Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Mossmorran pond creator’s dismay at school visit controversy

Former custodian of the pond at Exxon FEP, Duncan Rogers.
Former custodian of the pond at Exxon FEP, Duncan Rogers.

The man who created Mossmorran’s wildlife pond more than 30 years ago has expressed dismay at controversy over school visits.

Duncan Rogers persuaded ExxonMobil Chemical to allow him to convert a brownfield part of the industrial site at Fife Ethylene Plant into a haven for flora and fauna.

Since then, more than 20,000 pupils have enjoyed pond-dipping trips and learned about the abundance of amphibians, insects and plants there.

Concerns voiced by a local action group about schoolchildren visiting the Cowdenbeath chemical plant, registered a Control of Major Accident Hazards site, led to Kinghorn-based The Ecology Centre withdrawing its tutors for the session.

Retired services technician Duncan, 62, said: “I am so sad that The Ecology Centre has chosen to drop this as a cause.

“Tens of thousands of children have used it, not just young children but six-formers and kids doing ecology studies prior to going to university.”

Mossmorran Action Group, backed by Councillor Linda Holt, accused ExxonMobil of exploiting schoolchildren in a “risky PR stunt”.

Duncan said he acknowledged the concerns, but said: “I find it a very sad agenda. It’s not a cynical ploy towards schoolchildren at all.”

Duncan, who worked at the plant for more than 30 years, was given £15,000 by ExxonMobil in 1995 to turn his dream into reality.

He worked with Heriot-Watt University and Thomas Gilmartin, of Cupar, on the project which was inspired by tales of children on the Grey Park housing estate moved when the plant was built collecting frogs and toads there.

He said: “I was concerned that Exxon had put a big concrete square on top of this key site and thought if Exxon could give something back to the community it would be terrific.”

Pupils at McLean Primary School were involved in designing the pond.

As it was being filled Duncan watched a very large blue and yellow beetle buzzing around.

He said: “It flew in circles over the water and from a height of about seven or eight feet dived in. That was our first coloniser!”

The pond is now home to numerous species including greater pond beetle, dragonflies, water scorpions, ramshorn snails and greater boatmen.

Duncan said: “We didn’t put any frogs or toads in and the place is absolutely teeming with them.”

Describing himself as an ecologist at heart but also a realist, Duncan said: “To my thinking the best way forward is to educate people into seeing that despite this place producing hydrocarbons which can be a major pollutant we have a natural environment that’s perfectly capable of living alongside it.”

Duncan also voiced his confidence in the company’s safety and environment record.

He said: “I couldn’t have worked for them if I thought they were wilfully or neglectfully damaging the environment.”