Inner Forth

The Inner Forth is a landscape rich in industrial heritage, hugely important for agriculture and home to many thousands of people.

While this may not sound like the kind of landscape typically associated with fantastic wildlife, there is another side to the Inner Forth which often goes unnoticed.

Take the time to explore the area and the sight of redshanks foraging in the mud, lapwings dancing in the sky and, if you’re lucky, a short-eared owl hunting as dusk falls will greet you. This stunning mix of wildlife against the backdrop of human industry creates an interesting landscape, deserving of a closer look.

We are actively working to create new wetland habitats, providing homes and food for wildlife and helping achieve a wide range of other benefits for people living around the Forth. 

Find out what’s going on near this Futurescape, including places to visit, news and local events, plus how you can work or volunteer for us. 

• Clackmannanshire
• Fife
• Stirling

Reserves and other protected areas are a key part of Futurescapes. They provide core areas for nature to thrive and eventually repopulate the surrounding landscapes. The key RSPB reserves within this Futurescape are:

Skinflats

This reserve is primarily a large area of intertidal mudflats and saltmarsh. A field next to the esturary now forms part of the intertidal area following a breach in the seawall in October 2018. This project was funded by HLF and EcoCo. LIFE Key birds include migrant and wintering wildfowl, shelduck, pink footed geese and waders.

Black Devon Wetlands

This small reserve is a mix of wet grassland, wetlands and reedbed, with a stunning viewing area overlooking the wetlands and two man-made islands. Key birds include water rail, reed bunting and wintering waterfowl.

We're working to safeguard and improve special places for nature. Each Futurescape contains a range of initiatives in addition to our reserves. The combination of these creates better conditions for wildlife across the countryside.

The Inner Forth Landscape Initiative 

Since 2012, a partnership of eight local authorities, public bodies and charities has been working successfully together with local community groups, individuals and organisations to deliver and ambitious programme of work centred on the Inner Forth from Stirling to Blackness - the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative (IFLI). 

On completion at the end of September 2018, this £4m HLF-funded Landscape Partnership scheme will have delivered 54 interlinked projects ranging from habitat creation, footpath installation and historic building conservation projects to the provision of traineeships, volunteering schemes and a wide range of skills training opportunities. By combining these with pan-landscape interpretation, events and promotion, IFLI has gone a long way to leaving an incredibly positive legacy in the area.

The end of IFLI does not mean the end of the partnership. From 1 October 2018 the eight IFLI partners, joined by Fife Council, are continuing to work together to deliver a strong legacy from the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative that maintains and builds on the success of this previous project. A new phase, called Inner Forth Futures, will remain working around the landscape to make the Inner Forth a better area to live and work in, and visit, by improving marketing and awareness of its natural and cultural heritage assets and sustainable transport options, and support communities so that they feel confident and empowered to take a greater role in management and promotion of the area's heritage.

Discover more about the project here.

Contact: Kate Fuller

Inner Forth Futures

Project Manager

kate.fuller@rspb.org.uk

or call 01324 831 568

website: www.innerforthlandscape.co.uk

www.twitter.com/innerforth

There are many organisations and people involved in managing land in the Inner Forth. Our challenge is working together to find ways of making more space for nature. To achieve this we’re working with:

• Buglife
• Butterfly Conservation Scotland
• Central Scotland Green Network Trust
• Clackmannanshire Council
• Falkirk Council
• Fife Council
• Inner Forth Futures
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• Scottish Wildlife Trust
• Stirling Council
• The Conservation Volunteers