Work continues on our Glasgow Wild Spaces project! Following butterfly ID and recording workshops earlier in the summer, some of our volunteers have been visiting parks and greenspaces across the city where we’ll be creating or enhancing meadows this year and next year. Many of these sites have no previous butterfly records, so our volunteers have been putting their new identification skills to good use and making the most of the sunshine to help build a picture of wildlife at these locations before our Wild Space creation begins.
Following the summer holidays, 3 new primary schools and a local college have begun taking part in the Wild Spaces project this term – fun engagement sessions about butterflies and moths, their lifecycles, habitat needs and importance have taken place in their classrooms, school grounds and local greenspaces, and pupils are excited to help create Wild Space for butterflies and moths in their playgrounds!
In early summer Claire had a lovely visit to the LGBT Youth Scotland office to chat to their TYG group for trans young people about all things butterfly and moth – they were so enthusiastic, so it was lovely to follow up with a visit to the Hidden Gardens with some of the group. The young people had a chance to check a moth trap and practise using identification guides to ID some different species before exploring the gardens. Having the chance to see moths up close was incredibly meaningful for the group, and they’re keen to do more moth trapping with us in 2027.
Work takes place this autumn and winter to create Wild Spaces at 8 parks and greenspaces across the city. We’re excited to work with communities and volunteers to plant native species and help wildlife thrive at these greenspaces. Volunteer recruitment is going very well – almost 50 volunteers are already signed up to the project – but we are still welcoming more, so please get in touch to find out how you can get involved by contacting us on wildspaces@butterfly-conservation.org
