Hello and welcome to the first Living Loch Leven Futurescape blog! As many of you reading this will already know, Loch Leven is a very special place for wildlife and attracts thousands of visitors every year to experience its natural splendour. This time of year is a particularly good time to visit with thousands of pink-footed geese descending on the area as they travel south from their breeding grounds in Iceland.
If you want to get a fantastic view of these beautiful birds (and you enjoy early starts) then I can recommend the dawn goose watch at the RSPB Loch Leven reserve. You will get the chance to watch as thousands of birds take off from their night time roost producing a truly awe inspiring sight. To top it all off you will even get a bacon roll at the end of your walk, what more could you ask for!!
A flock of Pink-footed Geese (Credit: RSPB Images)
The huge number of migrating geese is a very special part of the natural splendour around Loch Leven, however the Futurescape is about much more than these beautiful birds. Our aim is to create a whole network of wildlife rich habitats around the loch , thereby creating a landscape where Loch Leven is no longer an isolated jewel of biodiversity but the centre-piece of a living landscape where wildlife can thrive.
Ambitious? Absolutely! However in an ever changing modern world we need to make sure that nature has a home and this means we need to think big and achieve change on a scale that is capable of making a real difference for wildlife. To achieve this change, we will need to work together with industry, landowners, national and local government to identify opportunities to create new habitat that will not only benefit wildlife, but also the people of the Loch Leven area.
This is a really exciting project, and we want you to be involved! So let me know what you think is special about Loch Leven and the surrounding area, have you seen some fantastic wildlife? Do you have any favourite views? Is there a perfect walk for a brisk Autumn afternoon? One of my favourite memories of recent times was seeing a peregrine perched right by the road side just near to Cleish, it was magnificent and the closest I have ever been to one! Not bad for a morning driving to work!
Peregrine Falcon, just one of the amazing species you can see around Loch Leven (Credit: RSPB Images)