Other Life 100% for Nature projects
Catch up on the latest news and videos from Life 100%.
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- Tiree, Argyll: Creating nesting habitat
- Inversnaid, Stirling: Supporting ancient woodland
- Insh Marshes, Highland: Improving habitat with grazing
- Kirkconnell, Dumfries and Galloway: Improving saltmarsh for wading birds
- The intertidal habitats at Nigg and Udale Bay, Highland: Safeguarding waterbirds
- Abernethy, Highland: Improving habitat for Capercaillie
Tiree, Argyll: Creating nesting habitat
As well as being an important island for wintering wading birds, Little Terns and Ringed Plovers nest on areas of man-made gravel on former WWII runways.
However, these areas are vegetating over, making them less suitable, and breeding numbers are declining. We’re shallow-ploughing them to remove vegetation and make it more suitable for nesting.
Inversnaid, Stirling: Supporting ancient woodland
Home to an extensive area of ancient Atlantic oak woodland, which supports an incredible amount of wildlife.
We’re implementing a fencing plan which will help exclude herbivores from key areas to allow new trees to establish. We will also be monitoring the number of herbivores using state-of-the-art technology.
Insh Marshes, Highland: Improving habitat with grazing
One of the most important floodplain wetlands in Europe and home to an array of rare and special plants, insects and birds. The floodplain creates the ideal conditions for developing fen habitat, but its quality and condition is being reduced by the spread of reeds. We’ve introduced a small herd of Konik ponies to trial grazing to improve the habitat.
Ponies on the marsh
27 Sep 2021
At our Insh Marshes reserve, we're introducing a small herd of Koniks to trial grazing the reed, which is spreading and reducing the quality of the fen habitat. Over the next few years, we hope the impact of the ponies will help improve the important wetland habitat for rare plants, insects and birds. Watch the herd gain three new members and find out from Pete Moore and Theo Jones why these ponies do such an important job for us.
Kirkconnell, Dumfries and Galloway: Improving saltmarsh for wading birds
This is one of the largest expanses of saltmarsh in southern Scotland, a key habitat for wading birds such as Curlew. Grazing helps ensure its favourability for these birds, so we’re upgrading access to the reserve and the cattle management infrastructure.
The intertidal habitats at Nigg and Udale Bay, Highland: Safeguarding waterbirds
These habitats are important for wintering waterbirds such as Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews and Wigeon. However, these habitats are threatened by invasive Common Cord-grass. We’re controlling this grass to restore affected areas, making them more suitable for feeding and roosting wading birds.
For practical advice on managing Spartina anglica, download our guide which details our approach to monitoring and management through the EU LIFE 100% project.
Abernethy, Highland: Improving habitat for Capercaillie
Our Abernethy nature reserve is a key home for Capercaillie but there is a need for additional habitat management for both adult birds and chicks. We are trialling the use of a remote-controlled robotic mower to cut vegetation, as well as cattle grazing to see how we can best improve the habitat for Capercaillie and other pinewood wildlife.
Making room for nature
At our Abernethy reserve, we are embarking on an exciting trial to introduce cattle grazing to a section of the forest. The reserve is an important site for Capercaillie, which are scarce and highly localised in the UK. We're trying to improve the rare Scottish native pinewood habitat they can be found in, with cattle grazing and trampling the field-layer. We hope this will lead to increases in blaeberry and the invertebrates that feed on it - a key food source for Capercaillie chicks. Mike Butler who helps look after the herd tells us more.
