Projects
Current Projects
GreenTweed Eco runs a number of projects across Scotland. The aim of every project is to engage communities, and young people in particular, with the natural world around them. We want the next generation to be the future guardians of the environment.
Borders Primary School Bird Box Project
The Borders Primary Schools Birdbox Project is a simple project to engage a generation of Borders school children with the natural world around them. With the support of the Nineveh Charitable Trust and Tweed Forum, we will supply each of the region’s 60 primary schools with x10 birdboxes each over a 3 year period. As well as providing valuable nesting space for small birds, it is hoped that the Borders Primary Schools Birdbox Project will encourage many more young people to become passionate defenders of the wild world around them. In addition, a further x150 boxes were sold to local people to raise £1,532 for the NHS Borders COVID-19 Pandemic Response.
Highlands Primary School Bird Box Project
The Highland Primary Schools Birdbox Project is a regional project supported by the Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation to supply the 175 Highland Council primary schools with x10 birdboxes each over a 3 year period. 1,800 birdboxes will have a significant impact on the breeding success of many of the region’s small bird species. It will also bring the wild world to the classroom windows of those children responsible for monitoring and recording the boxes. Successes will be monitored using an interactive GIS data mapping system and shared via Facebook and Instagram pages.
Single Spey River Clean
The Single Spey River Clean began in October 2020 and is a long-term project to mirror the success of the Great Borders River Clean on the River Spey system. Despite the torrential rain and high waters, 137 hardy souls removed more than 100 bags or rubbish from the river over a single weekend. This proves both how insidious and persistent the problem of plastic pollution can be (even on a rivers considered to be amongst Scotland’s cleanest) and how this problem can be reversed when communities work together effectively.
Great Borders River Clean
The last edition of the Great Borders River Clean saw 453 volunteers clearing 2,000kg of rubbish from over 30 communities on rivers and burns of the Tweed system in a single weekend. This makes the Great Borders River Clean one of Great Britain’s largest simultaneous river cleans. This event has now prevented over 6 tonnes of rubbish from entering the North Sea at Berwick upon Tweed. It has also helped to raise awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in our region’s rivers. By actively removing bankside rubbish and encouraging responsible disposal of litter we hope to continue to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the Tweed system.
#1918oaks Tree Planting Project
The #1918oaks Tree Planting Project began in the First World War Centenary year with the planting of a mile-long First World War Memorial Avenue linking Melrose Abbey to the nearby village of Newstead. Local primary school children and their families planted trees supplied by a Borders Tree Planting Grant from the Borders Forest Trust as a lasting memorial for generations to come to all those local men and women who did not return to this beautiful corner of the World. In addition to the First World War Memorial Avenue, 2,000 acorns were planted in squirrel-proof nurseries to grow in the playgrounds of 5 local primary schools. These will be planted out across the region when conditions allow.
