Home   News   National   Article

Gathering seed to help Caithness bloom


By SPP Reporter



Seed collectors and Giles Laverack from Scotia Seeds discussing knapweed.
Seed collectors and Giles Laverack from Scotia Seeds discussing knapweed.

MEMBERS of the Caithness Biodiversity Group and Caithness Countryside Volunteers learned about the best techniques to collect and store wild flower seeds.

A training day was held at the Seadrift centre, Dunnet, and the volunteers were trained by Giles Laverack and Fiona Guest, from Scotia Seeds.

The local biodiversity group decided to organise a wild flower seed collection training event to encourage people to collect seed from local sources. This, in turn, will assist with several biodiversity projects currently running in the county such as the great yellow bumble bee, road verge and the seed bank projects.

Scotia Seeds gave an indoor presentation for the morning session before the volunteers got out and about around the Castlehill flagstone trail near Castletown to collect seed from various wildlife flowers.

Marina Swanson, a Highland Council countryside ranger, said: “We hope the training will help people become more successful in collecting viable seed.

“The course covered aspects of seed collecting including ripeness and storage which are vital to collecting wildlife flower seed.

“By using local sources, we hope to be able to expand suitable habitats for our local wildlife such as the great yellow bumble bee and small blue butterfly, and assist with other local biodiversity projects.”

The training was part financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community Highland LEADER 2007 to 2013 programme. It received match funding from the Highland Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and RSPB Scotland.

Anyone wanting to find out more about the work of the Caithness Biodiversity Group or Caithness Countryside Volunteers can contact Marina Swanson on 01955 607758 or e-mail marina.swanson@highland.?gov.uk

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.


This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More