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Designing Nature Networks for Local Authorities in Scotland

Guidance to support local authorities in Scotland in designing Nature Networks that deliver for plants, fungi, and planet.

Download Full Guidance PDF
pink flowers in grass among some rocks with lichens on it

Creating a Nature Network offers a strategic opportunity to expand and connect existing wildlife-rich areas, enriching the landscape with diversity. This document offers practical recommendations to put plants and fungi at the heart of nature recovery in Scotland, spearheading action towards Scotland’s national and international targets to protect and restore nature.

How to Design Nature Networks for Wild Plants and Fungi:

Start by:

  • Building a robust evidence base of local habitats and species distributions
  • Collaborating with local groups and institutions e.g. LERCs, natural history / botany groups and volunteer organisations to source high-quality local data
  • Commissioning ecological surveys to understand and protect existing high-value sites for biodiversity (spring / summer is the best time to survey for plants while autumn surveys are needed for fungi)
  • Check the data, policy and professional guidance before making any plans to create habitats identified as part of the Nature Network process

Look at Species Recovery

  •  Create species priority lists to ensure the most at-risk and locally-significant species in your network benefit from nature recovery plans
  • Target opportunities for habitat creation where it will benefit high-priority species
  • Collaborate and consult with existing species recovery projects
  • Don’t forget about overlooked species e.g. bryophytes, lichens and fungi as these groups are key to healthy and resilient ecosystems

Restore Wild Habitats

  • Protect, restore and connect:
    • Species-rich grasslands
    • Temperate rainforests
    • Caledonian pinewoods
    • Peatlands

Which are our most biodiverse and nationally-characteristic habitats, and we have a responsibility to protect and restore their irreplaceable species communities and carbon stores.

  • Engage with regional networks (e.g. Floodplain Meadows Partnership, Pasture for Life, Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforests and Peatland ACTION) to strengthen delivery and knowledge sharing for landscape priorities.
  • Consult expert resources and local groups to ensure Nature Networks plans are place-appropriate.

Diversify Land-use

  • Build relationships with the people that use and know the land, promoting the opportunities that Nature Networks can attract
  • Support the adoption of nature-positive management to deliver Nature Network objectives:
    • Farming: rotational grazing, reducing soil disturbance, reducing chemical input
    • Forestry: selective felling and Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF)
    • Planting trees: ‘Right Tree, Right Place, Right Management’
    • Urban areas: creating wildflower-rich habitat on road verges and other green spaces
  • Signpost landowners to existing funding opportunities e.g. Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) and Forestry Grants Scotland (FGS) to deliver nature-positive management practices

For the full guidance, download below.

Download Full Guidance PDF