1 February 2013

Partnership Work with TCV in Cumbernauld

Time has whizzed by since Faith Hillier started with Froglife through the Conservation Volunteers Natural Talent programme.  As part of her community engagement role, Faith worked with local people to show them the wildlife of Ravenswood Local Nature Reserve in Cumbernauld.

“This reserve is one of the sites chosen for pond creation as part of Froglife’s ‘Living Waters North Lanarkshire’ project,” explains Faith.  Her work involved completing a survey of residents to gauge their opinions of the reserve, how they use it, how often and what they would like to see happen there in the future.  “The results of the survey were positive and indicated the high level of interest of people in their local green space.  In order to share the delights of this special place, a series of events were held for local people."

The first was a mini-bioblitz, which consisted of pond dipping, a bug hunt and a plant walk.  The next event was a green gym taster day held with TCV.  Despite the torrential rain, two people came along to help dig a pond.  The Woodland Craft event was held with the North Lanarkshire Council rangers, and people came to make wooden dragonflies and have a go on the wood lathe.

As a result of these events, a community meeting was held to discuss how the community could come together to raise the profile of the reserve.  This is to be done through Citizen Science – involving local people in recording the wildlife they see around them.  This will include birds, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, plants and more.

Faith with Alyson from The Conservation Volunteers digging a pond
“There are lots of surveys available for people to contribute to and it is great fun! Primary and secondary schools can join in and make use of the wonderful teaching resources on their doorstep,” concludes Faith.  “Hopefully this project will continue well into the future, encouraging people of all ages to discover and record wildlife.”

Faith is off to pastures new following the end of her apprenticeship, best of luck from all the Froglife team, and thanks for your hard work!

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