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Approaching Stirling from the Forth - detail from a painting by Stirling-based artist Iona Leishman.
Iona will be showing a collection of her beautiful paintings at a solo exhibition, 'The Windings of the Forth', at the Stirling Smith later this year. Iona's work will be hung alongside examples of paintings of the Forth from the Smith's permanent collection. She has invited IFLI to join her, and we will be showcasing some of the many projects that have been achieved through the Initiative at the exhibition, which runs from 17 August to 14 October. You can find more information on our events calendar here.
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Welcome to IFLI's April 2018 eNewsletter
In this issue:
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Join us to celebrate the Inner Forth this June!
This June IFLI is organising a final mini-festival to celebrate the landscape and heritage of the Inner Forth, and some of the amazing projects that have taken place through the Initiative over the last four years to make it even better for people and wildlife.
We are planning four main family-friendly events over the last two weeks of June, one in each local authority area in which we have worked. The dates will be:
19 June - Kinneil Estate
22 June - Fallin Bing
24 June - Clackmannan
30 June - Charlestown
In addition a number of our partners and friends will also be organising some great events and activities between 16-30 June. We are in the final stages of planning just now, and we'll be sending out more details in early May - so please do look out for further details - we'd love you to join us!
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RSPB Scotland has recently completed work on an exciting new treasure chest of educational resources for teachers and local youth leaders, complemented by a great animation called ‘The Inner Forth: Formed by Nature, shaped by People’. These resources, created through an IFLI-funded project called Future Tides, are aimed at helping teachers within the Inner Forth to engage their pupils with the landscape, so they can learn why it is so special, and how it may change in the future.
The Inner Forth Treasure Chest takes pupils on a journey through different aspects of the landscape, looking at its formation, its importance to wildlife and people, before finally examining how we can solve the problems we face around the Forth, such as ensuring we retain space for wildlife. There are three identical boxes available, containing a range of resources which teachers and youth leaders can use, plus advice for taking children out and about to explore the landscape.
Linked to this is the ‘Inner Forth: Formed by Nature, Shaped by People’ animation, which you can watch here. RSPB Scotland worked with the animation studio Interference Pattern to create a visually stunning interpretation of the formation of the landscape and its recent history. Covering millions of years of history in just over five minutes, it acts as a terrific introduction to the landscape for young and old alike.
If you would like more information about either the education pack or the animation please email innerforthreserves@rspb.org.uk
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Angus MacDonald MSP, with Suzie Burgess, and representives from Bauder. Image courtesy of Iain Sinclair
Buglife and Calachem recently had a chance to show off the glorious green roof at Calachem's Grangemouth facility. Angus MacDonald MSP for Falkirk East, visited the green roof, which is opposite CalaChem's reception, earlier this month. Angus was joined by John Walker, CalaChem Building and Estates Manager, Suzanne Burgess, Buglife Scotland Manager, and Christopher Langton, from installers Bauder, to discuss the importance of green roofs and other green infrastructure for wildlife and people.
CalaChem's green roof is over 140m2 in size and was installed in May 2015 through the Glorious Green Roof project with funding from HLF and EU life funds through EcoCo. This Inner Forth Landscape Initiative project has helped to create a stepping stone for wildlife allowing many species to move and mix across the area of Grangemouth. Last year the roof was full of stunning wildflowers including kidney vetch, thrift and oxeye daisy, which provided forage for bumblebees, butterflies and even 7-spot ladybirds! An oystercatcher also nested on the roof!
As well as providing habitat for wildlife at roof level, green roofs have a number of other benefits, including cooling the building in summer and insulating it in winter, reducing noise pollution and flooding, as well as increasing the lifespan of the roof!
Commenting on what he saw, Angus MacDonald MSP said:
“It was great to get along to see this green roof, one of two installations in Grangemouth, to see how things were going, and to get an idea of what this meant for CalaChem and for Buglife.
