'To secure an excellent quality of environment in towns, the countryside and coast'
Playing a Part in the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan
Simply - ‘the whole variety of life on earth’ - from the smallest dragonfly or fungus to the largest mammal or tree. It also includes us. It is not restricted to rare or threatened species but includes the whole of the natural world from the commonplace to the critically endangered.
It contributes an estimated £15 billion to the Scottish economy by supplying the raw materials for our clothing, food, drink, fuel, buildings and roads. Tourism based on wildlife is one of Scotland’s major income earners.
Biodiversity
enhances our quality of life. It is important to our health, in the
use of many species in our medicines;
it encourages us to take exercise by walking or gardening. It is
therapeutic too - it has been found that
a view of nature from a hospital bed speeds up recovery from operations.
Biodiversity is therefore all-encompassing. We depend on it, but safeguarding it for the future depends on us. The variety of life is everywhere, not just in our countryside and gardens, but also in our towns, schools and businesses. It enriches all our lives, not just when it’s a butterfly visiting our garden or a blackbird heard from an office window.
Plantlife
International's campaign to find a wild flower emblem for every country in
the UK led to the announcement that Angus' Country Flower is the Alpine
Catchfly.
It grows nowhere else in the UK except upland Tayside
From
Summit to Sand
- Playing a Part in the Tayside
Biodiversity Action Plan
Angus is Special
There is much to be proud of in Angus. In one small county, we can offer magnificent glens and rivers, lowland farmland and an attractive coastline.
Along with the other areas which make up ‘Tayside’ (Perth & Kinross, and Dundee) we provide winter quarters for more than half the entire world population of Pink-footed Geese. Montrose is a nationally important moulting site for many of the area’s mute swan population. Ospreys are also now breeding here, we hold significant populations of the rare Freshwater Pearl Mussel and our coast supports internationally important groups of dolphins and porpoises. The Greater Yellow Rattle and Sea Pea are both plants found only on the Angus sand dunes.
Britain was one of over 150 countries to sign the ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Following the publication of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan it was recognised that its successful implementation could best be achieved at local level. The Tayside Biodiversity Partnership was therefore set up in 1998 and published its first tranche of the Biodiversity Action Plan in 2002; a further tranche of Species and Habitat Action Plans will be added in the near future. Each library in Angus has a ringbinder version of the Plan and an introductory booklet or CD-ROM version of the Plan is available on request.
Its partners include: Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth & Kinross Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Forestry Commission, Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, National Trust for Scotland, National Farmers’ Union Scotland, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Agricultural College, Scottish Rural Property and Business Association and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The Partners are now taking the Biodiversity Action Plan forward involving as many people in the community as possible. Much of the work is supported through existing budgets and services, but local action is essential by everyone - businesses, landowners, local communities, schools, voluntary organisations and individuals.
A Guide to Incorporating Biodiversity into Local Services
The
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership has produced a guide to show how any
department of a local authority or community planning
partners can integrate biodiversity into projects that are already under
way and to consider new opportunities to incorporate
biodiversity into their everyday work.
For instance, consideration can be given to siting swift nest boxes on
appropriate buildings when scaffolding is
erected for maintenance purposes; retention of mature trees, stone dykes
and hedges can be taken into account
during road improvements or housing developments, and wildlife encouraged
in public parks by cutting some areas
of grass twice a year rather than keeping all areas closely mown.
Angus Council has a service level agreement with the Angus Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) which has enabled local authority staff and contractors to attend a hedge demonstration workshop on how to manage hedges for biodiversity. Angus FWAG has its own ‘demonstration hedge’ at Brechin which it is overseeing in different ways to show how best to manage a hedge for wildlife.
In 2005 Angus FWAG will be ‘Having a Field Day’ or two - events to demonstrate to both professionals and the local community alike how to create and manage a wildflower species-rich grassland.
The Sheltered Housing Biodiversity Project
This three-year pilot project was started when the ‘Hospitals, Sheltered Housing & Residential Complexes’ Action Plan was still in draft form for the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan.
Angus Ranger Service was instrumental in siting bird tables and bird feeders in six sheltered housing complexes in Arbroath, Forfar, Letham, Monifieth and Kirriemuir. This action was supported by introductory talks and the provision of bird identification charts, birdseed and three pairs of binoculars per site all of which was generously funded by Scottish Natural Heritage. The project has been very positively received and was featured in one of the residents’ internal newsletters. As well as having benefits to wildlife, the project encouraged a partnership approach that included involvement from the Scouts and Guides. It has enhanced the quality of service to a specific age group, stimulating the residents of these sheltered housing and residential complexes.
