Time for another guest blog! This time we have Joanne, our new community engagement officer, telling us about her first experiences of the Inner Forth, I think she was impressed!.....
Let me introduce myself, I am Joanne Dempster, a new member of the RSPB team here in Skinflats. It’s been an exiting few weeks for me, being shown the ropes and getting a chance to see a snapshot of the Inner Forth landscape and it’s wildlife. This week I have had the pleasure of going on some guided tours of some of the more important wildlife sites in the area and I saw some fantastic things! I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you a bit about my wildlife experiences so far in the Inner Forth.
My tour began up by the Clackmananshire Tower from which we had a grand view of almost the whole Futurescapes area. It was like looking at a living map of the landscape and David was able to point out how much the landscape had changed over time. From our lofty vantage point we were able to see natural areas such as the Black Devon Wetlands but what was equally striking was the presence of industry in the area. There is no doubting that the Inner Forth is an industrial area, with Longannet Power Station towering above the estuary and Grangemouth Refinery flaring off in the distance, but some of the wildlife I have seen over the past few weeks have shown that the two worlds can coexist.
Lapwing in front of the huge oil refinery at Grangemouth, wildlife and industry side by side. (credit David Palmar (www.photoscot.co.uk))
We ventured down from the Clackmannanshire tower into Black Devon Wetlands. I have been lucky enough to visit the wetlands twice now, and in those two visits I reckon I must have seen a few hundred little frogs! The critters were absolutely tiny and absolutely everywhere! I have a well established pond in my garden which several frogs fill with spawn every year. It’s great to watch the eggs mature into wriggling little tadpoles, see the legs sprout and watch the baby frogs develop, but every year those little tadpoles turn into frogs and disappear, off to grow up someone else. By the looks of it they all come here to the Forth... All joking aside, it was fantastic to see so many baby frogs having successfully made it through the summer, off to feed and bulk up before the winter. They weren’t hard to find either, hopping all over the paths, and if you find yourself with a spare couple of hours I’d recommend taking a stroll around the wetlands just to see how many froglets you can find!
Black Devon Wetlands (credit: David Palmar (www.photoscot.co.uk))
That wasn’t all I saw in my ramble through the tall grass. We came to a freshwater pool system which swept through the reeds and around a corner out of sight. I was particularly excited to see several little grebe sitting on the water. Little grebe are charismatic little birds which dip and dive for insects and small fish, holding their breaths for impossibly long periods of time before popping up somewhere far from where they originally dove. A little further round the wetlands on our way back to the car I was very lucky to glance up at the perfect moment to see a roe deer spring from the reed bed next to us and dance across the water, where it was vanished into the grass and reed on the opposite bank. Sights like that can really take your breath away and I count myself very lucky to have been there at that moment.
We wound our merry way around the estuary to Kinneil Lagoons. Stepping out of the car you would never expect to find wildlife in a place so utterly surrounded by the towers and pipes of Grangemouth refinery, but find it we did. A short walk along the sea wall we stopped to watch redshank, knot, dunlin, curlew, grey heron, bar-tailed godwit, lapwing and more besides that, all sheltering and feeding in the pools to the landward side of the wall. I have been out birdwatching in other areas of Scotland but the variety of wading birds at this site was really exciting! I can’t wait to come back out once the rest of the winter migrants have arrived in the estuary, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of them as the weather begins to turn.
I just have tine to tell you one about one more wildlife encounter, and this really made my day. On my very first day working here I was crossing the Kincardine Bridge and swooping over my head was a peregrine falcon! Here I was, travelling to work, and the fastest animal in the world was hunting right above me, now could I have possibly had a better anecdote than that to tell on my first day working with the RSPB?
If in only two weeks I have managed to see wildlife ranging from stunning birds of prey to my fist peacock butterfly of 2013, then I can only imagine what else is out there on the banks of the estuary waiting to be discovered. I’d love to hear from you and find out what other fantastic wildlife encounters I can expect in the Inner Forth area.