EDINBURGH SHORELINE AND CLP ON THE BEACH
Members of Edinburgh Shoreline crossed the bridge to meet up with Charlestown, Limekilns, Pattiesmuir (CLP) on the North side of the Firth of Forth to take a look at their seagrass and discuss things marine. CLP are an inspiring and very active community group taking on the challenges of beach cleans, a Water Capture project to reduce urban runoff, surveying local rivers as part of Buglife and Earthwatch citizen Science work to assess the health of local streams, monitoring their seagrass meadow, participating in a school community garden project and collaborating with a local developer – Stirling Development to enhance biodiversity and ensure sustainable water management is at the heart of a new, local development. They have considerable expertise and a whole range of skills so it was inspiring to meet and discuss what we can achieve through local action and through the network of coastal groups – Coastal Communities Network (https://www.communitiesforseas.scot/ ). Dr Alastair Lyndon – one of our Trustees who is a Programme Director of Marine Biology at Heriot Watt university – was able to advise and discuss potential collaborations with CLP on their seagrass bed.
… CLP MEMBER TOM STRIDING OUT OVER THE MUD – NO TIME FOR PHOTOS…
We noted considerable numbers of old oyster shells on the Limekilns beach. This is important information as it implies that oyster beds existing offshore when oysters were still present in the Firth of Forth around 100 years ago before they were overfished and rendered extinct. We will report this to Restoration Forth who have developed the Oyster Observer Guide to collect this information from around the Firth of Forth. More info here:
It was pretty wet and windy so we retreated to the local café and continued the marine chat!
CONSIDERABLE NUMBERS OF OYSTER SHELLS WERE NOTED ON THE BEACH AT LIMEKILNS