Welcome to Making the Most of Moorlands (an education project)
Introduction to the Project
The Making the Most of Moorlands is an education project which began as the Moorland Education Project in 2009 with funding from Scottish Natural Heritage and LEADER Dumfries & Galloway. The project aims to enhance the understanding within the community of man's role in the management of the Moorland and ensure the involvement of the community in the progress of the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project. Making the Most of Moorlands follows on from the Moorland Education Project.
What's on this site
- Use the links at the top of this page to read the diary of Dr Barlow and find out what the project officer has been up to lately.
- You can see what public events have been arranged by her on the events page.
- The wildlife page has pictures of many of the interesting birds, mammals and other creatures to be found on the Langholm Moor.
- The gallery page shows pictures of some of the activities on the moor involving local people.
- The other pages show you where to find us and how to get incontact with us. There is a page of useful links
Mammal Survey
The 2012 County Mammal Report, for Dumfriesshire, Kirkudbrightshire and Wigtownshire is available to read here. It is a large document so it may take some time to appear. Don't panic.
Records of all mammals are scarce in the Langholm /Eskdale area, so please send your records in. All records of mammals, no matter how common you think they are, are very welcome and very important.
If you don't tell us the chances are that no one will.
You can submit records by e-mail to dgmammals@aol.com or by telephoning or texting to 07792-142446. The information required is:
1) What you saw [species and whether it was dead or alive].
2) Where you saw it [A general description, name of farm, road etc is fine].
3) When you saw it [ideally day, month and year but month and year will do].
4) Your name [you will be included in the list of contributors at the start of the report unless you prefer not to be].
Hen harriers
One of the most interesting birds on the moor is the hen harrier. Last year video footage was taken at a harrier nest. Click here to see some short video extracts taken from the camera.
Hen Harrier Satelite tagging
The dispersal patterns of harriers in Scotland are generally not well understood, despite these having a probable influence on their survival and predation on prey during the winter. Since 2010 a proportion of the harrier chicks fledged at Langholm have been fitted with satellite tags which monitor their progress during the next year.
The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project has supported this because it is vital to know about the dispersal and fate of harriers so we can better inform national conservation frameworks, particularly about the proportion of harriers that disperse and/or die naturally away from grouse moors as this is currently not known. This year the Making the Most of Moorlands Project is contributing towards the hen harrier satellite tagging programme.
Harrier Update
You can follow the fortunes of this year's hen harrier young on the project bog at http://langholmmoorland.blogspot.co.uk
Project Officer
The Project Officer is Dr. Cat Barlow, an educationalist and ecologist specialising in upland habitats. She is based at the offices of the Langholm Initiative in Langholm
Partners
In 2007 partners Buccleuch, Estates, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, RSPB and Natural England launched The Langholm Moor 10 Year Demonstration Project, with the aim of establishing Langholm Moor as a driven grouse moor which meets the nature conservation objectives for the SPA and SSSI.The eyes of Europe are on this high profile project, which was launched by Environment Minister Michael Russell, but the local community is largely unaware of the significance of the Demonstration Project or the potential economic benefits from the Moor to the community.
Awareness
The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project is one of the most important upland conservation projects in the UK and the Making the Most of Moorlands (an education project) is working alongside the Demonstration Project Staff to raise awareness of this vital project, both locally and further afield.
This project is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Government and the European Community, Dumfries and Galloway LEADER 2007 -2013
