A blog from Philippa Faulkner, Campaigns Co-ordinator Scotland, talking about her recent visit to the reserve...
I work in RSPB’s media team where I help coordinate our campaigning activity and engage the public in stepping up for nature. I was recently fortunate enough to visit the RSPBs largest reserve, the Forsinard flows, to look at an example of how campaigning can influence our work.
During the 70s and 80s plantations of trees were put up on the pristine blanket bog in the flow country where Forsinard is situated. The reasoning behind this course of action was that these trees could be used for timber; but the process of making the land suitable for planting dried out the bog and changed the habitat significantly. Interestingly, during my visit I also learned how important bog is for carbon storage; contrary to what I had expected the trees couldn’t store as much carbon as the peat.
At the time, the RSPB recognised the international importance of the blanket bog and was a strong voice in advocating against the plantation policy, lobbying hard to change it. The change eventually did come and now on our reserve we are trying to reverse the damage of those plantations through peatland restoration.
The first thing that is striking about Forsinard flows is the scale of the landscape. It is huge, remote and incredibly beautiful. If you superimposed a map of the reserve onto one of the central belt, it would stretch between Edinburgh and Glasgow. During my trip I saw big areas of land where we had felled parts of the plantation to restore the landscape back to its original state. For me Forsinard is a symbol of what conservation campaigning is all about: the challenge of the situation can be daunting but the reward of seeing the result of what we can achieve is definitely worth it. Going out with Assistant Warden Claire and Peatland Apprentice Paul, I helped in a recently felled area with the mapping of dams that increase the water table. Even though these particular dams had been put in relatively recently it was great to see how they were already holding back a significant amount of water which would otherwise have drained away.
Philippa (Left) / Assistant Warden Claire Foot (Right)
Wildlife wise, in January there aren’t many birds around but I did see my first snow bunting and a herd of stags from the truck which was exciting. Unfortunately, I didn’t spot the pine martin which had apparently been a regular visitor in the last few weeks-there’s always next time!