A 55-acre web site near Aberdeen is to turn into one of many largest biodiversity initiatives on a college campus in Scotland.
Robert Gordon College (RGU) plans to revive Waterside Farm into an space of biodiversity, enhancing its already excessive carbon-holding capability, and offering a habitat for a variety of threatened species.
RGU is working alongside environmental consultancy agency The Habitat Individuals to deliver the land again to its extra pure state. The SRM Basis has additionally donated £100,000 to help the imaginative and prescient.
Veronica Strachan, College Secretary, and Vice-Principal Company Providers mentioned: “We’re delighted to be working carefully alongside The Habitat Individuals on this thrilling biodiversity venture, which actually is a unbelievable alternative to create a web site the place every kind of animals and flora can prosper within the coming years.
“As custodians of this unique site, it is of vital importance that we are proactive and ensure that the area can thrive and inspire the next generation. Furthermore, I would like to thank the SRM Foundation for their donation which can only help us move forward.”
David Hunter, Chief Government Officer of The Habitat Individuals, mentioned: “There are some nice property at Waterside Farm already, by way of the flora and by way of the hen life. We’ve acquired a number of nationally endangered hen species which can be breeding right here, however there’s an terrible lot extra we are able to do.
“We’ve discovered that this web site was a part of the river, so we’re going to be establishing the wetlands and bringing again what this web site could have used to appear like 250 years in the past, which may be very thrilling.
“They key outcome for Waterside Farm will be when all manner of species of plants and animals make it their home and begin to thrive. This is a long-term project, and it is the future generations who will benefit the most from the efforts to make this patch of land a paradise for biodiversity.”
Francesco Mazzagatti, Chief Government Officer of the SRM Basis, mentioned: “We’re proud to help RGU’s Waterside Farm venture, which units the tone for the sorts of modern undertakings on the coronary heart of the thought for the SRM Basis.
“RGU’s imaginative and prescient for the Waterside Farm – to revive the habitat to its authentic kind and produce again the native species and keep it moderately than attempt to enhance it by means of strategies that aren’t indigenous to the location – are aligned with the SRM Basis’s total method to biodiversity.
“Being the first project for our foundation, we intend to be closely involved in order to document the measurable benefits of restoring a biodiversity site so we can showcase the immense importance of climate philanthropy in the transition to a clean energy economy.”
The restoration of the location consists of reintroducing wetlands by including reedbeds in particular areas of Waterside Farm in addition to having managed flooding in place to permit the reedbeds to mature.
The Habitat Individuals discovered two major invasive plant species on the web site – Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed. The previous might be eliminated just by pulling it out of the bottom whereas the latter requires specialist injection remedy.
Additional early groundwork consists of the set up of hen bins which has confirmed to achieve success with a pair of owls nesting at an undisclosed location at Waterside Farm.
The College bought Waterside Farm, which is simply off the South Deeside Highway, in 2006. The world has a protracted historical past with army maps displaying that within the 1700s the River Dee was a two-stream waterway, whereas maps produced within the nineteenth Century present the river was diverted to a single channel because of agricultural exercise on the location.
In October 2024, RGU held a listening occasion for native stakeholders to stipulate the proposals and assist strengthen hyperlinks between the College and the communities round Waterside Farm. These in attendance overwhelmingly help Waterside Farm as a pure area and the restoration proposals.
There will likely be alternatives for individuals to volunteer on the web site as plans develop, with occasions because of happen on Thursday 12 December and Thursday 19 December. Anybody who needs to register an curiosity can electronic mail: WatersideFarm@rgu.ac.uk
Discover out extra on the RGU web site: https://www.rgu.ac.uk/waterside-farm