The venture is featured as a case study in the Biodiversity Action Plan and in the coming year another five sheltered housing complexes will receive a similar package. It is hoped more nursing homes and sheltered housing complexes will be encouraged to get involved in similar projects throughout Tayside. The project has also been featured in the Scottish Executive’s publication: ‘Best Value and Biodiversity in Scotland - a Handbook of Good Practice for Public Bodies’.
National Tree Week Celebrations
Through a biodiversity grant from the Forestry Commission via the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, 15 Angus schools were given a share of 660 native trees to plant in their school grounds - species included Rowan, Hawthorn, Whitebeam, Birch, Hazel, Ash and Scots pine.
Two
of the schools planted juniper and will be contributing to Plantlife’s
National Juniper Survey to learn more about wild juniper.
This shrubby tree provides excellent nesting sites for birds because of
its dense cover of prickly needles. There are 42
species of insect associated with juniper alone: some rare miner moths
feed on the berries, whilst others feed on the leaves
and buds.
With the help of the Angus Countryside Ranger Service those schools planting other species will learn how essential their trees are as ‘wildlife trees’ - those that offer berries for birds in the winter, attract invertebrates in the spring, provide roost sites for bats and nesting sites for birds.
Tree planting by pupils of Carlogie Primary School
Angus Glens Barn Owl Nestbox Project
The Barn Owl is considered to be nearly at its north-eastern UK limit in Angus so, until now, the county has not been thought of as a particular stronghold of the species. However, with the launch of the Tayside Barn Owl Survey sightings are making us re-think this assumption - there have been 13 reports passed to FWAG from the Brechin/Airlie area, eight in the Montrose/Lunan Bay area and a further 6 scattered records from the middle of the county. As is the case elsewhere, several of the birds were discovered dead by the side of the road, but there are reports of them living in barns up into the Angus Glens, as well as in the more lowland areas.
Scottish
Natural Heritage has given a grant to the Tayside-wide project and the
Cairngorms National Park Authority has also
granted funds to the Angus Glens Barn Owl Project where Angus Council is
supporting the FWAG Adviser’s administration
costs. The funding allows Angus FWAG to undertake 20 farm visits, each
followed by a Barn Owl Management
Plan and provision of a nestbox. Farmers and landowners involved in the
project are helping site the nestboxes. The bird is legally protected so
if a box comes into use, licensed ringers from the Tay Ringing Group will
inspect the boxes and ring any
chicks.
Kinnordy Sawmill has donated timber for nestboxes and many volunteers have come forward to help make them. The Crombie Country Park NATS and WATCH Groups, RSPB volunteers at Kinnordy Loch and the 2nd Montrose Scouts have all offered their help in making boxes, whilst the Dundee Bird Group has offered help in siting them if the farmers are unable to do so. The project is helping deliver actions in Tayside’s ‘Farm Buildings’ Action Plan. Angus FWAG is raising awareness of the species to the farming community, but also to a much wider public, including schoolchildren, local residents and visitors to the area. Barn owls are present in the foothills of the Angus Glens so the project will encourage the spread of the population as well as raising awareness of simple measures farmers and landowners can take in managing their land for barn owls.
From Tiny Thoughts Great Plans Grow
The Murroes Environmental Group has achieved a great deal recently. Working in conjunction with the local farmer who owns the land at Brighty Mill, the area was little more than a muddy field at first, but its old mill dam has been renovated to form a wildlife pond. Horse riders use the public path through the site as part of their trek route. They - with the stable staff and children - have been involved in the various planting events. Nearly 500 trees and shrubs have been planted, including an orchard of local heritage fruit varieties. In future a mixture of wild flowers and bulbs will be added to further enhance the area.
From a successful initiative set up in Dumfries and Galloway during the 1990s the ‘Salmon in the Classroom Project’ was piloted in Angus during the winter and spring of 2003/04 as part of the EU Salmon Life Project. Three local primary schools, Glenisla, Stracathro and Southesk were keen to take part.
In the original project the emphasis centred on the salmon, concentrating on its life cycle and economic importance and involving just three visits to each participating school. The first of the visits involved setting up tanks for the introduction of the eggs. During the second visit the hatched alevins were released into the local river. In the third and final visit, electrofishing was undertaken on the local river.
