Red Deer Village, the exclusive over 50’s retirement community in Glasgow, Scotland, are delighted to have received a very special award. We have completed the Wonderful Wetlands challenge, as part of the David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature! This is a BH&HPA scheme focused on encouraging parks to be more environmentally conscious and help their local wildlife. The Wonderful Wetlands nature challenge now joins our Pollinator Patch, Home Sweet Home and Everyone Active challenge awards. We take a look below at our efforts to achieve this accolade.

Wonderful Wetlands Nature Challenge

We achieved our Wonderful Wetlands nature challenge because of our two ponds on site. They are filled with rain water, chemical free and circulated using pumps. Birds bathe and drink from these fresh water ponds and we’ve also spotted a family of ducks, dragonflies, goldfish, frogs and tadpoles. There is a variety of planting surrounding each pond such as irises and waterlilies, creating smaller microhabitats. 

The winners of our annual gardening competition this year, John and Isobel Stovell, installed their own pond in their back garden. The pond is only small, but John and Isobel have already introduced fish, which is fantastic! This is a great development for the park as it brings our pond total to three, a great contribution to our wildlife efforts. John and Isobel received a Calders gardening centre gift voucher as their prize.

Park Habitats and Wildlife

We achieved the Pollinator Patch challenge in 2024 by planting 425 square metres of cotoneaster coral beauty. We’ve managed to get some drone footage of it starting to grow and are aiming to get some more once fully in bloom (or we can secure another drone!). We also participated in Plantlife’s No Mow May, leaving an area of grass uncut to encourage insects.

Red Deer Village leaves areas of the park uncut to allow grasses and clover to flower and provide nectar sources. We aim to help insects by leaving banking short for bees and planting native wildflowers. Beetle banks, log piles and organic matter are also in place. 

Our residents love to participate in our wildlife efforts. Whether it’s taking pictures or videos, installing wildlife cameras or participating in gardening competitions, everyone does their bit to get involved! Check out the video of a fox and deer caught on one of our residents’ night vision wildlife cameras below.

Our own wildlife cameras have caught some excellent footage of foxes using our hedgerows for travel. We’ve also caught magpies, pigeons, a robin and other birds, as well as numerous guests and residents pets. 

Getting Involved with the Community

In October, we visited Kirkintilloch Men’s Shed. This is a local charity that allows members a place to work on timber projects. The idea is that it prevents loneliness, teaches new skills and gives the people that attend somewhere to go and look forward to. They also teach women’s classes once a week. Members range from around 40 to 90 years of age! All of their wood is off cuts of caskets/coffins donated by the Co-Operative Funeral Care. They work on community projects most commonly for schools. We purchased  bird and bat boxes from them as well as an insect hotel. Check out the footage below of our interview with secretary, Jim, and our new wildlife homes.

Jim gave us a tour around the Kirkintilloch Men’s Shed workshop. Members keep their hands and minds active whilst getting out and socialising. The Men’s Shed also have a computer room to teach some older people basic computer skills or give them a hand if they need it. The charity opens their arms to any new members, and is only a 15 minute drive from Red Deer Village.

2026 Plans

Red Deer Village plans for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026 is to install our new bug hotel and wildlife boxes. From there, we would like to begin the Super Signage challenge. We believe there are plenty of important nature spots to see around the park and we’d like to highlight them to guests and residents. Red Deer Village keeps conservation and wildlife in focus during all phases of development. We’re excited to see where the next year takes us! If you’d like to find out more about the retirement village in Glasgow our our residential park homes for sale, please contact us. A member of our friendly team will be happy to help.