The aim of this project was to ensure good quality habitat is available for breeding seabirds on Fidra and Inchmickery – both of which are important homes for breeding seabirds in the Firth of Forth.
In total, the Forth islands cover an area of 9.5ha at mean high water. Both are coastal habitats and are home to species such as puffins, fulmars, eiders and guillemots.
During this project, an area of 200m2 of invasive tree mallow and 400m2 of invasive elder was cleared from Inchmickery and 250m of cliff/steep ground was cleared of tree mallow on Fidra. This was all done by cutting by hand by staff, volunteers and specialist contractors. The work on Fidra was carried out in partnership with SOS Puffin. They supplied volunteers to carry out tree mallow cutting when the rope access contractors were on site to carry out the work on the cliffs. Forth Seabird Group were also involved in the work on Inchmickery.
18 individual volunteers took part in this project contributing a total of 194 hours which is the equivalent of 25 work days. Whilst it is difficult to attribute it directly to the work undertaken as a result of this project, there was a 65% increase in the Puffin counts on Fidra in the breeding season following the work and, though small, an overall increase in seabird numbers.
In 2022 SMEEF was able to provide a grant of £8,187 to support this work using resources from the Nature Restoration Fund.