Hello and welcome to another Inner Forth blog! Firstly, exciting bird news, we have had three (yes three!!) little egrets visiting our Skinflats reserve over the past week which has been fantastic! If you have not seen one before, it is a small and very elegant white heron and not a very regular sight this far north, a welcome visitor indeed!
Our three visitors as they flew away from the reserve last week, we hope they will be back! (credit: Robert Trevis-Smith)
Secondly, we wanted to tell you about a visitor we had to the Inner Forth last week, Zoe, our senior conservartion officer, will tell you more......
This morning heralded another sunny trip to the Inner Forth – as you can image we have shown a fair few visitors round over the past couple of years as projects and partnerships have developed in the area but this morning struck me as a real milestone. Jess Dolan (IFLI Programme Manager) and I were joined by Angus MacDonald MSP for a visit to some of the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative projects within Angus’ constituency of Falkirk East. What made this visit particularly special? Because after 3 years in the planning we are now able to talk about what is happening and its happening now! It really made me proud of the project team and all our partners to be able to stand and say this is where volunteers have taken part in restoration work, this is where HLF funding is being spent on projects and here are all the really fantastic things that will be happening over the next 4 years. Finally all that hard work is really starting to bear fruit!
A visit to Kinneil Lagoons (credit: Jess Dolan)
Starting a visit at Kinneil Estate is always a beautiful way to begin the day and it was fantastic to see the great work on the historic church already carried out by Falkirk Community Trust and volunteers. Our next stop at Kinneil Foreshore really showed the potential for linking access around this cluster of projects and it will be exciting to see how the meadow there develops over the next few years to become even richer in wildflowers and insects as Falkirk Council manage the area specially for this purpose. And finally we headed along to Kinneil Lagoons – a project being led by RSPB Scotland, which is at the centre of our Futurescape aspirations. This site is already well known as a great place for birds but we are excited to be able to enhance it even further and make it a more welcoming place for human visitors too! The Lagoons’ industrial backdrop of Grangemouth and Longannet may be a stark contrast to the tranquillity of Kinneil Estate but it is this variety and the fact that nature can be found throughout this Landscape that makes it truly special.
However, don’t just take my word for it (as those who work with me will tell you) I am slightly biased when it comes to singing the praises of the area and IFLI partnership. Seeing enthusiasm from others who know the area so well is always rewarding and we are delighted that Angus has been so supportive of the Initiative and these projects. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of showing people what this partnership is achieving but as plans turn into reality I know that’s only going to become even more rewarding.