South Kintyre Development Trust (SKDT) has revealed how it plans to use £5,000 funding to explore Campbeltown’s biodiversity and make recommendations on how to boost it.
The trust was awarded the grant by the Royal Society of Edinburgh as part of its ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’ initiative.
Ed Tyler, the researcher appointed to lead the SKDT project, said: “We’re delighted to receive this grant as it has the potential to greatly benefit not only the wildlife of the town, but also its people as well. Variety is the spice of life.
“Biodiversity is defined as the total of all the living things in an area, not only the obvious creatures like mammals, birds and plants, but the less visible life as well: bugs and even tiny microbes.
“Everything depends on everything else in a complex web and if species are missing this can cause strands in the web to fray and even break with serious knock-on effects.
“The town is no different from anywhere else in the world in that it is suffering a decline in biodiversity. This may not be obvious to begin with but it creeps up on us.
“Something you may have noticed is a decline in insect numbers – do you remember the days when you would go for a drive in the summer months and the windshield was covered in splatted bugs? This decline is worrying as it affects the food web badly, with birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians all dying if they don’t have enough insects to eat.
“So, one of the main things I will be looking at is how to increase insect numbers once more, by improving their living quarters or habitats.”
Eric Spence, trust manager at SKDT, said the team was delighted to have been given the opportunity to carry out this research as part of its Climate Action Initiative.
He added: “Biodiversity is a key indicator of the health of our local environment and this will provide us with the baseline information required to allow us to monitor the impacts of climate change and to investigate how we can best restore our diverse ecosystem.
“We would like to thank the Royal Society of Edinburgh for supporting us to carry out this valuable research.”
The town’s Gateway Garden, the triangle of space behind The Fiddlers Inn currently being rejuvenated, will showcase many features that support biodiversity.
Hannah Jones, local community growing co-ordinator for SKDT, said: “As well as the space being used by individuals and community groups to grow food, we’ll be enhancing it with attractive flowering species that are beneficial to pollinators, like butterflies and bees.
“Anyone interested in finding out more, or who would like to see what plants they could add to their gardens, are welcome to come along to the garden any Tuesday afternoon from 2pm-4pm.”
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