Cumbernauld's Bloomin' Wild 2017

St Maurice’s Pond Orchid Meadow (July 2017)

Cumbernauld has a wonderful mosaic of natural habitats and parks that are loved and

cared for by local people. The community, organisations and the local authority all work

together to help to improve the town’s greenspaces. Cumbernauld’s Bloomin’ Wild

showcases the work that a wide range of people from across the town undertake to build

an appreciation for local spaces and a desire to care for them for years to come.

This new entry has been developed by the Cumbernauld Living Landscape and its

partners and aims to re-boot Cumbernauld’s Beautiful Scotland entry. We are passionate

about the town and in years to come we will be going for gold to put Cumbernauld on

the map for the right reasons.

Horticultural achievement

In one of the most heavily landscaped towns in Britain local groups are working hard to

capitalise on Cumbernauld’s natural assets. The woodlands and greenspaces are a key

feature in the town and we are planting trees, orchards and wildflower meadows to

ensure there is diversity and interest all year round.

Environmental Responsibility

Looking after the environment is at the core of our work and we understand how our

actions will affect future generations. We are maintaining and protecting the network of

natural habitats in the town, removing invasive non-native species, building homes for

wildlife and tackling litter and fly tipping.

Community Engagement

Long term improvements will only come from action across all fronts engaging residents,

businesses and organisations that call the town home. Through the year there have been

are activities that engage people with the issues that matter to them and we have used

the towns greenspaces as venues to improve health & wellbeing and fun and creativity.

Horticultural achievement

Palacerigg Country Park

Badger trail

The Countryside Rangers

Service have been

continuing to develop the

Bader Trail at Palacerigg

Country Park. This is now a

beautiful accessible walk

that gives people the

opportunity to see the

birds, bees and trees.

(Picture: July 2016)

Heritage orchard at St

Maurice’s Pond

Following the planting of 6

heritage trees the orchard

and surrounding

wildflower meadow

created at St Maurice’s

Pond came into bloom this

year attracting pollinating

insects and providing

natural beauty to an area

of amenity grassland.

(Picture: August 2016)

Carbrain Community

Council station planting

This year we have

increased the amount and

quality of planting at

Cumbernauld and

Greenfaulds stations. We

have also taken on two

council planters which had

not been maintained for

some time as council

budgets were trimmed.

(Picture May 2017)

Wildflowers at Ravenswood

Local Nature Reserve

Volunteers helped remove

invasive species, including

New Zealand Flatworm,

and plant native wildflower

plugs at the entrance to

Ravenswood LNR. This has

refreshed the wildlife

garden and created a new

outdoor classroom bringing

colour to an area that was

becoming dilapidated. (Feb 2017)

Horticultural achievement

Watch Us Grow’s multi

colour zig-zag garden

Watch Us Grow, with

funding from Awards for

All, have created a

wonderful Zig-Zag

garden reclaiming an

overgrown, derelict area

of Palacerigg Park, for

park visitors to enjoy.

The chosen plants will

create a beautiful

rainbow of colour. (July

2017)

Floral displays by North

Lanarkshire Council

NLC Land Services

maintain hanging baskets,

barrier baskets and flower

towers which all contain a

variety of attractive,

colourful plants that also

benefit pollinating insects.

These will be in full bloom

going into July till the end

of the season. (Picture:

July 2017)

Brilliant bluebells in

Cumbernauld Glen

The Scottish Wildlife

Trust’s Cumbernauld Glen

had a spectacular display

of bluebells this year.

Work continues to create

native oak woodland and

protect the native

bluebells from garden

escapees. (May 2017)

Street and roadside planting

In partnership with

businesses and the local

community NLC Land

Services maintain attractive

planting by the roadside and

on roundabouts around the

town. This is not only

aesthetic for people it

provides habitat for wildlife,

especially pollinators (July

2017)

Environmental responsibility

Protecting Cumbernauld’s

woodland

Removal of invasive non-

native plant species has

been a key priority for the

Community Action Plans

created by the

Cumbernauld Living

Landscape. Schools and

local volunteers have been

key to tackling this.

