The Heritage Lottery Fund and Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership have awarded TCV £80,000 to deliver a Community Rewilding project throughout 2017. Sound familiar?? You may have read my previous blog about a Community Rewilding pilot project that was delivered between February and July of 2016. Due to the successes of the pilot project TCV have now secured funding to continue the project from September 2016 to January 2018. Hooray!
So what does this mean?
Rewilding usually refers to the restoration of rural landscape scale ecosystems but through this innovative new project TCV are going to apply rewilding techniques and ideas to small-scale urban environments. Rewilding activities could take the form of new wildflower meadows, tree planting and wetland creation and will benefit local wildlife by creating more biodiverse urban greenspaces. People and communities will also benefit from getting involved by improving their physical and mental health, meeting new likeminded people and making a difference to their local community.
There is going to be lots going on next year and loads of ways to get involved in this exciting new project. Project delivery will focus on three areas; Greenock, Yoker and Clydebank.
Greenock
A regular weekly Green Gym will be starting at Coves Reservoir in Greenock in April 2017. This is open to anyone who wants to get outdoors, meet some new people and get a bit of exercise while outdoors and making a difference to their local community. We will improve the site by carrying out tasks such as woodland thinning, path maintenance, litter picking and meadow management. We will also be creating two areas of wildflower meadow at Belville Street and Kilmacolm road – look out for opportunities to get involved by sowing seeds, planting plug plants, recording pollinator species and much more!
Yoker
We are working on plans for a couple of small site improvements in the Yoker area – reviving a neglected community garden at Sandholm Avenue and a wildflower meadow on derelict land adjacent to the national cycle path that passes through Yoker. If you fancy getting your boots on and grabbing a spade we’d love to hear from you! Or if you work with a group of children that would like to create habitats in the community garden or monitor the meadow, get in touch! Maybe you know of another small patch that could do with some attention but you’re not sure how to go about it? There are endless opportunities to get involved – we’d love to hear your ideas…
Clydebank
Practical work will be carried out throughout 2017 at Faifley Knowes to improve the site for wildlife and for people. What we do is very much dependent on what the local communities want though. There will be a consultation event where we will gather ideas and opinions to inform an improvement plan for the site. Once we have a plan it’s time to get your boots out and get stuck in! Weekly volunteering days throughout the year will give interested local residents the chance to learn loads of new skills and gain experience in things such as creating wildflower meadows, planting trees, pond creation, path maintenance, carpentry….. and all while making a difference in your local area.
All events, volunteering days and meetings will be listed on the project website at www.communityrewilding.org.uk so keep an eye out for what’s going on in your area. You can also follow us on Twitter @TCVRewilding for the latest events, news, ideas and project updates.
Find out more about TCV Green Gyms here…
If you’d like more information about any aspect of the project or have ideas for how to rewild your local patch and would like some help please get in touch with Rebecca Strofton by email at r.strofton@tcv.org.uk or by phone 0141 552 5294 / 07739 447 964.
TCV would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund, GCVGNP and The Robertson Trust for their support for the Community Rewilding project.