A few individuals then got together in 2000 to find out more about the local environment, how we all used it and how we wanted to be able to use it in future. Some of us went for walks in Craigmillar and saw a lot of wildlife in and around the area.
Many city dwellers feel that nature is somewhere ‘out there’ in the wilds of the mountains, forests, seas and lochs. However, there is a huge amount of wildlife on our own doorsteps, if we can only become more aware of what is actually there, and how important it is. Craigmillar is particularly brimming with wildlife spots because it is on the outskirts of the city.
So, we had the idea of investigating the patches of wildlife around Craigmillar and writing down the findings for everyone to read and share in the form of an Information Pack. This pack is now in the local library, to be used by anyone interested in the local natural environment.
Alongside the writing of this pack, workshops were held with out-of-school groups, using games and activities to explore the outdoors.This project was so successful that extra funding was awarded by Scottish Natural Heritage to place the local wildlife information on a website, in order to share the information with other local people and the larger global community.
More workshops are also being run - with a wider scope than before. Some are outdoor, exploration workshops and others are arts and crafts based (with an environmental theme, of course!).
Enjoy!