Balcaskie Wetlands Project
Overview
The Balcaskie Wetlands Project is a partnership between Balcaskie Estate, Balcarres Estate, the Anstruther Improvements Association and the Forth Rivers Trust, working collaboratively to deliver for nature at a landscape scale. A habitat creation effort focused on the upper reaches of the Dreel Burn in Fife, this project aims to combat the twin challenges of climate change and declining biodiversity through supporting creation of crucial wetland habitat on the Balcaskie Estate.
The works will include the implementation of natural flood management (NFM) measures by installing ‘leaky dams’ which will help reduce flood event intensity, riparian tree planting to cool water temperatures, wetland habitat creation which will capture carbon and support vulnerable species, and also ford removal: all benefitting biodiversity and providing a boost for nature that will also help mitigate the future flooding impacts of climate change.
As the wetland and woodland habitats develop, they will provide essential habitats for invertebrates and other wildlife, and the wetland scrapes will support declining species such as waders and newts. Removal of the river barrier will allow the river channel to renaturalise and will offer passage upstream for native and migratory fish. All of these project measures aim to combat declining biodiversity levels and support the local area through predicted climate change impacts.
Objectives
Natural flood management (NFM):Â By installing leaky dams, we will ‘slow the flow’ of river water during high water events, capturing water on the floodplain and preventing its movement to communities and infrastructure downstream.
Ford removal: Through removing an aging concrete ford in the river channel, a barrier to fish migration will be removed and river channel connectivity improved, offering a boost to biodiversity.
Riparian tree planting: Establishing trees in the riparian zone will offer improved instream conditions for fish, cooling water temperatures as they mature.
Wetland creation: establishing wetland scrapes at the project site will provide habitat for declining species and offer another way to capture water and ‘slow the flow’.
Funders
This project is generously supported by Fife Environment Trust and by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.Â
