SUMMER 2019 / ISSUE 20 The newsletter of the Tweed Forum Cover image: Winner of the Beautiful River Tweed photo competition (sponsored by Ahlstrom Munksjo), Gillian Watson’s image of the Tweed in autumn o NEWS Tweed Forum Carbon Club e are delighted to announce the launch of the W Tweed Forum Carbon Club. The Club offers the chance, as an individual, family or small business, to offset your carbon footprint by creating new native woodland in the Tweed catchment. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and by making a donation you’ll help to create wonderful new woodlands that will enhance the biodiversity, water quality and beauty of the local area and allow you to offset the carbon dioxide you use in your everyday life. Either by monthly subscription or a one-off donation you can help fight climate change and create beautiful native woodlands for future generations to enjoy. www.tweedforum.org/ tweed-forum-carbon-club/ Tweed Forum Director, Luke Comins (left), and Chairman, James Hepburne Scott (right), celebrating the launch of the Tweed Forum Carbon Club Tweed Matters 1 o NEWS ‘Helping it Happen’ Award winners Tweed Forum and Philiphaugh Estate improve water quality and create better were the proud winners of the habitats for wildlife. Funding for the ‘Enhancing our Environment’ prize at project was obtained from a variety of last year’s Helping it Happen Awards. sources including Peatland Action and the The awards, organised by Scottish Land Scottish Rural Development Programme and Estates, recognised our collaborative (SRDP). Carbon finance was also secured restoration of peatland at Dryhope Farm, from NEX Group plc (via Forest Carbon). in the St Mary’s Loch catchment. 161 This is the first project to be part-funded hectares (ha) of blanket bog were restored by corporate social responsibility through at the site, using a mixture of ditch the IUCN Peatland Code. blocking and peat hag re- profiling. The restoration work should help to buffer flash flooding events which can negatively impact fish breeding success, as well as helping to increase carbon storage, Tweed Forum senior staff Derek Robeson, 2nd from left, and Hugh Chalmers, 3rd from left, accepting the ‘Helping it Happen’ award Nominations for the 2019 Tweed River Champion Do you know someone who has an enhancement of the River Tweed and the outstanding commitment to improving natural, built and cultural heritage of its the Tweed or the landscapes surroundings. D FO it flows through? If so, why EE RU The deadline for nominations not nominate them for W M is September 2019; for more the Tweed Forum River T details visit: Champion Award. We are R www.tweedforum.org/ I D looking for an individual, V river-champion R from the Scottish Borders E A or North Northumberland, R C W See back page to find from any walk of life with H A out who won the 2018 an outstanding commitment A N MPIO River Champion award u to the protection and 2 Tweed Matters o NEWS STAFF UPDATE A warm welcome to Joe Taylforth who joined the Tweed Forum team in August 2018 to head up our GIS/mapping programme. With a keen interest in natural flood management, ecosystem services and river restoration, Joe has also been helping deliver several Tweed Forum projects, most notably the River Till Restoration Strategy. What attracted you to Tweed Forum? During my GIS MSc dissertation I read a lot of materials relating to Tweed Forum, particularly the Land Use Strategy, and the Eddleston Water Project. The catchment-wide approach and range of projects really appealed to me. What do you like about the job so far? I can think of many things, but if I had to choose it would be the variety within the role. I feel very fortunate to be able to combine mapping and data analysis with practical river restoration project work. I also value the opportunity to increase my skills and knowledge (there is an incredible amount of experience under one roof here) as well as the general working environment. It’s great to be living here in the beautiful Scottish Borders and working with such a collaborative team. Can you explain to us what GIS is exactly? GIS stands for Geographical Information Systems. Essentially, it’s a computer-based tool that analyses, stores, manipulates and visualises geographic information, usually in a map. It’s a powerful tool which can be used for something as simple as mapping out where Tweed Forum have planted 600,000 trees over the last 20 years or as complex as a multi- layer decision-making tool to help decide where natural flood management measures would be best placed. Tell us about your other roles here at Tweed Forum Well I’m not always desk-based! A fair proportion of my time is spent on river restoration projects, for example in the River Till catchment in Northumberland where we’re working with farmers and landowners to find sustainable solutions that benefit both the river system and people. And when you’re not at Tweed