Have your say on managing your local National Nature Reserve

The six-week public consultation exercise will run from 26 February to 8 of April inviting comments on management proposals for the reserve over the next ten years.

National Nature Reserves are special places where people can enjoy the best of Scotland’s nature and Caerlaverock is an internationally important site on the North Solway Coast.

The reserve’s mudflats and saltmarsh provide food and sanctuary for a wide variety of wildfowl and waders, including pintail duck, knot, teal and thousands of barnacle geese which return to Caerlaverock each year from their breeding grounds on the arctic islands of Svalbard. In shallow pools natterjack toads breed at their most northerly location in the UK, and an extraordinary creature called the tadpole shrimp is found here in one of just two known British sites.

SNH manages the reserve under a series of agreements with different landowners, providing information, interpretation and facilities so people can value and enjoy this unique site.

Francois Chazel, SNH reserve manager for Caerlaverock NNR, said: “This consultation is a great opportunity for people to tell us what they think about the reserve and its management. We are especially keen to involve communities and individuals who feel passionate about the Caerlaverock landscape, so their views can be taken into account when we write the final plan for the reserve. We also hope the consultation will open doors to further engagement and partnership with people in the future.”

Leaflets are available in the local area and from SNH’s Dumfries office (Greystone Park, 55/57 Moffat Road, Dumfries, DG1 1NP. Tel: 01387 272 440 or 03000 673 200 after the 1^st of March). Comments should be sent to SOUTHERN_SCOTLAND_ADMIN@snh.gov.uk . The proposals and information about the reserve are also available on the NNR website.