Tweed Foundation launches new River Academy
It's hoped the centre at Drygrange will boost conservation efforts
Last updated 22nd Mar 2023
Schoolchildren in the Borders are learning how to find out a salmon's age just by looking at its scales.
Pupils from Lauder Primary are among the first to visit a new education centre teaching people about life on the River Tweed.
Alice, who's in P5, said: "We have been looking at the invertebrates and trying to catch some of them; and we've been looking at the animations that we have made in our class; and in the tank, with all the different fish in it."
And Dexter, who's in P6, added: "It's fantastic."
It's hoped the Ian Gregg River Academy, which was officially opened at the Tweed Foundation's Drygrange HQ, near Melrose, this morning (Wednesday), will encourage more people to get involved in its conservation.
The charity works to protect and conserve freshwater fish stocks within the Tweed catchment.
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Tweed Foundation Director, Jamie Stewart said: “The River Tweed and its tributaries are a huge shared resource that is vitally important to the Scottish Borders and North Northumberland. Our new Ian Gregg River Academy aims to provide a centre of excellence where schools, colleges, local community groups and interested individuals can discover more about the river and the life that teems within it.
"We believe that local communities on both sides of the Border have an important role to play in helping to protect and enhance the river system and hope that the knowledge gained through this new educational resource will help to inspire them to become involved in conserving the river environment for current and future generations.”
The centre, located on the road to Grange Hall Care Home, is named after the owner of Greggs the bakers, who is a former River Tweed Commissioner. He warns the biodiversity of the famous salmon-fishing river is under threat from climate change.
"Despite the efforts, we are losing biodiversity all the time," he said. "There are more insects being lost; fewers birds. We just have to take greater care, and the start of that has to be making more people aware, and they now have this facility to come and see for themselves."
A two-metre water tank within the Academy includes live examples of fish from the river including small salmon, trout and grayling, as well as minnows and stone loaches, known colloquially in the Borders as baggies and beardies.
Touch screens also showcase the breadth of The Tweed Foundation’s important work, from the removal of barriers to migration to monitoring fish numbers and tackling rising water temperature across the catchment.
Stop-motion animation sessions will help to teach children about the incredible journeys undertaken by species including salmon and eel, while live aquatic insects can be examined using microscopes and endoscopes as part of efforts to explain the importance of invertebrates within the river system.
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Green skills minister Lorna Slater said: "We've all grown up and lived with this terrible decline of nature, but, for these kids, they will see that story change to one of abundance, one of thriving nature alongside thriving communities. And this is exactly the kind of project that will enable that to happen."
Visits to the Ian Gregg River Academy are free but must be pre-booked by calling The Tweed Foundation on 01896 848271.
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