Bulbs, bees and bat boxes are taking up a fair bit of my time at the moment. As the castle’s ‘green champion’ it’s up to me to make sure we are as environmentally friendly as possible. It helps that this is the kind of place where you can see that the effort is worthwhile. The Forth winds below us, sustaining the plants and wildlife all across the huge plain that stretches out each side of the castle. So we’ve been working hard on cutting out any chemical nasties that could get flushed through our drains and into the river.

 At the same time we’re hoping to do our bit to combat the drastic decline in bumble bees by creating little underground nests at the back of the flower beds. Lose the bees and we’ll have no flowers, fruit or crops. So that would mean a hard time for us humans and farewell to the kestrels, sparrow hawks, robins, wrens, jackdaws and other birds that thrive within our walls and in the grass and woodland around the castle rock.

 We have a thriving colony of bats which roost under some roofing near the Great Hall, and hope to boost the numbers by putting up bat boxes. They are great little creatures, masters of twilight flight, whose ancestors have probably been here as long as the castle itself.

 And bulbs, well what can I say? LED ones are immeasurably more energy efficient than standard ones – we are trying them out in the Great Hall and other sites around the Castle to see if they do the job we need. We are also looking to install new boilers which will cut costs and consumption.

 In fact we are pretty good on the environmental front and are gold-rated in the national Green Tourism Business Scheme. There’s always more that can be done, but the rewards can be quite satisfying, as I’ve found out by making sure I practice at home what I preach at the castle. In fact, a while ago my electricity company called because they could barely believe how little power I use – a bit later I got a nice rebate. Nice to feel greener and better off all at once.
 
By Finlay Lumsden, Green Champion.