Bright Green Nature is a nature restoration charity based in the Scottish Borders.
We are thrilled to launch our new website with a special gift for you – a Mindful Minute from Deer Park. Please take a moment to pause, breathe, and immerse yourself in the peace of this beautiful place. Notice how it makes you feel and let nature’s calm inspire you.
Our aim is to empower and enable communities to protect nature in the places they love and to restore and protect rare and vulnerable habitats.
We work exclusively at small scale and grass roots level, working alongside communities to restore the places that they value.
We rely on the help of our valued volunteers and partners to achieve our ambitions.
Get in touch to learn how you can join us and help to make a difference.
We restore and protect the health and resilience of natural ecosystems, by:
Restoring, protecting and connecting habitats to conserve and improve abundance and resilience of native biodiversity
Restoring and protecting ecosystem function, health and resilience
Supporting and conducting research into ecosystem restoration practices; dissemination and interpretation of results to benefit nature and people
We connect and engage people with nature, by:
Improving the connectivity of people with Nature so that they are motivated to protect it
Making nature accessible to all; reaching new audiences through using nature to connect with people in innovative ways
Connecting people with their natural and cultural heritage to understand its importance in shaping how we understand nature and how we live with nature in the future
Empowering communities and individuals to learn new nature based skills and knowledge, to improve wellbeing and employability
Looking for something to do this Sunday morning? Come along to discover the colourful world of butterflies and moths! We'll begin by uncovering the different moth species found on Selkirk Hill using light traps, then we'll partake in the Big Butterfly Count by Butterfly Conservation 🦋
We'll meet at the Argus Centre (w3w///mere.stem.surpassed) at 10am. Any questions contact Megan at megan@brightgreennature.org
Yesterday our Young Rewilders enjoyed a great day at the The Tweed Foundation, where Ben took us to the Leader Water (one of the Tweed's tributaries), and then to the local pond, to carry out invertebrate sampling.
It was a really interesting and informative session and the group learned a huge amount about the various factors which challenge the health of all Scottish rivers - and how rewilding has such a positive (and much needed) impact. With the Atlantic Salmon now officially classified as an endangered species (a shocking fact!), the research and education that Ben, and others like him, do is absolutely vital.
On the plus side - it was heartening to hear that the River Tweed (which runs the full width of the Scottish Borders) is in fact one of the healthiest rivers in the country. And despite there being lots more work to be done, others are learning from this example.
Two highlights from our day that are worth sharing - 1) We delighted in watching a Mayfly Nymph swim to the water's surface in our hand-held container, shed it's skin and pop up as a Mayfly right in front of our eyes, and 2) Welcoming Jay as our latest new member - which means our growing group now has 12 Young Rewilders in total. NB - We're always on the look out for new members (aged 16-25) so send us a message if you are interested in joining!
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The Nature Force team headed out onto Selkirk Hill last week for their first session of the summer. They were doing some really important work, helping nature to adapt to the effects of climate change. The big task of the day was to build some leaky dams on one of the small burns found on the hill; this will help to slow down the flow of water, mitigating the flood risk alongside improving habitats for species that like wet, boggy places.
Nature Force is a team of 11–15-year-olds, gathering in Selkirk to get out in the wild, see what climate change means in practice, and learning about how we can help nature adapt. These activities are part of the Nature Networks: Climate Change programme of events that we are running alongside Bright Green Nature. This activity is supported through the Scottish Government Climate Engagement Fund.
