
The beautiful Great Crested Grebe played a key part in the beginning of nature conservation in Britain. This water bird was almost hunted to extinction by the Victorian fashion industry’s demand for feathers. In 1889, the Plumage League was set up to protect the grebe. The Plumage League’s direct descendant is the RSPB – the largest conservation group in Europe.
So what about the grebe?
And what about Hogganfield?
There are Great Crested Grebes at Hogganfield but they are struggling. These birds generally nest on a ‘raft’ of floating vegetation but are susceptible to the nests being flooded in wet and windy weather. This has meant that, despite the birds attempting to breed only 1 or 2 young hatch and survive each year.
The Friends of Glasgow Local Nature Reserves want to secure funding to install 5 biohaven islands on the loch.These floating islands are designed to rise and fall with the water level and should therefore provide better nesting opportunities for water birds such as grebes.
Hogganfield Loch also suffers from problems with nutrient build up which has resulted in a blue-green algae boom. This is unsightly for visitors to the park but more importantly affects the quality of water for fish and other aquatic organisms – again affecting the success of the water birds. The biohaven islands are designed to improve water quality and should therefore help reduce the blue green algae problem.
The islands will be situated to the north east of the large island on Hogganfield Loch. This provides the most sheltered spot from the prevailing winds to give the best chance for the breeding birds.
The monies raised towards this project will cover the purchase and installation of the biohaven islands along with appropriate plants for all 5 islands to give cover for nesting birds. Monies will also cover ongoing testing of water quality for the next 4 years to assess the impact of the islands, as well as ongoing maintenance for the islands.
So please donate and help us improve the habitat of Hogganfield Loch for visiting birds, as well as visitors to the park.
You can now donate to the Newhaven Community Garden project by TEXT. Just text the project code (HOGG53) plus an amount to 70070 – for example: 'HOGG53 £5' to donate £5. If you wish to Gift Aid your donation please REPLY to the Gift Aid text.
FAQs
Updates
The Friends of Glasgow’s LNRs are pleased to announce they have received funding from EB Scotland Ltd towards their plan to install floating biohaven islands on Hogganfield Loch.
Group Chair, Jim Coyle, said ” we are really grateful to EB Scotland Ltd and this means we have nearly reached our target of £15,000.”
Updated on: 20th January 2016
MyParkScotland provides a safe and easy way to make a donation to support this great project.
To make a donation, click on ‘Support Now’ and select your choice of Gift Level. If you are a UK tax payer, selecting a Level which includes Gift Aid means that we can top up your donation at no extra cost to you. Adding Gift Aid typically means that your online donation of, for example, £10 becomes a park investment of £11.53 (after paying platform and management fees). You need to provide your address to enable us to claim Gift Aid.
Gift Aid is a Government scheme which allows charities to increase the value of donations made to them. Gift Aid makes a huge difference to small charities and local organisations, but if they aren’t registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and HMRC, they can’t claim Gift Aid (and many that could claim Gift Aid don’t because they find the process too complicated). At MyParkScotland, we take care of the claim process on eligible donations, so that the Friends and community groups can concentrate on the great work they do in our parks.
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You can find out more information about Gift Aid and MyParkScotland fees in the main Small Print section.
fantastic Idea and we would like to give our help in any way we can , we live outside Glasgow but being avid bird watchers and photographers both my wife and I visit Hogganfield Park as and when we can, especially when the Great Crested Grebe are on the Loch and during winter when the Whooper Swan are visiting .
John
Thanks for your comment. You can support the project by making a donation on this page and telling other people about this great project to encourage them to donate.
If you have any questions please contact us at hello@mypark.scot.
Thanks, MyParkScotland Team