“Hearing of the wildlife which had been spotted was proof for me that this is and will continue to be a successful installation. With it being the beginning of the season there is clearly more growth to come, however it was clear to see the importance of this project, and great to hear how it is encouraging biodiversity, even in the midst of an industrial area.
“I am glad to hear, too, of the benefits to CalaChem. Once again we see CalaChem giving a platform for nature to flourish, and I hope to see more of this from local industry in the future.”
“It was encouraging to hear that CalaChem are considering increasing the number of green roofs within their complex.”
This spring Buglife will add extra wildflowers that will provide even more foraging opportunities for bees and other pollinators.
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Three more paths have now been upgraded around the Inner Forth through IFLI projects managed by Central Scotland Green Network Trust, making getting out in our lovely landscape easier for lots of people. At Cambus a path leading from the village and east along the banks of the Forth was completed last week, just in time for healthy walking group Braveheart to 'christen it' for their monthly walk with IFLI. There are fantastic views of the river from the path, which can be linked to the existing cycle way between Cambus and Alloa to make a great hour-long circular walk.
In Alloa itself work is almost complete to improve the path from Alloa Park area through the woods by the side of the River Black Devon to the edge of the RSPB Black Devon Wetlands nature reserve. The woodlands are now alive with spring birdsong, and the path improvements will make it much easier for less mobile people, or families with buggies etc, to enjoy a stroll there.
Finally work is underway at Fallin to upgrade the path around and across the bing. Over the last few years the site has become a magnet for bees, butterflies and moths, thanks to wildflower planting work by Buglife as part of another IFLI project. There are also amazing views from the top of the bing, from Stirling in the west to the Forth estuary in the east, so the site is well worth a visit at any time of year.
Braveheart walkers enjoying the new path at Cambus. Image Robert Snedden
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Look out for our new interpretation boards
We now have new interpretation boards in place at nine of our IFLI project sites to highlight the fantastic work that has been achieved through the Initiative! The sites are Cambuskenneth Orchard; Wester Moss; Cambus Pools; Valleyfield Orchard; Kinneil Orchard; Kinneil Foreshore; Bothkennar Pools; Charlestown Limekilns and Carrongrange High School green roof (not open to the public). Two more, one at Kennetpans Distillery and one at Higgins Neuk, will be installed later this year when work at the sites has been completed. The boards have been produced through the IFLI Telling the Inner Forth Story project, and we worked closely with the project leads to try to explain through the boards what makes each site important and special. Our thanks to everyone involved, and to our contractors Leach, who did a great job designing them, and installing them in less than ideal weather conditions (and to Simon Jones, who took the photo)! Do look out for them when you visit - we really hope you like them!
One of the new boards, at Bothkennar Pools, near Skinflats village
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Sadly, we said goodbye to Dr Kirsty McAlister, our brilliant IFLI Cultural Heritage Officer, at the end of March. Kirsty had been with the Initiative since the very start of our delivery phase, managing a whole suite of historical and cultural heritage projects around the Inner Forth. Many readers will know her from great events she organised, fascinating archaeological digs she co-ordinated, or from trips on the Maid of the Forth, where for three years she was our incomparable compere. She's going to be very much missed within the IFLI team, and by the many folk with whom she worked over the four years of the Initiative. However we do hope to see her again over the summer, when she will be involved in supporting some of the events we are planning (more info to come soon) to celebrate IFLI's achievements. We wish her the very best for her future plans.
Kirsty proving that historians love wildlife too! Image Robert Trevis-Smith/IFLI
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IFLI at the Engine Shed
IFLI's Engine Shed exhibition - worth a look if you're visiting!
If you're interested in finding out a bit more about some of the brilliant history-focussed projects that have taken place through IFLI over the last four years, we have a new display up in the Engine Shed in Stirling. Historic Environment Scotland is kindly hosting the exhibition for us in their amazing new built-conservation hub, so do pop along to visit if you are in the area - it's all free! As well as lots of info and photos of the work that has been going on you can watch a whole range of short films that have been made about the Inner Forth and its history, including lots of great animations from local schoolchildren! |
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Not going to the Engine Shed? Watch our mini-films online!
