Conservation site to benefit from cash boost

East Dunbartonshire Council’s Streetscene Technical Support Team worked with the Whitefield Pond Group to secure the grant from WREN, a funding body for landfill tax grants.

The grant will be used to improve Balgrochan Marsh, a site of local conservation to benefit people and wildlife.

The council will carry out work to create a raised path linking Geelong Gardens to Crow Road as well as installing a large sandstone monolith information point and boundary site marker stones.

Local primary school pupils and members of the community will be invited to plant a selection of wildflowers suitable for the marshy habitat.

Wildlife will also benefit with a number of small 
shallow pools created to provide valuable habitat for frogs, dragonflies and other creatures.

Councillor Stewart MacDonald, convener of Neighbourhood Services, said: “This is a great example of partnership working. I wish to thank the volunteers for all their hard work to make sure Balgrochan Marsh is improved for visitors and wildlife.

“It’s fantastic to hear that local school children and residents will be involved in a project which will benefit the whole community.”

Veronica Stewart, secretary of the Whitefield Pond Group, said: “As a local volunteering group we have embraced the opportunity to work in partnership with the council to take steps to 
enhance Balgrochan Marsh.

“We are keen to continue to build and seek innovative ways together to take forward any similar initiatives for us all to enjoy.”

The natural diversity of East Dunbartonshire includes a rich mix of uplands,grasslands, woodlands, water courses, wetlands and bogs.

Mugdock and Woodilee woods are notably ancient and therefore semi-natural woodlands with smaller remnants at Fin Glen and Campsie Glen.

There are various species-rich grasslands south of Lennox Forest and at Finniescroft and Redmoss, whilst marshy grasslands range from rush dominated pastures to the floristically diverse Balgrochan and Springfield marshes.