Council’s first biodiversity report published

Orkney Islands Council has published its first formal biodiversity Report, outlining the work it has carried out to support wildlife and the local environment during the last three years.

The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 places a duty on all public bodies to ‘further the conservation of biodiversity’ in the course of carrying out their responsibilities. This is commonly known as the ‘Biodiversity Duty’.

The Biodiversity Duty Report 2014 details projects that the council has contributed to between January 2012 and January 2015. These include:

• supporting the annual ‘Bag the Bruck’ events by supplying bin bags and gloves to local volunteer groups and disposing of the rubbish collected.
• contributing expertise to detailed studies and awareness-raising of local ‘Zostera’ seagrass beds, as part of the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme. Seagrass beds provide nursery areas for marine species and we now have a greater understanding of the range of species they support in Orkney.
• assisting in fieldwork projects with school children at St Andrews Primary, including a marram grass transplant project to help stabilise  an area of coastal sand dune at Dingieshowe in Deerness; and planting locally-sourced wildflowers in the school grounds to support Orkney’s native bumblebee population.
• providing locally-sourced wildflower seed and plants for ‘wildlife ponds’ and meadow areas at the Council’s Schools Investment Programme sites – the new KGS, the new Stromness Primary and the new pool at the Pickaquoy Centre.

The full report is available at www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/B/Biodiversity.htm