Sustainable Nairnshire event showcases local climate action at Highland Climate Festival
Nairn residents turned out to the Community and Arts Centre for Sustainable Nairnshire, a drop-in event organised by Nairn Improvement Community Enterprise (NICE) as part of the Highlands & Island Climate Festival. Locals were invited to share ideas, discover projects, and explore how the area can look after its natural assets for the future.
Groups including Green Hive, RSPB, Laikenbuie Ecology Trust, Highlands and Islands Climate Hub and Nairn BID, were present to put the spotlight on community-led conservation efforts. At its heart was the launch of NICE’s new Dune Resilience Project - a pilot scheme to help protect Nairn’s fragile dunes and coastline from the impacts of climate change.
Helping the dunes help themselves
The Dune Resilience Project focuses on strengthening the dunes on Nairn Central Beach, which provide a vital natural defence for Fishertown and the Links against flooding and coastal erosion.
Led by NICE, the initiative builds on the group’s Local Place Plan - a community-developed vision for Nairnshire’s sustainable future. One of its five key themes is environmental protection.
NICE Secretary Mandy Lawson said the dunes project is a practical step towards that goal. The group has secured funding to appoint Mark Bradfield as a part-time coordinator to pilot restoration work, carried out in partnership with Highland Council as the beach forms part of Nairn’s common good land.
“We're looking at the whole of Nairnshire and how we can keep it sustainable and look after our natural assets for the future,” Ms Lawson said. “To really be sustainable we will need more investment in Nairn - so we're looking at ways to build on the projects we've got.”
She added that collaboration is key to NICE’s approach: “Our role is really to bring together organisations, businesses and the council and have everyone round the one table - so that when there is money we get the best use of it.”
Project coordinator Mark Bradfield said the work aims to “help the dunes help themselves.”
He said: “The dunes are under threat from rising sea levels and more storms that we're getting from climate change.
“They're not as resilient as they should be - so we're trying to help the dunes help themselves.”
The work includes planting marram grass, installing small areas of temporary fencing to trap sand, and removing invasive species to boost dune biodiversity.
“We want the good stuff - that's good for wildlife, and makes it such an attractive area for the community.”
Volunteer work days are planned throughout October, with locals encouraged to get involved.
Farming and biodiversity hand in hand
Sustainability efforts in Nairnshire extend well beyond the coast. Genevieve Tompkins of the Laikenbuie Ecology Trust described how their 150-acre site combines organic food production with nature restoration.
“We're trying to show how the more you combine the two things, the more they can deliver for each other,” she said.
The Trust uses rewilding principles, with animals such as Iron Age pigs helping to disturb soil, germinate seeds and increase habitat diversity. Alongside this, the site produces fruit in its orchard and hosts events including dawn chorus walks, butterfly surveys and community volunteering days.
Community action with Green Hive
Another local group making its mark is Green Hive, represented at the event by Matthew Withey, Joshua Nimmins and Lesley Fraser.
“It was almost like a group of friends,” Mr Mithey said. “We were founded to create opportunities for volunteers to roll their sleeves up and do things that helped the community - and gradually over time that came to be focused on the environment.”
From humble beginnings with a single beach clean, Green Hive has grown into a hub for community-led environmental action. Ten years on, the group now runs projects from its base at Seaman’s Hall, including a sewing room where volunteers repurpose donated fabrics, and an active travel hub with a fleet of e-bikes for hire.
One of its most innovative ventures is a community workshop launched in response to the huge amount of marine plastics washing up on Nairn’s beaches.
“We found that there was a lot of waste plastics coming up,” Mr Whithey explained. “So one of the first things we did in terms of the social enterprise was to launch our community workshop - creating a way of using this waste material and working with volunteers to create something useful.”
The workshop, now in its sixth year, transforms waste plastics into products including garden furniture, memorial benches and public art installations.