| AT HOME AND IN THE GARDEN |
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Use less chemicals in the house and
garden to avoid polluting the environment and harming insects. |
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Use more recycled and environmentally-friendly
products in the home and garden to help protect the aquatic
environment. |
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Make your own compost using waste from
your kitchen and garden – it is free and you will help
save natural resources. |
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Use peat-free compost – both
in the garden and for house plants – help save rare bog
habitats. |
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Plant a tree – either a native
species such as rowan or bird cherry, or an old Scottish variety
of fruit tree. |
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Create a wildlife corner in your garden:
it can look good, adds interest, benefits butterflies and moths
and helps control garden pests. |
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Plant an ‘edible hedge’ to
feed the birds in the winter – use berry-bearing native
species. |
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Restore or build a garden pond but
don’t forget to make sloping sides to safeguard wildlife. |
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Build a simple habitat pile of logs
and branches to encourage hedgehogs, toads and a variety of
insects. |
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Create a ‘housing estate’ for
wildlife! Put up a bird or bat box either on a garden tree
or on the outside of the house or garage. |
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Plant shrubs such as hebe, lavender,
honeysuckle and buddleia, and flowers (candytuft, nasturtium,
aubrietia and flowering herbs) to attract butterflies, birds
and bats – and encourage your workplace or school to
do the same. |
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Create a wildflower meadow (use Scottish-grown
seeds) either in the corner of your garden or encourage your
local authority to plant one, perhaps along a roadside verge
or in the local park. |
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| AT WORK OR SCHOOL |
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Plant up a butterfly-friendly window box for use at home, work
or school. |
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Help your local school, hospital or sheltered housing complex
create a wildlife area in their grounds. |
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Plan an attractive outside recreation area for work lunch breaks
or as an alternative summertime
waiting room at your health centre. By planting shrubs and flowers attractive
to butterflies, birds and bats, you will benefit wildlife at the same time as
your health. |
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Become a House Martin ‘landlord’ – encourage
summer visitors such as swift, swallow or house martin to nest
on the building by providing a suitable nestbox. |
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Check that the potted indoor plants at work or school are in
peat-free compost. |
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| IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD |
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Encourage your local golf club to take
part in the Scottish Golf Course Wildlife Initiative. |
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Suggest a community orchard or wildflower
meadow be created for all ages to enjoy. |
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Repair or build a drystane dyke to
provide shelter for animals and plants such as wall rue, lichens
or mosses. |
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Offer to put up a nestbox for birds
and bats for an elderly neighbour, or donate one to your local
shop, workplace, doctor’s surgery or community centre. |
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Ask you local Community Council or
Residents’ Association to adopt an area for wildlife. |
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Assist in the new Local Patch Project
by surveying the wildlife on your doorstep . |
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Offer your help to one of the Tayside
Biodiversity Partnership’s sub-groups. |
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Help implement the actions in any of
the Habitat or Species Action Plans – there’s plenty
to choose from and everyone can help. |
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| AT LEISURE |
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Join and help a conservation group – see new places,
learn about your environment and keep fit at the same time. |
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Don’t buy souvenirs that encourage
exploitation of the natural world – either here or abroad |
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Support ‘green tourism’ initiatives
on holiday and participate in any green schemes run by hotels
and guesthouses. |
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Find out about your destination before you
travel – it may be an environmentally-sensitive area or
you may be able to contribute to a local biodiversity project
to enhance it. |
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When on holiday let the local people know
how much you appreciate their natural environment so that they
see its economic value. |
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Remember that air travel uses large amounts
of fossil fuels and creates greenhouse gases. Find out about
organisations such as Climate Care and support the development
of renewable and clean energy projects to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. Check out www.climatecare.org |
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Take all rubbish home from the beach – it
can endanger wildlife if left behind. |
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Boats and jet skis create noise and chemical
pollution which disturbs wildlife – don’t leave the
engine running unnecessarily. |
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If you are sailing, surfing or windsurfing,
keep a distance of at least 100m from seal resting or bird nesting
sites to avoid disturbing them and only view dolphins and whales
in their natural environment with a responsible boat operator. |
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GETTING INVOLVED
Getting involved in the biodiversity process is often just a telephone call or
letter away.
Contact any of the local environmental organisations listed in the References
section,
return the Registration of Interest form in the LBAP, or ask for further information
from:
The Tayside Biodiversity Co-ordinator
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership
c/o Environment Services, Perth and Kinross Council
Pullar House, 35 Kinnoull Street, Perth. PH1 5GD
Tel. 01738 476481 Fax 01738 476410
e-mail: tayside.biodiversity@ukf.net
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“Be the change you want to see
in the world”
Ghandi |
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