The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a grant of over £7,000 for improvements at Johnston Terrace Wildlife Garden in Edinburgh.

The funding has been awarded as part of the Big Lottery Fund’s Breathing Places grants scheme that aims to improve spaces and places for wildlife and people as part of the BBC Breathing Places campaign.

SWT has managed the site since 1991 and despite being SWT’s smallest reserve Johnston Terrace is surprisingly rich in wildlife with a number of distinct habitat areas.

Adjacent to the Patrick Geddes steps, a founder of modern town planning and believer in the importance of “green lungs”, the walled garden is set 50 metres below the Castle esplanade at the top of the Royal Mile and includes a wildlife pond, small meadow and a rockery.

Reserve Manager Julian Warman said: “More and more people are choosing to live in urban areas making greenspaces within our cities and towns more important than ever. We hope that through the improvements made at Johnston Terrace the local community will become aware of this asset and will benefit along with the wildlife from this small oasis set in amongst the bustle of Edinburgh.”

Thanks to the funding the small band of local volunteers, working alongside SWT staff, will be provided with equipment to undertake some of the practical tasks required which include planting of native nectar-rich plants (provided by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and the creation of homes for wildlife such as bat and bird boxes.

In partnership with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, a bee survey will be undertaken too so that planting improvements can be gauged against existing populations of bee species.

New on-site information, signage, paths and benches will also be introduced to make the garden more user-friendly for visitors.

Once improvements have been completed (by June 2008), the garden will be permanently open to visitors and the locked gates currently in place will be removed.

A series of events is also planned to help raise awareness of the resource this garden can be to local people.

More information on Johnston Terrace Wildlife Reserve