With the Angus project, the remit was broadened to encompass the river as a whole, looking not only at the natural history but also the social history of the local river. This increased the number of visits to each school to six. Undoubtedly the highlight of the project was the schools’ visits to the Tay Salmon Fisheries and the Fisheries Research Facilities at Almondbank.
Plans are afoot across Angus to make way for wildlife in and around churches, graveyards and crematoria. The ‘Green Graveyard Initiative’ does not necessarily need a ‘graveyard’ - any area around a church that could support wildlife-friendly window boxes, hanging baskets or tubs - is just as important. A church in town surrounded by gravel or closely mown grass can be just as much a part of the initiative as a country churchyard rich in mature trees, with formal or informal planting.
The project arises directly from the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan. The pilot areas that have been chosen are: Aberlemno churchyard, Dunnichen churchyard and Newmonthill cemetery, Forfar. Angus Council Ranger Service have carried out basic surveys of the wildlife currently using the areas, and highlighted possible areas where sympathetic wildlife friendly changes could take place. It is hoped volunteers can help enhance the different areas of the graveyards, including planting of wildflower plugs, regular tidying up sessions and helping carry out surveys.
The Biodiversity Partnership is preparing a ‘Burial Grounds, including Kirkyards and Cemeteries’ Action Plan which will highlight all the action that can be taken across Tayside to improve this very important ‘habitat’ for wildlife. Far from allowing churchyards to get untidy, though, the emphasis will be on planting up tubs with berried shrubs or fragrant herbs, providing pollen and nectar-rich flowers in hanging baskets or window boxes, and retaining lichens and mosses on surrounding walls. There will be some instances where a less used area of a churchyard could be allowed to become a ‘contemplation zone’ which will feature a wildflower meadow or butterfly garden area. More likely will be the consideration of encouraging growth of ivy and berried trees such as holly and yew where appropriate, and discussing the merits of retaining lichens on gravestones (where they are not harming the stone beneath), putting up bird and bat boxes in surrounding trees or on suitable buildings.
The Angus Ranger Service already undertakes surveys for the Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, Common Plants Census and the Red Squirrel Survey. ‘Local Patch’ Identification Training Days for teachers have been held, together with a variety of events during Scottish Biodiversity Week (end May) and Backyard Biodiversity Day (midsummer).
The Service has also hosted two very successful Biodiversity Lunch-time Seminars - ‘Bats in Buildings and Bridges’ at Forfar Loch Visitor Centre, and ‘Mitigating for Badgers’ at Monikie Country Park. Although these short events are aimed primarily at local authority staff, anyone with an interest in the subject is welcome to attend. In Angus, the audience has been very mixed: staff from many different council departments, private business people, consultants, and naturalists - to name but a few.
The
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s ‘Golf Course Habitat Action Plan’
was the first to be published in Scotland, although other
Partnerships have now followed Tayside’s lead. In Angus there are a
variety of golf courses, some of them links courses,
others with woodland, wetland or grassland habitats.
Angus Council, with Carnoustie Golf Club, sponsored a Greenkeepers’ Training Workshop on environmental management. Twenty-three staff from 14 golf courses attended a one day event where the Tayside Biodiversity Co-ordinator and Scottish Golf Environment Group Adviser gave presentations and then toured the Carnoustie Golf Courses with the delegates to see the biodiversity enhancement work being carried out.
The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 places a new obligation on all public bodies in Scotland to ensure they take account of their impact on the biological wealth and resources of our shared inheritance. This legislation is the first concerted attempt at an integrated approach to the long-term conservation and management of Scotland’s natural heritage. The Act provides a more robust system for safeguarding Sites of Special Scientific Interest and addresses the need for improved protection of vulnerable wildlife.
During 2004 the ‘Scottish Biodiversity Strategy: It’s in your Hands’ was launched; its vision and objectives will support Scotland’s biodiversity over the next 25 years. With the enactment of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, the Strategy will have full formal effect and will support implementation of the new biodiversity duty.
Conservation of biodiversity and its protection is not just the task of government, however, or a task for the public sector - it concerns everyone. We are all responsible for our actions and the impacts we have on our local surroundings, but equally we can all contribute something - as the examples above show. The biodiversity process is not a static one. The Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan currently features over 400 actions. These are being implemented, but in the future more Action Plans are to be published and the number of actions will increase. It’s in all our hands in Angus to play a part and keep the county a special place to live in or visit.
Click here to visit The Tayside Biodiversity Partnership website