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
🌿✨ Honoured and humbled to be awarded Gold for Biodiversity at the Scottish Borders Greener Gateway Awards – for the second year running! ✨🌿
This recognition belongs to everyone who makes our work possible:
🙏 Our incredible volunteers and partners, whose passion and hard work bring our projects to life
👏 Our dedicated staff at BGN, whose expertise and commitment drive everything we do
💚 Our generous funders and partners, whose support enables us to plan, grow, and protect nature across the Borders
Thank you to Scottish Borders Council for celebrating community-led action for nature. We’re proud to play our part in making the Borders greener, wilder, and more resilient – together. 🦋🌸
From choked to flowing: this is what community power looks like on the hill. 💧🌿
These photos show one of the places where our streams begin – previously clogged with dense vegetation, now with free‑flowing water thanks to our brilliant Deer Park volunteers. By carefully clearing the blockage, they’ve helped reconnect the natural flow of water across the land.
This is a classic nature‑based solution: using simple, low‑tech, hands‑on work to restore how water moves, rather than relying on pipes or heavy machinery. The benefits ripple out:
Better habitat for invertebrates, amphibians and birds that depend on running water
Improved water quality as the stream can self‑clean and oxygenate
More resilient land that can store and release water more naturally, reducing local flood risk downstream
A living example for visitors and neighbours of how small actions add up to big change
Most of all, this is about people. Huge thanks to every volunteer who turned up, dug in, and gave their time and energy. You’re not just moving plants and mud – you’re rebuilding connections between land, water and community.
If you’d like to join future workdays, keep an eye on our posts or message us – there’s always room for more hands on the hill. 🙌
Today we enjoyed another sunny Saturday on Selkirk Hill for our monthly wildlife workshop. The theme for today was the fascinating world of plant galls - an abnormal growth produced by a plant or other host under the influence of another organism. It's amazing what can be found when you spend time noticing what is around. Those little bumps and lumps that may look unsightly, are in fact homes that provide shelter and food for tiny insects.
Alison, our trusty guide, introduced all of us to this amazing little world and I'm sure none of us will look at a tree in the same way again!
Our next workshop will be on Saturday 31st of October when the focus will be birds and winter migration. Details to follow soon.
Six of our amazing Young Rewilders joined the rest of the Bright Green Nature team at the Big Picture Conference in Perth on Saturday.
These inspiring young people enjoyed a very worthwhile day (learning from sector experts, networking with key people and exploring nature restoration careers), whilst also doing BGN proud by representing the charity to a national audience.
The occasion also provided a perfect opportunity to properly show off their new merch, which sports their very own logo - designed by the group themselves 💚
