Aberdeen Flagship Parks for Pollinators and B-Lines

These two projects come together to improve connectivity for pollinators, forming a good basis to developing Aberdeen’s future Nature Network. Aberdeen City Council is extending naturalised greenspace management by improving and creating blue/green habitats in two high profile parks in the city. In Aberdeen Flagship Parks for Pollinators, Duthie Park beside the River Dee and Seaton Park on the River Don have been chosen to show this approach can benefit both people and wildlife. Both parks also serve more deprived areas of the city, include extensive areas of traditional horticultural layouts, and are heavily used. This preliminary project feeds into Aberdeen’s B-Lines Project, more detail on each being given below.

Aberdeen Flagship Parks for Pollinators

Duthie Park and Seaton Park in Aberdeen were chosen for this project. Duthie Park is a traditional formal park situated next to the River Dee and Seaton Park combines formal areas with wetlands and riparian woodland and is adjacent to the River Don.  Both parks will form demonstration sites for the Aberdeen B-Lines project.

The project focused on creating wildflower areas, native tree planting, organising hydrological and ecological surveys of wetland and pond habitats to look at ways to expand/enhance habitats.  Action Plans were undertaken to advise on future management of the areas.

Community events in the form of Bio-blitz’s combined activities such as pond–dipping, mini beast hunts with stalls from different conservation organisations, to encourage visitors to discover the natural world in the park. All species records were collated and uploaded onto the North-East Scotland Biological Records Centre’s (NESBReC) website.

Aberdeen B-Lines

Aberdeen City Council is partnering with Buglife to create, restore and enhance 20 hectares of land in Aberdeen for pollinators.  Eleven Council owned areas have been selected to initiate this work along the River Don, River Dee and the Coast, this includes further work at Duthie and Seaton Park.  Buglife will employ an Aberdeen B-Lines Conservation Officer for the duration of the project to undertake survey work, advise on habitat management and to provide training and facilitate community events.

Buglife’s B-Lines project is a national project which helps to build nature networks for pollinators around the country.  It offers the opportunity for local communities, schools and external bodies to get involved and create spaces for nature where they live and work.

The B-Lines project group was set up in October 2022 to develop a B-Lines Project. The team included the members from the Council’s Environmental Services and the Natural Environment Policy Team and Buglife and partner organisations such as the local records centre. The group combined ecological and operational experience to identify and select the sites best suited for ecological improvements.

The Parks for Pollinators project provided funding to allow hydrological and ecological surveys to be undertaken.  This provides baseline data for the B-Lines project and detailed analysis of the current wetland areas and options for future enhancement and management.

Buglife applied for funding for the B-Lines project and successfully provided match funding from smaller grant providers.  Buglife’s experience with funding similar projects elsewhere was invaluable in creating the project.

These projects link to the Natural Environment Strategy, under Net Zero Aberdeen.

This project allows the Council the opportunity to improve and create species rich grasslands and change the way that grassland is managed.  By undertaking these projects, experiments can be undertaken to establish the best methods for improvements on the ground. The concept of B-Lines has already been incorporated into major coastal masterplans in the city, which will help deliver a pollinator coast along the city’s coastline, improving habitats and linking into larger projects such as Species on the Edge.

• 4,700 wildflower plugs planted at Seaton Park
• Local wildflower seeds sown (Scotia seeds – annual meadow mix, ‘get nectar rich quick’ and urban pollinator mix) to create colourful wildflower areas at Duthie Park.
• 310 native trees planted
• 335 people took part in Bio-blitz events
• Hydrological and ecological surveys undertaken
• Action Plans produced to manage site for wildlife