WIGTOWN'S
BIODIVERSITY PROJECTS
Local
people are very involved in their local environment and this
can be seen especially in “The
Ospreys are back in Galloway” CCTV project that is at
the heart of Wigtown and the County Buildings. Four years
ago, when this project started, many of the local community
took the osprey family to their hearts and their family life
is followed as avidly as any soap opera. The community eagerly
await their return in the spring and follow them through egg
laying, hatching and the young birds growing to adulthood,
each of these stages marked by the ringing of the town bells
in celebration!
Swift
boxes were part of the bid when the County Buildings were
renovated and these have been placed in the clock tower along
with bat boxes built by the P1 class at Wigtown
Primary School. The class also provided bird boxes for
the nearby Martyrs’ Stake area of the LNR. The Primary School
achieved their Eco Schools Green flag in record time and to
follow this up the Wigtown Youth Forum are planning on making
and putting up bird and insect boxes around the County Buildings,
it is hoped that this can be expanded to encourage other buildings
and gardens around the town to do the same.
Wigtown, as a community, has been developing over the last
10 years with the declaration of the Booktown and the LNR
in 1996 and so much has changed with green tourism, the renovation
of the County Buildings and “The Ospreys are back in Galloway”
project. These have provided a real focus developing Wigtown’s
old roots from being a rural town to a town spreading into
the environment and biodiversity of its surroundings.
Within Wigtown there are many opportunities for expanding
the biodiversity that is already there and bringing even more
wildlife into the town. There are rough edges that mean the
wildlife has corridors to travel and these should be seen
as positives rather than negatives and managed for all to
benefit. There are garden ponds which emulate the larger wetlands
created between the LNR and the town. There are gardens
between the LNR, the surrounding countryside and the town
which are rich in wildlife and some are managed especially
with this in mind.
