The Angus Coastal Festival The Background to the Idea
“Exploring Scotland’s Undiscovered Coast”
Iconic species: from dolphins to puffins; rare plants and butterflies Fascinating geology Coastal habitats
The local community Visitors Businesses, inc. tourism Councillors, especially our Species Champions ‘The Media’ Existing – and new - Partners (Tayside Biodiversity Partnership) Why?
The Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan (2nd Edition 2016-26)
Marine & Coastal Objective 3 - Mainstream biodiversity conservation action by raising awareness and the enjoyment of marine and coastal ecosystems of local communities
Pressures – coastal erosion / development and sea defences / recreation / grazing / climate change
Priority Habitats - saltmarsh / intertidal mudflats / estuarine reed beds / maritime cliffs / sand dunes Words, words, words Proposed Action
Action 20.1 (Marine & Coastal Ecosystems)
Investigate the potential to set up an Angus Coastal Festival with a wide range of partners to raise awareness of coastal issues and encourage citizen science surveys.
To achieve: between 3 and 7 years (between 2019 and 2023) Bored yet?
Or shall we just get on and do it? Funding Staff time / volunteer time Forward planning > What do we want to achieve in 2018 2019 2020 Partnership working Programme planning Involving the media First things first
Partners involved in 2018: Angus Council via the TBP’s Marine & Coast Working Group RSPB / SWT / SNH Marine Conservation Society Butterfly Conservation Scotland Tay Estuary Forum (geology walks) Scottish Mammal Research Unit East Haven Together Marine Life Angus British Divers Marine Life Rescue Carnoustie Golf Links and Montrose Links Tayside Geodiversity But n’Ben, Auchmithie Ian Hay Photography Plus – ANGUSAlive (Museums, libraries, sports centre), the Angus Cycle Hub, and the Littoral Project
Funding and In-kind Contributions
Sea Changers turned us down Carnoustie Links Trust did not - £1k for promotional items and events in/around Carnoustie AngusAlive didn’t charge room hire for talks
In-kind by all the speakers and event leaders ‘In-house’ planning - organised by the TBP’s Co- ordinator and Marine & Coastal Working Group Leader (Angus Council) with assistance from the TBP intern So how did it go?
Woodlands Primary School,
Councillors,
Carnoustie Golf Links,
TBP
and Butterfly Conservation Official Launch - Kidney Vetch planting British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Next year we want to publicise the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code Library/Museum Displays linking events Urban Butterfly Project – BC(S) RSPB children’s events at Lunan Bay GeoWalks
CPD certificates offered to Angus Council staff on the Coastal Erosion GeoWalk Scottish Wildlife Trust - Mud! SWT - Rock pooling, Arbroath Dolphin Walks
Led by the Scottish Mammal Research Unit and Marine Life Angus Beach Cleans – Marine Cons. Soc.
8 x beach cleans during the MCS Big Beach Clean Challenge weekend The Big Beach Clean The Big Beach Clean 2 Seaweed and Eat It! The Art & Science of Marine Plastics The Art & Science of Marine Plastics 2
The Littoral Project - LitterCUBE ….and plenty more….(41 events in 11 days)
Angus Cycle Hub – two bike tours of the coast Wildlife Photography Workshop Talks – Montrose Golf Course – A Walk on the Wild Side, An Artist’s Entanglement with Scotland’s Tide Lines, #STOPThePlasticTide St Cyrus Open Doors Chat Exhibitions in Libraries and Museums (x 6) Family activities (x 13) 10 x walks Work in progress…
Reporting back (26th August to 22nd September Statistics) • Facebook • Post reach - 4,600 • Post engagements – 1,300 • 17 x new page likes • Very positive Twitter presence – c1,780 • Increased use of TBP website • BBC Radio, newspapers, journals • Excellent feedback
More to come?
2019 – 6th to 16th September Sponsorship and funding needed to widen the remit to include film evenings, book weekends, storytelling, more CPD training events 2020 - The Year of Scotland’s Coast and Waters Think big for 2020: East of Scotland Coastal Festival?
Contact Catherine Lloyd, Tayside Biodiversity Partnership [email protected] www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk
Tayside Biodiversity @TayBiodiversity