Forum? Cycling, rock climbing, camping, drumming, exploring Scotland, or cooking in the kitchen! Tweed Matters 3 4 Tweed Matters o FALLAGO Tweed Forum is coordinating this important Fund on behalf of Roxburghe Estates and EDF Renewables Fallago Environment Fund The Fund is marking its fifth Eagle Information Centre at Philiphaugh anniversary with a £1 million Estate; and the Border Union Agricultural milestone and has now supported Society’s annual Schools Countryside Day. a total of 58 projects, amounting The latest edition of the Fund newsletter is to £1,054,102. In the most recent now available online at the Forum website. rounds, the Fund has committed support towards improvements to the A-listed Gala Fairydean Rovers Football APPLY NOW! Stand; the Will H Ogilvie Anniversary The next round of Fallago Environment Commemoration, celebrating 150 Fund applications is open until 12 noon years of the Border Poet; a community on the 1st September 2019 (and the archaeological investigation of following round of applications due by 12 the Ancrum Mantel Walls site; noon on the 1st March 2020). The aim improvements to Burnfoot Community of the Fund is to enhance the quality of Gardens; restoration of the Union Chain life for local communities, and visitors Bridge; provision of instruments to to the Borders, through investment Hawick Brass Band; the Historic Heart in the protection, enhancement and of the Lammermuirs project, which will appreciation of the natural, built and protect and promote the archaeological cultural heritage of the Scottish Borders heritage of this important area; a new environment. Village Heritage Centre in Yetholm; creation of an Energy Advice Centre Apply online at www.tweedforum.org/ in the Selkirk Conservation Area; Kelso fallago. (Detailed application guidance notes are also available online.) High School’s River Tweed Pride of Kelso project; creation of a new Golden Celebrating the £1 million milestone with some of the Fund’s Management Committee: (left to right) Luke Comins, Leanne Watson, Duke of Roxburghe, Debbie Playfair and George Farr Tweed Matters 5 o LAND USE STRATEGY - SCOTTISH BORDERS PILOT We continue to fly the flag for the pioneering approach that the Scottish Government initiated nearly 5 years ago Keeping the flame alive Progress on the second phase of intervention will deliver the most Scotland’s Land Use Strategy (2016– benefits) was one of the outputs of Phase 2021) remains frustratingly slow, 1 and is now used routinely in most however, Tweed Forum continues to Tweed Forum projects. Tweed Forum has champion its important contribution in hosted several encouraging meetings supporting decisions about land use. In with senior Scottish Government staff, our efforts to keep the Land Use Strategy but Brexit has paralysed all progress. Upland land use is increasingly under the spotlight, with land managers considering alternatives to farming and now prepared to host other ecosystem services such as woodland and flood reduction measures (LUS) to the fore, Tweed Forum is actively Of course the irony is that the LUS, promoting the principles behind it: in many ways, offers the solution - an enhancing nature-based services and the enlightened way forward for post Brexit delivery of multiple benefits. agri-environment policy in terms of Opportunity mapping (where a map targeting and incentivising different land combining multiple datasets shows uses; and getting the right measures, in clearly where a given land management the right place, at the right scale. 6 Tweed Matters o RIVERWORKS Implementation of this long-term strategy is well underway The River Glen in flood and switching to a new channel (avulsing) River Till Restoration Strategy The River Till Restoration Strategy, and sustainable solution that gives the now in its seventh year, is continuing river more scope to move more freely. to improve the condition of rivers in On the River Breamish, consultants the Till catchment. On the River Glen, cbec eco-engineering have designed a newly awarded Water Environment sustainable (‘green bank’) riverbank Grant will fund works to reconnect protection to safeguard a riverside the river with its floodplain and create road from erosion during high flows. new habitat. The Glen is a high-energy We intend to use two of these designs, gravel bed system with extensive flood both of which will be monitored over embankments and, in large flood events, time to contribute to the much-needed the river has a history of avulsions evidence base. Downstream, transverse (i.e., switching to a newly created hedges were planted on the floodplain channel), which impacts infrastructure in winter 2018 to slow the flow of and farmland. Tweed Forum and floodwaters. The hedges should protect partners at the Environment Agency agricultural land and minimise bank and Natural England are working with erosion when floodwaters re-enter the specialist consultancy AquaUoS and channel.