Let’s work together to take…

Action for Nature

Experience the benefits of spending time in nature.

Kirriemuir is home to some wonderful wildlife. You might see a red squirrel scamper over the fence on the walk to school, or hear some swifts screaming through the town on a summer evening. It’s easy to think these animals, wildflowers and landscapes, will always be there. Yet, our everyday decisions can make it harder for nature to thrive.

Did you know…

Scotland is in a biodiversity crisis with one in nine Scottish species threatened with extinction.

We believe we can make a difference, and that tackling these issues together as a community works best. We’re already taking action to protect and restore nature at a local level. We’re linking up with other initiatives, landowners and communities to build and join a network across Angus and Scotland.

As part of our 5-year strategy, we support our community to understand and appreciate the role and benefits of nature, both globally and locally, so that we can best protect, support and restore our natural world. To kick this off, our team of volunteers and staff ran a BioBlitz weekend in August 2022. This helped us build a picture of how wildlife in Kirriemuir was currently faring in our changing landscape and climate.

Our BioBlitz

What is a BioBlitz, you might ask? It’s a survey of species across a specific geographical area at a specific moment in time. Our BioBlitz mostly took place over a weekend in August 2022, where our volunteer experts and enthusiasts carried out 27 different walks, talks and surveys of the local wildlife hotspots. These included Kirrie Den, Kirrie Hill, St. Mary’s Field, Kate’s Wood, Caddam Wood, and more. Over 150 people participated in the weekend, with over 700 sightings recorded on iRecord by our dedicated Action for Nature volunteers. You can read about the event, including a full species list, in our BioBlitz Report.

Our Action for Nature Aims

  • Promote, protect and restore our local natural biodiversity.
  • Study, record and track our local nature, and share this with our local community to inspire our work.
  • Promote the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in nature.
  • Study our local extreme weather events, the effects on nature, our vulnerabilities, and help support our community’s resilience with a better understanding of appropriate adaptations.

Our Action for Nature Projects

Wild About Kirrie

Wild About Kirrie

Wild About Kirrie is our project to make space for nature, in our gardens, streets and neighbourhoods.

Nest Box Kirrie

Nest Box Kirrie

We build and install bird, bat and bug boxes around Kirriemuir, where available nesting spots like trees have reduced in abundance over the last few decades.

BioBlitz Continued...

BioBlitz Continued...

We track and record species across various locations in Kirriemuir to monitor populations and diversity of species.

Our Partners

We know that solving the biodiversity crisis we’re in can’t be done alone! We work with a number of partners to support and promote each other’s actions and increase our impact. Find out more about our Action for Nature partners by clicking on their logos to visit their websites.

Tayside Biodiversity Partnership Logo

“Sustainable Kirriemuir is actively contributing to many targets within the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan (2nd Edition 2016-26), demonstrating very ably how individuals, local volunteers and community-led organisations can all play a key part in turning round the national biodiversity crisis.” – Catherine Lloyd, Biodiversity Coordinator.

Angus Cycle Hub Logo

“Working with Sustainable Kirriemuir is a vital link in progressing our shared objective of championing the native red squirrel in the Kirriemuir area against the invasive non-native grey which outcompetes it for food and habitat. Our monitoring and control efforts in this frontline area are expanding, and more resilient, due to the involvement of active volunteers who bring their local knowledge, skills and passion to the project.”

Angus Council Logo

“The Parks Department of Angus Council works to support Sustainable Kirriemuir by advising, or supporting contact with other departments within Angus Council. We work closely, for example having jointly identified and stopped cutting some grass areas on a trial basis to see if this will encourage specific varieties of wild flowers in the Kirriemuir area.”

Kirriemuir Planter Group Logo

Kirriemuir Planter Group was formed 10 years ago to bring colour to the town. They have a large polytunnel at Pathhead where they bring on their plants. They also sowed wild flower seed in 2024 as an experiment at Knowehead which brought colour and food for pollinators to a previously unkept area.

Get in Touch

Together we can make good choices and live better, join Sustainable Kirriemuir!

If you would like to know more about what we are doing please get in touch. We are always looking for new members to join our organisation. If you have particular knowledge around climate change issues, or growing, making and mending skills you’d like to share, or just want to know more, we want to hear from you. Everyone is welcome, together we can make a difference.