At the beginning of September this year Butterfly Conservation Scotland launched the new Peatlands for People Project, which is part of the ongoing Bog Squad Project, funded by Peatland Action. It involves community engagement and outreach work to raise awareness about the importance of peatland habitats, and the butterflies and moths that are found there, at sites across Scotland.
It’s been a busy couple of months for the project with a total of 19 events so far. This has included giving talks to natural history/university societies, school sessions, craft sessions, attending family days and conferences. Some new educational resources have also been created for the project to take to events, including a Peatland Jigsaw, and lesson plans for school sessions will be developed in 2018.
One of the long running projects over the past few months has been holding craft sessions in local libraries across Stirlingshire through a collaboration with Community Library Officers and local primary schools. The project has delivered seven sessions so far at libraries including Plean, Strathblane and Cambusbarron and engaged with over 118 school children. The sessions have generally been focused on teaching the children about moths, specifically the Emperor moth which is found on peatlands. The children love its striking markings and have been making their own moth models to take home with them as well as a range of other crafts.
(Moth models at Braehead Primary School, South Lanarkshire and Peatland Jigsaw at Biggar Science Festival)
The feedback on the project has been great so far with more events already planned for 2018 including talks to local communities, more youth engagement and collaborating with other partners and organisations.
If you would like to learn more about the Bog Squad Project, peatland restoration work and upcoming volunteer work parties please visit the blog at bogsquad.weebly.com/.
For further information on outreach work, upcoming events, ways for your organisation to collaborate or get involved, or if you have any ideas you’d like to share please contact:
Rebecca Crawford, Peatland for People Project Officer: rcrawford@butterfly-conservation.org
