Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine Summer 2023

Biodiversity Blair
The town’s Open Spaces group is made up of a number of different groups in the town
including Blair in Bloom, the Blairgowrie, Rattray and District Climate Café, Blairgowrie and
Rattray Development Trust’s Biodviersity Blair project, BRAN and Perth and Kinross Council
Greenspace team.
Local volunteers work alongside Perth and Kinross Council’s Greenspace Ranger to enhance the
local environment and be more nature friendly in a way that fits in with local preferences.
The aim is to increase the growing of healthy food locally, increase pollinators and to look after
our natural landscape in the local area for all species – including humans!
And this spring, thanks to a collaborative partnership between the Biodiversity Blair group and the
BaRI Food Project, local residents who wanted to find out more about or start growing their own
food were able to get involved with new edible plant sessions at the BaRI Store.
The BaRI Growers group has been meeting every Saturday at 2pm in the BaRI Building on 55 High
Street and, under the guidance of volunteers and local growers Angela Comley and Rob Alfano,
those taking part have planted and taken home a new edible plant each week, including a variety
of potatoes, peas, and strawberries.
Example plants are also being grown at the store as part of the project, which is part of the Trust’s
Home Grown Wellbeing - Feeding and Growing with our Community Project supported by National
Lottery Community Led funding and which
aims to create a growing community where
people are able to compare progress, share
experiences and discuss what has worked and
what hasn’t worked.
The group is also continuing to work towards
ensuring there is a variety of planting, of the
kind that people like to look at and that will
help the town become more self-sustaining and
reduce food miles and food costs.
The areas that the Biodiversity Blair group
currently looks after are parts of Davie Park,
and the riverside, the Gamesie and Lochy Park.
However, those involved are keen to hear from
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