An outdoor project is aiming to bring new wildlife to one of Renfrewshire’s most popular beauty spots.
Garnock Connections is a landscape partnership scheme left by RSPB Scotland.
It is made up of 25 projects which aim to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage around the River Garnock.
One of the projects includes the RSPB reserve in Lochwinnoch where funding from the project has so far helped to create a sand martin bank to attract the birds as they migrate north from Africa, installed eight rafts in two lochs and dredge an old pond to create a wildlife haven.
Dan Snowdon is a warden at RSPB Lochwinnoch and has been leading the Garnock Connections project at the site.
He said: “We created a sand martin bank in late 2018 but it could take up to five years for it to be used. Sand martins return to where they were born.
“In the next couple of weeks were going to put out an artificial call lure on speakers to try and attract birds who are travelling north from sub-Saharan Africa where they live in the winter.
“Sand martins are one of the first birds to come back.”
Dan said the process of attracting sand martins was a long one but a mallard duck decided to take up residence on the roof of the bank last summer.
“It had about ten or 11 ducklings up there,” he said.
“It wasn’t a great place because it’s about eight feet above the water so the ducklings had to jump off into the water but they all survived!”
The most recent development courtesy of funding from Garnock Connections is a new pool which was excavated at the reserve last August. It’s the first of three which Dan hopes will attract more wildlife like otters, herons and ducks.
He explained: “We had to excavate the pool to remove a lot of dead vegetation and try to bring life back to it. We’re creating open water in an area which doesn’t have any.
“The pool will also be beneficial to invertebrates like dragonflies and damselflies and we do have otters on the reserve so we hope they might use it.
“It’s not targeting any one species but it should be beneficial to wildlife as a whole.
“We want to create another two or three more pools in time.”
Dan said he hopes the changes will encourage more visitors to the reserve, as covid restrictions allow. Although the shop and visitor centre is currently closed due to lockdown, the reserve walks are open.
Dan said: “Improving wildlife habitats will improve the visitor spectacle when they come here.
“The RSPB is all about giving nature a home and getting people to interact with nature and value it.
“We keep going in and out of lockdown and we’ve lost a lot of income with the shop being closed.
“The Garnock Connections project has helped to fund a lot of our wildlife management.”
To find out more about Garnock Connections, go to www.garnockconnections.org.uk
