Big Improvements for St. Johns Pool Bird Reserve

The largest grant ever made by the Stroupster Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund has enabled work to begin at the St Johns Pool Bird Reserve to improve access for all-ability visitors and to increase safe breeding areas for terns as well as improving water quality at the St. John’s Pool Bird Reserve at Dunnet.

The Stroupster Fund Panel awarded £43,650 to the Scottish Ornithologists' Club to contribute to the costs of the project. The project will allow a local building contractor to create new paths giving better access to the hides for disabled visitors, improve the car parking and install a solar-powered multi-level pond management system so that water can be pumped across the various gradients on-site as necessary.  

Julian Smith the Club’s Vice-Chairperson who has committed many years to upkeeping the site said,

"This project at SJP Bird Reserve is by far the most ambitious and technically involved since the reserve was created in 1989.  The works are going well despite recent hold ups, but none of this would have been possible without the generous support of Foundation Scotland, and the other funders - to whom we are extremely grateful. 

We are looking forward to re-opening the reserve in spring with the new works completed including: landscaping, all-ability access upgrades, innovative water management system and of course - new secure nesting platform for the Arctic terns.”

Eilidh Coll, Community Fund Adviser for Foundation Scotland said,

"The St. Johns Pool Bird Reserve attracts around 2,000 bird enthusiasts annually. It’s a place like no other where people can watch the birds undisturbed. Maintaining the nesting sites and the water quality of the pool will ensure the site remains a successful breeding ground and a site worth visiting and contribute to the enhancement of biodiversity at this nationally and globally important site, including of several species of bird that are under threat.”

The site is currently closed to visitors but will re-open once the works are complete.