This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

For our current Herald series, The Future of Dumfries and Galloway, we asked Jan Hogarth, learning coordinator for an ambitious Solway Firth coastal project to take over Winds of Change, and talk oysters, saltmarsh, seagrass and people.

The Solway Firth has shaped the history, biodiversity, economy, and culture of Scotland, as a gateway to the world and a rich natural resource. With rising sea levels and increased storm surges as well as the crisis in nature loss on land, and under the sea, we need to adapt and explore nature-based solutions to ensure our seascape and its communities thrive and meet their full potential into the future.

Our answer to this is the Solway Coast and Marine Project (SCAMP) - Landscape Connections, an ambitious, ten-year project, led by Dumfries & Galloway Council, aiming to restore the coastal and shallow sea habitats of the north Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway.

SCAMP is working for nature, local people, and climate. Through the restoration of the five key Solway habitats; native oyster reefs, seagrass beds, saltmarsh, sand dunes and native coastal woodlands, we will create a richer natural environment which empowers a sense of pride, improves understanding, research and learning, sustains the local economy, and delivers health and wellbeing benefits for people.

120 miles of new coastal trail will be created to enhance, extend and better link the existing coastal path network along with focused investment in accessible paths and all ability trails, all of this along the northern edge of the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway.

The 210-mile-long coastline of Dumfries........

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