger Service was involved.
_ Scottish and Southern Energy added a comprehensive biodiversity section
to its Staff Manual following a meeting with the Biodiversity Co-ordinator.
The Perth-based national company subsequently issued a copy of the Manual
to each of its 9,500 staff throughout the UK.
_ The Perthshire Housing Association’s developments will contain an
element of biodiversity planning in the future.
_ Aggregate Industries UK has incorporated a number of biodiversity features
in its quarrying operations in Tayside: one site now has three sand martin
barrels in situ; another site is managing part of its land to encourage its
resident barn owls to stay.
_ A lunch-time seminar was run for a private firm of architects in Tayside – other
businesses are now regularly showing a specific interest in the biodiversity
process and incorporating best practice ideas into their work. |
CASE STUDY 3
Local Patch Survey
This three year project is highlighting the importance of “wildlife
on your doorstep”. It has proved to have many audiences – from
visitors to commuters, and from individual school classes studying their
immediate surroundings, to businesses keen to show their environmental
credentials to staff and customers.
The project was officially launched at the Dundee Spring Flower Show in
April 2002. Perth Museum staff prepared the leaflet and survey form, whilst
the Dundee Ranger Service handled the press releases. Since then many Partners
have distributed the leaflets to libraries, museums, country parks and
visitor centres throughout Tayside. There has since been a steady trickle
of responses with over 200 forms being received.
|
Annual Report: November 2002 – October
2003
A Year of Action
Making “Every Action Counts” Work
The first year of implementation proved
a busy time for all sub-groups. The six habitat groups, an
enthusiastic Education sub-group and the Species Interest
Groups all met to start planning projects.
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| CASE STUDY 1
Pilot Projects
to Highlight Important Tayside Species
Barn Owl - the Barn Owl Interest Group (which includes three Partners:
the NTS, SAC and FWAG) has set up separate pilot projects to complement
the three-year Tayside Barn Owl Survey launched in 2003. The NTS are experimenting
with large surplus soap barrels as alternative nestboxes; SAC and Perth
FWAG are concentrating on an area in the Tay Valley with a combination
of advice to landowners and farmers and the provision of external A-frame
nestboxes; Angus FWAG is orchestrating a farming community-based project
in the Angus Glens to give advice and to provide a variety of nestboxes
for use in buildings and on trees.
Tern Project (Barry Buddon) – another community-based project was
featured as a case study in the LBAP. Tern decoys were fashioned from locally-donated
Errol Brick clay, hand-painted by local schoolchildren, kiln-fired at a
Dundee college, and put into place on MoD land by the children and Dundee
Ranger Service. Part of an SAC (Natura site), all this hard work resulted
in one tern chick being reported in the vicinity which bodes well for the
return of this species into this area.
Dundee Red Squirrel Project - An innovative project is taking shape in
Dundee to highlight the fact that this “Biodiver-City” has
the largest city-based population of red squirrels in the UK. The Ranger
Service is raising awareness of the ecology and habitats required for both
red and grey squirrels. They have also produced a Red Squirrel Management
Plan and are involving local communities in monitoring the populations
of squirrels throughout the city.
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| CASE STUDY 2
Education Opportunities
Backyard Biodiversity Day — Tayside took the lead on this UK initiative
in Scotland. Rangers from Perth & Kinross Council, Atholl Estates and
the National Trust for Scotland held a midsummer event for nearly 300 children
from 15 schools. Hosted by SNH at Battleby, the day proved such a success
that there is already a waiting list of schools wanting to attend next
year. Elsewhere in Tayside, the Angus Countryside Rangers and Museum Service
held identification events to encourage families to find out about what
grows in their ‘local patch’ or backyard.
Working Countryside Boxes — Angus Countryside Initiative (now part
of the Royal Highland Education Trust) has included a variety of biodiversity
information in its 60+ Working Countryside” education boxes given
to schools throughout Angus.
Awarding Biodiversity — The John Muir Trust Award is actively encouraging
the incorporation of local biodiversity issues into its Award scheme. This
has brought a much wider audience to appreciate Tayside’s biodiversity.
Salmon in the Classroom — funding offered by a local landowner in
Angus has ensured that Tayside will take forward the pilot for a Scotland-wide
project led by SNH. The project will focus on the life cycle of the salmon – a
species synonymous with a clean water environment. Four primary schools
will have the opportunity to grow on salmon eggs in the classroom, release
them into a local burn, and then return to watch electro fishing to see
how they have developed. There is great interest in this project throughout
Tayside and it is intended the initiative will be developed further in
2004.
