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Celebrating Nature in Dumfries and Galloway

• Over 80 young people taking part in citizen science learning workshops on water health and saltmarsh science.
• The ImMerse Festival helped build knowledge and a sense of pride in the merse (saltmarsh) and its potential to thrive into the future.
• Nature based organisations share the crucial work they are doing to help Scotland’s nature survive and thrive.
• Thought provoking films on the health of Scotland’s natural world.

The ImMerse Festival helped connect people with Annan’s incredible saltmarsh, its wildlife and beauty though a serious of fascinating walks and talks and citizen science activities, and over 12 environment organisations celebrated nature through fun craft activities in the festival hub at the harbour.

As part of the festival, ImMerse also ran water testing, investigation and saltmarsh school sessions with Brydekirk and Elmvale Schools, testing the water quality of the River Annan as part of the Great UK Waterblitz. The Great UK Waterblitz ran concurrently over the weekend to mark World Rivers Day, and worked with the ImMerse Festival on a UK wide citizen science project.

ImMerse also celebrated Scotland’s Climate Week by spotlighting an often-overlooked habitat that provides our coastlines with protection from tides and sea level change, while storing carbon and providing valuable habitat for many marine species.

Gail Macgregor, Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “It was wonderful to see a nature and environment-based festival coming to Annan – celebrating Annan’s unique “merse” or saltmarsh that is so important for wildlife, flood mitigation, water purification and locking in carbon. I met so many people and organisations committed and passionate about helping our natural environment recover and thrive into the future helping with the nature climate crisis that is impacting us and our natural world now.

“The saltmarsh was alive with groups of interested people taking part in walks and talks with experts, learning saltmarsh science, sketching on the saltmarsh, children taking part in saltmarsh school and Galloway Fisheries Trust sharing their knowledge about the merse as an important nursery for young fish.

“With educational workshops, about saltmarsh and the health of our rivers, taking place in Brydekirk and Elmvale Primary Schools on the Friday and the Monday of the ImMerse Festival, we are hopeful our natural world will be in good hands in the future.”

Olena Kadochnikova-Yashkina, project officer of the Annan Harbour Trust said: "The ImMerse Festival was a fantastic experience, offering a great opportunity to share our knowledge with the community and school children, while showcasing the River Annan, brimming with life, health, and the beauty of the merse. We were honoured to screen our first film, In Nature, giving young people a platform to be heard. It was inspiring to see the support they received and the enthusiasm for continuing our environmental work and citizen science projects, engaging the local community.

“It was heartening to see so many like-minded individuals come together, asking important questions and drawing valuable conclusions. We extend our heartfelt thanks to SCAMP, DG Climate Hub, and Biosphere for their cooperation, the volunteers for their dedication, and the participants for their interest and ideas. This is just the beginning – we are proud that Annan has become a hub of green initiatives. Together, we can achieve much more to preserve a healthy environment for ourselves and future generations."

Elmvale School brought along primary 5, 6 and 7 to learn about the science of water, saltmarsh science and all the wee creatures and incredible wildlife who live in this special nurturing habitat. These young scientists of the future discovered crabs, fish and even a huge jellyfish.

Elmvale’s’ young people shared their experiences of ImMerse’s saltmarsh workshop:

“The Saltmarsh was fun!

I liked when we were picking up creatures with our nets.

It was an adventure, and we learned which creatures live in Saltmarshes.

I never knew that creatures could live in mud.

I liked to see the way that the crabs walked.”

And on the water testing they said:

“It was very interesting learning about the various invertebrates.

I loved looking at the insects under the magnifying glass!

I never knew that there were so many invertebrates living in the river!

It was interesting looking at the invertebrates and what they look like!”

Annan Cinema hosted a showing of In Nature a moving film by young filmmakers from Annan followed by the film ‘Why Not Scotland?’, which followed Flo, a young person from Scotland who visits Europe to see how nature thrives in other countries and comes home asking the question, “Why Not Scotland?” The film was followed by a lively panel discussion with McNabb Laurie from Dumfries and Galloway Woodlands and ecologist Nick Chisholm from the SCAMP project.

Steven Clark, DG Climate Hub Officer said: "Creating a brand new climate and nature event is very much a step into the unknown, we are so grateful for so much interest and to all the people who came along to the festival. With the saltmarsh playing central stage, the climate hub and all the citizen science Annan Harbour Action Group (AHAG) are leading on, Annan is fast becoming a thriving centre for citizen science and community climate awareness.

“The D&G Climate Hub was therefore privileged to work alongside AHAG and Solway Coast and Marine Project (SCAMP) to co-create and develop ImMerse. The festival's public relations exercise generated exceptional media coverage that may have been beyond the creators' wildest dreams, the preciously protective nature of Scotland's unsung merse; protection that we as a species now desperately need to return in order to save the incredible biodiversity that our magnificent merse-lands support."


ENDS