The Fife Living Waters project was a one-year project, funded by the Scottish Power Foundation, which ran from January 2022 until January 2023. The project was based in Cowdenbeath and worked at two key sites, Cowdenbeath Wetland and Lumphinnans Pond (aka Swan Pond), with the aim of conserving and enhancing these areas to benefit wildlife and encouraging the local community to explore the nature and biodiversity around them.
The project enabled all sectors of the community to develop connections with the natural heritage of Cowdenbeath through the various activities we delivered. These included volunteer sessions, training courses, school sessions, business team building days, community engagement activities, and events. We ran a total of 254 activities, engaging with 2,567 people.
Fife Living Waters delivered regular volunteer sessions across our two sites in Cowdenbeath. Volunteers gained experience in a variety of practical habitat management skills, and had the opportunity to explore their local green spaces through our outdoor nature activities.
Habitat Creation & Restoration
The Fife Living Waters project created and restored habitats at two sites in Cowdenbeath, Cowdenbeath Wetland and Lumphinnans Pond, for the benefit of amphibians, reptiles and a wealth of other wildlife. In addition to improving the sites themselves, our habitat works have also created connectivity with other green spaces, allowing wildlife to move between green corridors and counteract the effects of habitat fragmentation.
Local schools in Cowdenbeath were offered in-school sessions where pupils learnt all about Scotland’s native amphibians and reptiles, their lifecycles, and the threats they face. School sessions included opportunities to take part in amphibian and reptile arts and crafts activities and the chance to look for wildlife around the school grounds.
Fife Living Waters also gave the opportunity for local businesses to attend a Business Team Building Day on one of our two habitat sites, where they learnt all about our native amphibian and reptile species. The days were largely focused on habitat management, with the teams helping to create or restore wildlife habitats.
The Fife Living Waters project delivered community engagement sessions to local community groups. Groups learnt about Scotland’s amphibians and reptiles before taking part in a fun wildlife activity such as creating model wildlife gardens, making seed bombs, or painting bug houses.
Fife Living Waters hosted several pop-up events with a range of activities for members of the public, volunteers and fellow Froglifers to get involved with. Attendees had the opportunity to get stuck into our virtual reality exhibition, have a go at some arts and crafts activities, learn about wildlife gardening, and much more!
Fife Living Waters was made possible with the Scottish Power Foundation. Thanks to the Scottish Power Foundation, we were able to deliver fantastic habitat works and public engagement activities at our two sites at Cowdenbeath in order to conserve and enhance the unique heritage of the area.