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| CASE STUDY 3
A Guide to Incorporating
Biodiversity into Local Services
This booklet, the first of its kind to be published in Scotland, introduces
biodiversity to the local authorities’ various departments and the
Community Planning Partnerships. Its guidance is not prescriptive, but
a tick list of potential actions highlights what might be possible. It
is fulfilling its purpose as a ‘working document’ as it is
being widely discussed. It is already proving to be a useful catalyst in
promoting biodiversity issues within Local Services.
The Partnership’s “Building Better Biodiversity” Programme
of free lunch-time seminars and half-day training events was launched at
the same time as the Guide. These short courses are aimed at local authority
staff who want to find out more about a specific species or habitat – and
to have a ready-made Information Pack to take back to their department.
By holding the event over a lunch hour more than one person from each department
can attend. Anyone interested is welcome to attend be they local people
with an interest in the subject, environmental groups or local businesses.
The first three seminars have attracted over 50 people in total and nearly
40 people attended the Hedge Contractors’ Demonstration and Hedge
Day.
Other Partners are achieving biodiversity action in their local work:
Angus Council hosted two lunchtime seminars and is discussing the possibility
of a swift nestbox
project on one of its properties in Arbroath. Its Ranger Service is involved
in the Butterfly Conservation Small Blue Survey and is advising a number
of businesses in the area on wildlife corridor opportunities and biodiversity-friendly
car parks.
RSPB and FWAG have worked jointly on a small project to encourage an increase
in Angus’ Corn
Bunting Population. At three farms in Angus a special crop of kale, rape
and barley has been grown. It provides seed and grain and good cover for
the birds over the winter months. The farmers are also encouraging wildflowers
and weeds to grow at their field edges so that insects can flourish; this
provides plenty of food for chicks. The project will not just benefit the
rare corn bunting – it will help other farmland birds such as tree
sparrow, sky lark, linnet, yellowhammer and grey partridge – all
species mentioned in the Tayside LBAP.
Dundee City Council has hosted two ‘Building Better Biodiversity’ seminars
and stands at the Dundee Flower & Food Festival and Spring Flower Show.
The Forestry Commission has contributed towards the preparation of a number
of Action Plans and will be leading a workshop on veteran
tree care.
Angus FWAG ran two very successful hedge events – a demonstration
workshop for hedging contractors, and a Hedge Day for the public. During
the summer it also hosted a stand for the Partnership at the Angus Show.
Perthshire Tourist Board – its contribution of funds to publish 23,000 ‘bedroom
folder’ posters on ‘Where to see Wildlife’ will raise
visitors’ awareness of the rich biodiversity in the area.
Perth and Kinross Council hosted two lunchtime seminars and is encouraging
a biodiversity theme in its Harris Moore Environmental Award for schools.
Its
voluntary band of nearly 50 Tree Wardens is incorporating biodiversity
regularly into their work. The Council has already undertaken a wetland
creation project at a city golf course and is rethinking its management
of conservation areas in graveyards, as well as incorporating biodiversity
conservation ideas in its Craigie Burn, Mill Lade and Magdalene Hill enhancement
projects
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INTO THE FUTURE
New Partners
The outlook for working with different ‘sectors’ of the local
community is growing ever more positive. Opportunities are regularly arising
to work with existing initiatives to incorporate the biodiversity process
into schools, hospital grounds, urban areas, garden centres, local environment
groups, etc.
New Partners are regularly joining the sub-groups and bringing new opportunities
with them.
Business
The LBAP is capitalising on its wider partnership contacts with the publication
of a ‘Business of Biodiversity’ booklet aimed specifically
at the commercial sector in Tayside.
Education
A biodiversity school calendar for each teacher in Tayside is being planned.
Awareness-raising
The booklet “An Introduction to Tayside’s Biodiversity” continues
to be much sought after and is proving its worth to a wide audience, including
other LBAP partnerships elsewhere in the UK.
The future website will be planned with many sectors in mind and in time
will become fully interactive.
Tayside Biodiversity Exhibition
Perth Museum is to host an exciting biodiversity exhibition for nine months
in 2004 which will highlight how the wider Partnership is working to conserve
and enhance biodiversity throughout Tayside.
Working with Local Authorities
New Guidelines and Advice Notes will help incorporate biodiversity into
the many local authority departments.
Wider UKBAP Working
The Partnership will be working with more UKBAP Lead Partners in order
to meet national targets for the rarer Tayside habitats and species. This
task has already started with correspondence between the Partnership and
the Common Scoter BAP Steering Group, the Lead Partners for Seagrass Beds
and Tidal Rapids, the Mesotrophic Lakes HAP Lead Partner and the UK Wetlands
HAP Steering Group.
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