Glasgow Wild Spaces

Aim: Help us continue our incredible momentum across the UK and support Butterfly Conservation’s fourth large-scale Wild Space’s project.

Wild Spaces is Butterfly Conservation’s flagship engagement programme, to connect people with nature. Inspiring and empowering individuals, communities and schools all across the UK to help butterflies and moths. By creating Wild Spaces where butterflies and moths can feed, breed and shelter. We can make a difference.

After two incredibly successful projects in Perth and Stirling, and Bristol and a third ongoing in Leeds, we started to look at where next the Wild Spaces model could make a real difference. In Glasgow, the population density is more than 50 times the average for Scotland. With a high population, parks and green spaces are incredibly important for residents, not just for wildlife and wellbeing but for reducing pollution and improving air quality. 

The good news is that Glasgow’s network of green space makes up over a fifth of the city’s total area. By improving this network and creating Wild Spaces in these areas, we can have an incredible impact to the biodiversity across Glasgow, and the communities around them.

Why do we need your help?
We’ve taken a big step by submitting our bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, but we can’t do this alone. To bring this powerful community project to life, we urgently need your support to close the funding gap. Every donation, no matter the size, helps us take the next step toward creating spaces where butterflies thrive and the community blooms. Your kindness today can make a lasting difference.

What will the outcome’s be of this 2-year project

• Create 13 Wild Spaces in local schools involving the whole school community in the creation and maintenance.
• Create and manage 15 publicly accessible Wild Spaces in parks, in partnership with Glasgow City Council
• Advising 20 community hubs and schools across the project area on how they can create and manage their own Wild Space
• Carry out 30 engagement events and training sessions, engaging thousands of community members. Giving them the opportunity to take positive and direct action to transform their parks in order that butterflies and moths can thrive.
• Distributing 250 Wild Space start-up packs to education and community groups. Containing information and seeds.

All of the Wild Spaces created by Butterfly Conservation will be carefully curated to attract, sustain and increase butterfly, moth and pollinator populations in the city.

It has never been a more important time to improve biodiversity in urban areas. Last Autumn Butterfly Conservation declared a ‘Butterfly Emergency’ with results of our annual Big Butterfly Count showing concerning decline in butterfly numbers across the UK. With urban areas containing nearly 85% of the UK’s population, there are huge opportunities to improve greenspace not just for wildlife, but for wellbeing. Engaging communities with nature and creating a new generation of butterfly and moth enthusiasts.

A wild success to build upon

In 2023 the first ever Wild Spaces project took place in Perth and Stirling and engaged more than 1,000 people in the community to take part in a host of wild activities over 2 years. Wild Spaces were created in 20 locations across Perth and Stirling, with countless other actions taking place off the back of these.

"I always wanted to let the communities lead and they absolutely did: these little groups have ended up being the most fantastic volunteers. Even when it was challenging, they showed great resilience, and that's what we need to help butterflies, moths and all our fantastic native wildlife - resilience in people and in nature."
 Alice Kenny – Perth & Stirling Wild Spaces Officer

Following on from our success in Scotland, supporters like you helped us to carry out two more projects. Our project in Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare has bought Wild Spaces to 47 primary schools in areas of economic and greenspace deprivation. This has given over 3,000 children the opportunity to nurture a green space and experience the joy of getting their hands dirty.

Our third project currently taking place in Leeds will lead to the creation of 8 wild flower meadows in the heart of Leeds. Working with Leeds City Council, 16,000 square metres of wildflower meadows will be sown in 8 city parks. Improving biodiversity and creating spaces for local communities to enjoy and experience the magic of nature.

Butterflies and moths rely on us to create new habitats for their survival in urban areas where greenspace has been removed. Please consider a donation today, to bring Wild Spaces to new places, reversing the decline of urban butterflies and inspiring a new generation of butterfly and moth guardians. 

Donations to this appeal will support this project as well as other vital conservation projects across the UK. In the event that project funding is not secured, donations will be used for other urgent conservation needs to save butterflies, moths and our environment across the UK.

This project successfully funded on 23rd June 2025