An Inspiring Day!

2 Oct 2013

As soon as I got out the car this morning I knew that Autumn had arrived, to be more specific, the rain smacking against one side of my face told me that summer was well and truly over! Around the Inner Forth however, this time of year actually feels very exciting as it is now that we start to see thousands of migrating waders heading to the area. I was lucky enough to be out and about on Monday and got the chance to see some big flocks of waders that had already made it to the Inner Forth, a sight that truly warms the heart on a cold Autumn afternoon.

Another thing that warmed my heart was a fantastic event organised last week by RSPB, SNH and Forestry Commision Scotland entitled 'Landscape Scale Restoration for Nature and People'. This one day event was a chance for people working on the ground in different landscape scale initiatives to share their experiences and discuss how this way of working can be truly effective in delivering nature conservation on a big scale. There were presentations about our work on the Inner Forth, Scottish Wildlfie Trust's fantastic Living Landscapes project around Cumbernauld, the amazing work in the Great Trossachs Forest and how the Cairngorms National Park is delivering landscape scale conservation..

Photo Credit: Jo Kingsbury, RSPB Scotland

There were many more ifantastic talks and discussions throughout the day and I have to say I found it truly inspiring. This event showed that many different organisations are working together, on the ground, to improve our landscapes, providing great benefits for both people and nature, but don't just take my word for it, here are the thoughts of a couple of those who attended the event;

"The Landscape Scale Restoration event was a really great opportunity to gain inspiration from organisations undertaking initiatives like ours in different regions. I left with a lot of new ideas to pursue, as well as reassurance that we are not alone in the kind of issues we are coming up against." Toby Nevitt, Project Manager, East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative.

"Well organised positive event, very interesting case studies and workshops which exemplify the importance of true partnership working - challenging the way we often work! Great to hear about success and lessons learnt. And who would have thought Pine Martens in Cumbernauld!" Louise Bond, Senior Biodiversity Ecologist, Scottish Environment Protection Agency.