Poverty reduction group questions £320,000 grants for Falkirk nature projects

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has granted £160,000 to The Froglife Trust to create homes for pond wildlife at 12 sites across Falkirk, while a Buglife project has received £157,000 to develop a coast-to-coast network of special places for nature, including in this region.

The news has stunned Forth Valley Community Focus CIC, which helps individuals and families struggling to make ends meet.

Annette Tonner, who is the founder of the organisation, has questioned the move and would rather see funds distributed equally to help those in need, as well as the environment.

She said: “We’ve been running for over three years new and have helped 12,500 people.

“I would like to see as much investment being put into things like ourselves and food banks in our local authority area.

“If we can afford to do that for nature projects, can’t we afford to do the same to try to reduce poverty?”

The SNH grants, which have come from its Biodiversity Challenge Fund, will allow the two Falkirk district projects to provide training opportunities for conservation volunteers.

Further information on the initiatives reveals amphibians and reptiles will be the main focus of the Come Forth for Wildlife project being run by The Froglife Trust, however, a range of other animals will also benefit from the work, including bats, small mammals, birds and aquatic insects.

Fourteen new ponds will be created to boost aquatic biodiversity as well as 22 new scrapes — shallow depressions which seasonally hold water containing invertebrates, important food for foraging wader birds and their chicks.

Amphibians will also benefit from improved species-rich grasslands near the ponds and wildlife corridors will be enhanced in four neighbourhoods in Falkirk.

Training in species identification, survey and habitat management will be provided for 96 volunteers.

Meanwhile, Buglife’s Central Scotland B-Lines initiative is set to create 100 hectares of wildflower habitat across 50 urban sites, connecting Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, South Lanarkshire and Edinburgh.

The project includes training in areas such as managing and monitoring of local sites and ways of increasing habitat connectivity across the Central Belt.

Francesca Osowska, SNH chief executive, said: “Climate change is one of the key drivers of nature loss but it’s not too late to act.

“In fact, improving nature is also one of the solutions to the climate emergency.

“There are five areas we need to focus on to improve biodiversity: restoring our habitats, changing our use of the land and sea, reducing pollution and climate change and tackling invasive non-native species.

“These projects will improve nature across Scotland for all our benefit. We know we have a big task before us but we have been working for years with our partners to meet international nature targets.

“We are ready to deliver the transformational change needed to bring a nature-rich future for Scotland.”

Suzanne Burgess, Buglife’s Scotland manager, said: “We’re delighted that our ground-breaking, landscape-scale project has received this funding from SNH.

“We’re now really looking forward to working with our partners, fantastic volunteers and local communities in Falkirk and the other project areas.”