If you can't make it to the Engine Shed exhibition, you might like to take a look at the wide range of mini-films we now have on our IFLI You Tube channel. Besides the new animation and Our Forth, there are now a whole range of short films that highlight the many aspects of IFLI's work, including at Kennetpans, Grangepans Meadow, Falkirk, and Fallin Bing, one about our Forth Nature Counts project, as well as lots of films about our natural and historic heritage made by local schoolchildren. Visit our You Tube channel here to see them all.
Another chance to see the Higgins Neuk dig in action
One of IFLI's most intriguing projects has been The Hidden Remains of Higgins Neuk. It's a community archaeology project taking place near Airth, and led by the Scape Trust. It aims to uncover evidence of a royal dockyard that we believe once berthed King James IV's ship the 'great' Michael, the jewel in his Navy. After a first dig last year revealed some evidence of earlier buildings at the site, SCAPE are revisiting it for a further dig at the end of this month to see how much more they can discover. Now there's a chance to see SCAPE and some of the volunteers and in action, and share the excitement of a real archaeological dig. There will be a free site open day on Saturday 5 May, with site tours at 10.30am and 2pm.
Find out how we can all help cut ocean plastics
After the hard-hitting facts that came out of David Attenborough's recent Blue Planet II series about the terrible effects of plastic waste on our marine life, most of us are aware that we need to address the problem. There has been lots of coverage in the media, and advice about how to help tackle it. Some of the best we've seen at IFLI is this booklet, which is clear and succinct, and makes it easy for everyone to do something, however small, to help. We've put it on our website here if you'd like to join in.
TWIC Spring Conference this weekend!
The Wildlife Information Centre at holding their Spring Conference in Alloa this Saturday. There are still a few places left, and it looks like a fascinating day in store, so do book your place now if you'd like to get involved!
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Higgins Neuk Revisited
Sat 28 Apr - Sun 6 May (not 1 May) 9am - 5pm
Higgins Neuk, near Airth
The SCAPE team will be back to continue their investigation of Higgins Neuk. More details on the project so far can be found here. If you'd like to help out, please contact Ellie Graham on elg5@st-andrews.ac.uk. More info.
TWIC Spring Conference - Onwards and Upwards
Saturday 28 April 10am - 4pm
Sauchie Hall, Alloa
The Conference is an opportunity for naturalists across the region to get together at the start of the recording season to exchange news and ideas, and to listen to a series of talks on the theme of upland recording and conservation. Booking essential. More info.
Delph Pond Forum Spring Event
Sat 28 April, 12-3pm
Delph Pond, Tullibody
Family event - all activities free. More info.
Wetland Wander and Dawn Chorus Walk
Sat 5 May, 5.30-7.30am
RSPB Black Devon Wetlands, Alloa
An early start but you’re rewarded by a symphony of bird song and some helpful guidance from RSPB staff. Then, enjoy a croissant and cup of tea to start your day. Booking essential More info.
Higgins Neuk Site Open Day (see above)
Sat 5 May
Higgins Neul, near Airth
More info.
Healthy walk with Braveheart
Wed 9 May, 1.30pm
Blackness
Join Braveheart and IFLI to explore the coast near Blackness castle along the John Muir Way. Booking essential. More info.
Kinneil House Open Days
18 (6-7.30pm) and 20 May (12-4pm)
Kinneil Estate, Bo'ness
Free tours of the House with Historic Environment Scotland and Friends of Kinneil. More info.
Building Conservation Careers Fair
Fri 8 June, 10am - 4pm
Engine Shed, Stirling
Interested in a career in conservation, heritage or traditional crafts? Come along to speak to Historic Environment Scotland Staff and find out how to take the first steps to a new career.. More info.
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