Tweed Forum

04/09/2026

Members of Scottish Parliament's Climate Action Committee recently visited our Eddleston Water project to discuss catchment resilience in the face of more extreme weather events to come.

Find out more about our Eddleston Water Project here: https://tweedforum.org/our-work/projects/the-eddleston-water-project/

📷 credit The Scottish Parliament

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) University of Dundee Scottish Borders Council The Scottish Government

02/09/2026

⌛ The next is coming!

Save the Date - 18-24 September.

Want an easy and free way to help our rivers?
Between the 18th - 24th September simply:
1️⃣ Download the free Big River Watch app
2️⃣ Spend 15 minutes observing your local river
3️⃣ Answer the easy in-app survey and upload!

From plants and wildlife to pollution and water colour, by telling us what you see you’ll help us paint a big picture of the health of our rivers in the UK and Ireland. All of this data can then be used to create change and demand better for our rivers.

🤳Search for ‘Big River Watch’ in your app store to download the app and get started.

https://theriverstrust.org/big-river-watch

The Rivers Trust

30/08/2026

How we’re helping water voles!

Water voles are one of Scotland's most threatened native mammals and are declining due to habitat loss and predation by American mink.

They’re often found beside water bodies in areas with tall grasses which they use for food and shelter. As water voles are a partially protected species, their burrows must be protected during peatland restoration.

Our new Peatland Support Officer Susie recently attended Peatland ACTION Water Vole Training at Dalnacardoch Estate, Pitlochry. She thoroughly enjoyed the day and learned lots about water voles and how our team can protect them during peatland restoration work by creating buffer zones around banks they occupy to prevent any damage or disturbance.

NatureScot Peatland ACTION

📷©Laurie Campbell

27/08/2026

🌿The Borders Tree Grant Scheme is back for 2026–27! 🌿

This year, we’re especially keen to hear from people applying for the first time. If you’re new to the scheme and thinking about giving it a go, don’t be shy — we’re here to help with questions, advice, and anything you need to know about getting started with tree planting.

Whether you’re part of a community group, a farmer, smallholder, school, charity, other non-profit organisation, or applying as an individual, you could be eligible for up to £1,500 towards planting native trees. It’s a great way to improve your local environment, support wildlife and biodiversity, enhance the Scottish Borders landscape, and create better spaces for everyone to enjoy.

We’re here to help more trees take root across the Borders — so please do get in touch!

Want to find out more? Give Tweed Forum a call on 01896 849723. Further details on our website: https://tweedforum.org/our-work/projects/borders-tree-grant-scheme/

The Borders Tree Grant Scheme is funded by Scottish Forestry and Woodland Trust Scotland.

📷 Derek Robeson from Tweed Forum and Hannah Cockett from Borders Forest Trust

24/08/2026

Lovely to see our gin featured in the Trout & Salmon magazine. See below 👇👇

River Tweed Gin costs £38, with £7 from every bottle supporting our work. Please purchase a bottle today, raise a glass to the River Tweed and support our efforts to protect its salmon, wildlife and the whole river environment.

River Tweed Gin is available to buy here: https://www.selkirkdistillers.com/shop-gin-rum/rivertweedgin

A gin made with water mint from the Tweed's banks, sold to plant trees for its salmon.

River Tweed Gin is distilled at Selkirk Distillery with water mint and sweet cicely from the riverbank, and £7 from every bottle plants the native trees that keep the water cool for the Tweed's salmon.

Would you raise a glass to the river?

Full story: https://troutandsalmon.com/news/tweed-forum-river-tweed-gin/

21/08/2026

Destination Tweed UK project's Friday Feature posts are always worth a read. This one highlights our fabulous TweedWATCH project and the various John Muir Award activities young people have undertaken.

Make sure you give Destination Tweed UK a follow and never miss another Friday Feature!

John Muir Trust

18/08/2026

Our Peatland Action Project Officer, Rachel Coyle, has been doing something quite unexpected over the past few months; she’s been choreographing a dance performance all about peatlands with Kerry from the Crichton Carbon Centre.

Kerry and Rachel met on a dreich day, installing sheep wool bunds on a peatland way up in the Lowther Hills, more than 3km from the nearest public road. Walking back, they chatted and discovered that they had both studied dance at college. The idea was born to create a dance piece together about peatlands, which they will be performing live at the Catstrand, New Galloway, this Friday (21st Aug).

Further information and booking details below 👇👇

14/08/2026

Delighted that two of our projects have been announced as finalists in this year’s prestigious Scottish Land and Estates Helping it Happen Awards.

Both are nominated in the ‘Enhancing our Environment through Land Management’ category. The first is our Tweed Invasives Project, which has been tackling invasive plant species across the catchment for over 25 years. Invasive plant species can cause riverbank erosion and increased flood-risk and threaten the area’s native biodiversity including destroying spawning and nursery habitat for salmonid fish species. Giant Hogweed’s toxic sap can also cause harm to humans.

Our Neidpath Farms Agroforestry Project involved work in collaboration with this fantastic Peeblesshire farm business to plant a mix of over 1,800 native trees. Benefits include improved soil health and water quality, shade and shelter for livestock, reduced flood risk and enhanced biodiversity. Orchard trees will also provide high-quality organic fruit for local markets. The project is part of the Destination Tweed Woodlands for Wildlife and Water project and is being delivered on a scale believed to be unmatched anywhere else in Scotland.

It’s great to have this important recognition of the work of our staff, partners and of farm businesses and communities across the Tweed catchment. We hope it will also highlight the positive impact that collaborative environmental action can have for nature, communities and the rural environment.

NatureScot sponsors our category and is also headline sponsor of the awards.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 1 October at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre so please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Further info on our projects:
https://tweedforum.org/our-work/projects/tweed-invasives-project/
https://destinationtweed.org/borders-farm-leads-the-way-with-large-scale-agroforestry-initiative/

11/08/2026

Great that these new panels will enable people walking the Eddleston Water Path to discover more about our Eddleston Water Project. This award-winning, UNESCO-designated site is a living laboratory that’s collecting evidence of the benefits of Natural Flood Management techniques. These aim to enhance flood resilience through the restoration of natural processes that slow water flows and increase the amount of water stored in the landscape. This will help reduce the risk of flooding to communities downstream, providing adaptation to climate change, while simultaneously also improving the biodiversity of the river catchment.

10/08/2026

Shout out for the next phase of our Breamish restoration work beginning this week - looking forward to seeing the works on the ground as they progress... exciting times ahead!