Fond farewell to Highland Seashore Project
A three year project that began early in 2013 drew to a close over the weekend (Saturday 19 March) with one last event in the Inverness museum.
The project aimed to encourage, enthuse and share knowledge about Highland seashores with local communities and visitors. It certainly did capture people's interest with over 5,000 attending its festivals, roadshows and events, 86 new seashore surveyors and 724 children from 27 Highland schools learning about seashore wildlife through the "Beside the Sea" art and writing competition.
The event was chaired by The Highland Council’s Planning, Development and
Infrastructure Committee chairman, Councillor Audrey Sinclair. She said:
"I have been delighted to take part in this wonderful project and see the
enthusiasm and talent of both young and old shine through in the materials
produced as well as the hundreds of new biological records submitted to the
National Biodiversity Network.
"Although funding is very tight at present I hope we can build on the
legacy of this project by supporting new initiatives such as the Scottish
Wildlife Trust's Living Seas Project and the proposed Highland Marine Heritage
Project."
Project Coordinator Janet Ullman said: "The beauty of the project was that it
was able to have events across the full spectrum of human interest. This ranged
from pure natural history with its citizen science element of training seashore
surveyors, to seaside family fun roadshows with sustainable seafood stalls and
demos, stories from the sea, and sculpture competitions, rock pooling and touch
tanks."
The Project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage,
The Highland Council and The Crown Estate, and was managed by the Council on
behalf of the Highland Environment Forum. A small exhibition documenting its
achievements will be on display at the museum until Monday 11 April.