(Picture: Feb 2017)

Mc”Litter” pick cleans up

town centre

Carbrain & Hillcrest

Community Councils’

annual work day teamed up

with the local McDonalds

store to tackle litter in and

around the town centre. We

work closely with the

Council, identifying litter

and fly tipping issues and

problem solving. (Picture:

Aug 2016)

Bumper bug hotel built by

Our Ladies students

Pupils from Our Ladies

High School are

attempting to make the

world’s biggest bug hotel

from surplus wood. This is

ideally situated near orchid

meadows that are great

resources for pollinators at

Ravenswood Local Nature

Reserve. (Picture: May

2017)

Peatland restoration on the

Slamannan Plateau

Led by Buglife and NLC and

with the help of volunteer

work parties and specialist

contractors, the network of

drainage ditches across the

bogs has been blocked using

dams. This will help the

recovery of peat-forming

Sphagnum mosses and lock

away carbon. (June 2016)

Community engagement

Feeling better with natures

help

NLC’s Branching Out and

TCV’s Wild Ways Well have

used Cumbernauld’s green

assets to improve mental

health. Working with people

at risk from mental ill health

the projects have created

referral pathways for other

local organisation to get

involved. (Picture: April 2017)

Watch Us Grow skills

development

Watch US Grow is an

organic garden which

offers a therapeutic

learning environment. 30

places in are available and

this year it has supported 4

students through the Grow

and Learn Accreditation,

and 5 young people

towards an SVQ Level 1 in

Rural Skills. (June 2017)

Hallow”scream” in the Glen a

roaring success

With the support of police

Scotland youth volunteers,

Friends of Cumbernauld Glen

and the Scottish Wildlife

Trust we ran a great family

friendly event. Over 200

people joined us for bat

walks, ghost stories and scary

shenanigans. (Picture: Oct

2016)

Taking learning outdoors;

educating the educators

All of the schools in

Cumbernauld have great

greenspaces just outside

their school grounds. We

have been working with

the teachers to improve

their knowledge of the

town’s natural environment

and develop their outdoor

leaning skills. (Picture: Feb

2017)

How we make it happen

Volunteers

We are very lucky that we have lots of

people who volunteer, giving up their

precious time to help their community.

This means that often we can get a lot

done with very little. Using the skills of

volunteers like the Men’s Shed means that

we can recycle waste materials into

beautiful and useful things like planters.

Reciprocal agreements exist between the

groups allowing a bigger pool of

volunteers who can all pitch in.

Business

Local businesses in the town support us in

a variety of ways. McDonalds help with the

annual litter pick in Carbrain, others pay for

the planting on NLC roundabouts, and

some send staff on volunteer days. In the

future we would like to develop this further

to see the town centre owners contributing

to the horticulture around the shopping

centres.

Funders

We are fortunate to have the support of a

wide range of funders from small grants,

such as Action Earth for station planting, to

major grants from Heritage Lottery Fund

for the Cumbernauld Living Landscape. We

work closely with the funders to make sure

we are having the biggest possible impact

for the money.

Partnerships

Whilst “partnerships make the world go

round” is not a phrase it should be. Many

of our projects can only be delivered by

forming partnerships to leverage scarce

resources. Whether these are formal or

informal, it is the relationships between

individuals and organisation that mean that

we can deliver change.

Plans for the future

Meadows & hedgehog

habitats with schools

Carbrain and Hillcrest

Community Council plan

to work with schools to

explore local wildlife

habitats especially for

hedgehogs. They are

looking for new planting

sites and will use the

Cumbernauld Bloomin’

Wild message to inspire

more people to get

involved

Cumbernauld Community

Park allotments

NLC and the Friends of

Cumbernauld Community

Park have plans for new

allotments. These will be

situated near a wide range

of community facilities

including two primary

schools, Cumbernauld

Mosque, and the Scottish

Centre for Children with

motor impairments.

Going for gold in the

town centre

We have plans to engage

with more business in the

town centre as this is the

shop window for

Cumbernauld. Projects

like Cumbernauld Green

Routes are currently in

the pipe line and will see

improvements to civic

spaces.

Natural Connections

expand the network

The Cumbernauld Living

Landscape has submitted a

major application to the

Heritage Lottery Fund. If

successful this will expand

the community network in

the town engaging more

people and improving the

quality of the greenspace

network

In the media