Blog: Nature Responds to Positive Changes at the Western General  

RSPB Scotland Conservation Officer, Scott Shanks, shares some observations of an exciting new arrival in the grounds of the Western General Hospital.

In recent years, there’s been a greater understanding of how small changes to the management of urban green spaces can have big impacts on wildlife, the environment and deliver health and wellbeing benefits too. At the Western General Hospital, small changes to the management and sustainability of the hospital grounds, including allowing some areas of wildflowers and grass to flower during the spring and summer, are already having a positive impact for nature.

In early September, I joined Mary Wilson, RSPB Scotland’s Nature and Wellbeing Officer, at the Western General during one of her drop-in wildlife recording ‘bioblitz’ sessions for staff and volunteers. Mary has been delivering nature and wellbeing themed activities for patients, staff and volunteers and is funded by NHS Lothian Charity. The plan for the day was for attendees to have a go at some fun wildlife-survey techniques, such as sweep-netting, and learn how to use the iNaturalist phone app to help identify, and importantly record, the plants and animals that we found.

Despite the changeable weather (thankfully mainly sunshine), we had a great response from staff who dropped past the Wellbeing Wing, and helped us to add 100 observations of plants, birds, beetles and butterflies to a virtual map of the hospital on iNaturalist.

These citizen science observations help to create and build a picture of the existing biodiversity in the hospital, and will allow future improvements to be monitored.

Hearing a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming on a tree in the hospital grounds was one of the highlights of the day, but my favourite find was the impressive number of Speckled Wood butterflies that we saw fluttering throughout the hospital grounds. At least five were seen chasing each other outside the Staff Wellbeing Wing! Not bad for a butterfly which only recently arrived in Edinburgh and the Central Belt! 

Like a number of other butterflies, including the Orange-tip and the Peacock, the range of the Speckled Wood has been moving northwards in response to climate change in recent years. Their chocolate-brown wings with cream spots are perfectly camouflaged in sunlight-dappled woodland glades, but they will happily breed in the growing number of urban gardens that take part in ‘No Mow May’ and ‘Let it Bloom June’ that have patches of long grasses during the spring and summer, as their caterpillars feed on long grasses.

At the Western General, small changes, such planting more native wildflowers, trees and shrubs, and leaving areas of grass and wildflowers to flower during spring and summer, are already having a very positive impact on biodiversity. Butterflies are great indicators of the health of the environment, and it’s likely that many of the ‘less showy’ moths, hoverflies, ladybirds and bees will also benefit from the biodiversity-friendly changes that allow the Speckled Woods to complete their life cycle and thrive in pockets of green throughout the hospital grounds.

Get involved

If you’d like to help monitor the comings and goings of wildlife at the Western General, here’s how to participate:

Download iNaturalist: Get the app for free from Google Play or the App Store.
Explore the Grounds: Take photos of any animals or plants you encounter on the hospital grounds.
Identify and Record: Use iNaturalist to identify the species and add your observation.

Why take part?

Your observations will help us understand the biodiversity on our hospital grounds.
Share your findings with the community and learn from others.
Discover the amazing wildlife living among us.
Join us in celebrating the natural world around us.

 Dr Scott Shanks, RSPB Scotland Conservation Officer – Central Scotland