{"id":137124,"date":"2025-09-11T22:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137124\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:08:10","slug":"melrose-golf-course-swings-into-action-to-protect-newts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137124\/","title":{"rendered":"Melrose golf course swings into action to protect newts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas MartinBBC Scotland News<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Great crested newts were found on the golf course last year<\/p>\n

A golf club in the Borders is changing its approach to course maintenance – in order to help protect some unexpected guests.<\/p>\n

The discovery of great crested newts in a greenside pond has prompted the action at Melrose Golf Club.<\/p>\n

It has now approved the purchase of new equipment – with support from Scottish Borders Council (SBC) – which will help staff provide them with the necessary habitat.<\/p>\n

Club captain Chris Tiemessen said: “It was a strange feeling, we thought oh my goodness what will we do here? But what may have begun as a problem has since turned into a good opportunity.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chris Tiemessen said the discovery of the protected species had been a shock<\/p>\n

Habitat loss is regarded as the main reason for the dramatic decline in numbers of great crested newts across Scotland, and the wider UK, from the mid-20th Century onwards.<\/p>\n

The amphibians are now heavily protected with it being a criminal offence to harm them, their eggs, or their habitats.<\/p>\n

Their presence on the golf course created something of a conundrum over how the club could continue to maintain the course and the newts’ new habitat without damaging either.<\/p>\n

However, new and more efficient equipment should help ease the challenges of working on land with the protected species which Chris said appeared to be “thriving” since their arrival last year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Course maintenance will work alongside habitat preservation<\/p>\n

In its submission to the council for funding, the golf club said that, due to the “labour-intensive nature” of working on land with the protected species, improved machinery was required.<\/p>\n

It said that would allow greenkeeping staff to carry out their current workload in a “timely and proper manner, as well as maintain the protected species habitat”.<\/p>\n

“The project will also allow for the protected species to reside in harmony with the golf club,” it added.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The project should allow the newts to “reside in harmony” with the golf club<\/p>\n

The golf club has been granted just under \u00a310,000 from SBC so it can provide the necessary habitats for the protected species.<\/p>\n

The machinery will cost nearly \u00a316,000 – with the club contributing just under \u00a36,000.<\/p>\n

It means, with the off-season approaching, it can take a different approach to work on the course which should protect the newts.<\/p>\n

Chris believes it also gives them a new and unique selling point.<\/p>\n

“I think it puts Melrose Golf Club on the map a little bit, in terms of a uniqueness,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s something we’d certainly like to promote.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas MartinBBC Scotland News Getty Images Great crested newts were found on the golf course last year A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-137124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}