Children in pyjamas and residents of urban tenement blocks joined a three-year project to help boost wildlife on their doorsteps in Scotland.In total, more than 1,000 people took part in a host of wild activities as part of Perth and Stirling Wild Spaces.The scheme, run by national charity Butterfly Conservation, created and maintained 20 Wild Spaces for butterflies, moths and other wildlife to live in, helping local people to connect with nature.As the project came to an end in December, lead officer Alice Kenny has reflected on its achievements.She said: "The moth mornings we held were always great. We did one in Bannockburn and a family let us use their back garden! We set up the moth trap the night before then we all came back at 8am with many of the children who lived locally coming along in their pyjamas."We caught pink-and-green Elephant Hawk Moths, Large Yellow Underwings and Ermine moths, which have soft white fur with little black dots like an ermine coat. They’re all amazing insects that you just never normally see, and the kids came away from it absolutely inspired. The next time I saw them they were reminding me about things we saw last time and saying they'd been taking pictures of wildlife in the meantime."The Perth and Stirling Wild Spaces project started in January 2023, funded by a £79,800 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund with support from NatureScot and Stirling Council.It’s part of Butterfly Conservation’s nationwide Wild Spaces programme, raising awareness of how ordinary people can help save butterflies and moths from the adverse effects of  pollution, pesticides and climate change.Alice, who grew up in Stirling and studied environmental science at university in Perth, was the perfect person for the job. She even signed up her own dad as a volunteer, helping to create wildflower meadows at a field in Stirling where he played football as a boy.Not all of it was easy: at Darnley Park in Stirling where locals planted tree saplings they were ripped out days later by vandals - but the community refused to be beaten: they let the grass grow long then quietly planted new fruit trees in the grass and let them get established. This year they saw the fruit of their labours literally - apples and pears.Part of the aim of Butterfly Conservation's Wild Spaces scheme is to engage people who don’t normally spend a lot of time in nature, and Alice did exactly that in Stirling.At one housing estate, residents of flats told her that they couldn't have window boxes. Instead, they honed in on large wooden planters at the park on the estate. These were normally filled with colourful but non-native flowers which might not be much use to native insects looking for nectar but Alice worked with the residents to plant a range of valuable native plants which can benefit butterflies and moths - bird's-foot trefoil, also known as 'bacon and eggs' because of its bright red and yellow flowers; rambling clover and scabious with its lilac flowers on tall spikes, along with some early-flowering crocuses and primroses. When they were putting the seeds and bulbs in with the help of some three- and four-year-olds from a nearby nursery, they discovered moths sheltering in the planters and took a 20-minute break to look at them.At Allan’s Primary School in Stirling where Alice told the pupils about her project, they ended up buying some Painted Lady butterfly caterpillar eggs, hatching them out and watching them grow. The children were then asked by the council to do an 'audit' of the facilities at a local play park, resulting in a request for more habitat for butterflies and moths. The council then worked with locals to create a Wild Space and has adapted its management of the space to help butterflies and moths thrive there.Alice also hosted seminars for councils and schools across Scotland on how they could create Wild Spaces themselves. One online session, run in collaboration with the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, was joined by teachers and pupils from primary and secondary schools across Scotland.In total, the project ran more than 30 engagement activities and created 20 new Wild Spaces in Perth and Stirling - not to mention countless other actions it has inspired around the country.Craig Allardyce from North Muirton Community Centre in Perth said: "The work Alice and Butterfly Conservation have done in North Muirton has been exceptional. The hard work Alice and her volunteers have put into revitalising the tired raised flower beds has been fantastic, and her dedication to raising awareness and educating people at various events has been both engaging and insightful."Alice is now looking forward to working with new communities, confident that the legacy of Butterfly Conservation’s Perth and Stirling Wild Space will live for years to come.She said: "We've helped to connect so many people with nature, people who had never done a butterfly walk or a moth morning before, and that’s so important for us."I always wanted to let the communities lead and they absolutely did: these little groups have ended up being the most fantastic volunteers. Even when it was challenging, they showed great resilience, and that's what we need to help butterflies, moths and all our fantastic native wildlife - resilience in people and in nature."Find out how to get involved at wild-spaces.co.uk