East Haven, Angus
Environment and Biodiversity
Protecting the environment not just for today but for future generations
Living in a rural coastal community such as East Haven raises awareness of the responsibility we all have to protect wildlife the environment and biodiversity. East Haven Together's charitable aims are embedded in a village sustainability strategy which links all our activities to Scotland's Environment Strategy, Local and National Outcomes and Global Sustainable Goals. Our strategy sets out how every personal or group action we take contributes towards the efforts people are making across Scotland and the rest of the world to protect the planet for future generations.
ACTING LOCALLY - THINKING GLOBALLY
Download East Haven Sustainability Strategy and Community Action Plan
Dundee and Angus
Bird Club
RSPB
Butterfly Conservation
NatureScot
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership
Scottish Wildlife Trust
Forestry Commission Scotland
BumbleBee Conservation Society
Conserve and Protect
Planting Kidney Vetch along the coast. The sole food plant of the Small Blue Butterfly
Removing non-native species from the SSSI and planting Lyme and Marram grasses
Elephant Hawk Moth
Identified by Amber Stewart. Photo Pete Barden
Woodlands Primary School bring presented with their Small Blue Champion Award by Catherine Lloyd, Tayside Biodiversity
Working in partnership with NatureScot to cut and maintain the SSSI
Bee and Butterfly Transect Walks
Species and Habitats
In 2016 the first large community BioBlitz was held and 347 different species were identified.
Details of all species were uploaded to the biological database irecord.
In 2024 a total of 597 species have now been discovered. We continue to upload species data to irecord to support research and analysis of environmental changes. Knowledge of local species guides all our work to conserve and protect habitats
East Haven
BioBlitz Report 2016
The Small Blue
Species on the Edge
The Small Blue
East Haven Together has worked in partnership with East of Scotland Butterfly Conservation, Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, SNH and other community groups along the coast and at Glamis to conserve and protect the Small Blue. This beautiful little butterfly is the UK's smallest and a protected species. In a mammoth task, EHT has helped plant Kidney Vetch all along the coast from Barry Buddon up to Elliot providing a food corridor to support the butterfly which normally flies no more than 50 metres. Kidney Vetch is the sole food plant of the Small Blue.
Small Blue
Factsheet
‘Back from the Brink’
‘Nature of Scotland’ community initiative award
Coastal Adaptation
East Haven Together began measuring dunes from fixed points in 1993 to monitor erosion and climate impacts. Since that time we have worked to protect the natural dune system. Non-native invasive species have been removed and we have tried to protect areas from any impacts which cause erosion.
We have collected seed from the Marram and Lyme grasses and propagated new plants. These coastal grasses are the best defence against erosion as they provide a strong structure to bind the dunes. To date we have planted more than 3000 grasses across the area.
Greater Yellow Rattle
East Haven is the only known place in Scotland where the Greater Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Angustifolius) grows naturally.
Although quite similar to the much more common yellow rattle the upper teeth of the greater yellow rattle’s yellow petals are twice as long as they are wide and are violet tinged. The flower is sometimes described as a canary getting out of bed.
The Easthaven site of special scientific interest (SSSI) is a strip of land approx. 500 metres long by 50 metres wide. Scottish Natural Heritage are responsible for the SSSI and residents bordering the site have to comply with a number of restrictions under the Nature Conservation Act 2004. Most of them are common sense restrictions such as not cultivating the site or adding manure, fertilisers or lime.
East Haven Together works in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage to conserve and maintain the SSSI
Claire Lacey
Whale and Dolphin
Do you explore Angus’s coastal wildlife sites regularly? Did you know you can report your whale and dolphin sightings to an Angus based community led conservation and tourism project specialising in recording cetaceans in Angus waters.
Now in its 12th year Marine Life Angus continues to promote Angus coastal sites and species, facilitates local beach cleans, leads coastal whale and dolphin spotting walks, and collects valuable sightings data. This data, gathered by the public, has proved critical to understanding how important Angus waters are for cetacean species. Sightings have been used to create a guide to land based viewing and to provide a Realtime opportunity to see cetaceans on the Angus coast a WhatsApp group ‘Angus Cetacean Sightings’ – inspired by the successful Shetland Orca watching group – has been set up for Angus residents and visitors.
Marine Life Angus also aims to publicise other local recording and volunteering schemes including local butterflies, maritime plants, and marine non-native species. The website www.marinelifeangus.co.uk will be updated in 2021 and you can follow the twitter account @marinelifeangus
Since the project began there have been regular sightings at locations on the Angus coast of species including bottlenose dolphins, minke whale, porpoise, common dolphin and even humpbacks whales at Montrose Bay.
Sightings are always welcome, and the group encourage those regularly out on the coast or on inshore waters to regularly report what they see and encourage others to do so. Please contact info@marinelifeangus.co.uk for further information on how to get involved.