Scottish Wildlife Trust’s (SWT) Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre is a demonstration site to show how urban green spaces can be created from wasteland..
The site was created on an old industrial estate in the early 90’s, to show how green amenity areas, including gardens, can be managed to meet both human and wildlife needs. Staff at our Grangemouth site have actively supported SWT’s project since it began.
The wildlife centre consists of formal garden areas that demonstrate techniques which individuals can use in their own gardens to benefit wildlife, habitat creation areas where new wildlife habitats have been created from scratch and now abound with wildlife, and areas where nature has been allowed to develop under its own power.
The site is now home to hundreds of native trees, over 350 species of wildflower and a large and diverse population of invertebrates, including 13 varieties of butterfly. Amphibians and birds are also in abundance. As a valuable community resource, Jupiter was visited by over 3,500 people in 2009/10. SWT’s environmental education sessions are very popular with local colleges, nurseries and schools. The Jupiter Rangers also run a very successful public events programme and children’s Wildlife Watch Club. SWT’s on-site partners British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) manage the famous Jupiter Wildflower Nursery, providing a wide range of native Scottish wildflowers, as well as running a Green Gym, giving people the chance to get fit and healthy through practical conservation tasks.
Today Syngenta still supports SWT’s work at Jupiter financially and regularly gets involved with events. When the site was revamped in 2006 Syngenta sponsored the new information boards. The staff at our Grangemouth site also celebrated Syngenta’s 5th birthday by donating and planting a tree in the wildlife garden.