Scottish Wildlife Trust's
Fife Conservation Team

   On the Isle of May

From their Kirkcaldy base the conservation team operates throughout the area and at times beyond the "fringes of Fife".

As a training provider the team offers placements to people of all age groups who have been unemployed for 6 months or more. New Deal is for young people under 25 years of age and the course duration is six months. Training for Work is for over 25s who have been longterm unemployed.

Their Supervisor David Blair tells what they did in 2001.

January 2001: A slow start to team tasks after the festive season. Our first port of call was the latest of our reserves Carlingnose Point at North Queensferry in Fife.

The area North of the 'Rocky Knoll' was targeted by our now eager and able bodied team armed with an array of conservation tools, which included bow saws, loppers, grass hooks and even a chainsaw to shatter the peaceful and tranquil surroundings. It was all for the good of the reserve.

The invasive vegetation, in this case hawthorn and gorse, had virtually taken over and was in effect reducing the chances of anything of value that was originally there from growing.

Bankhead Moss. Still on the theme of invasive species. As most people are aware from visits to this important reserve, the spread of birch on to the bog has had the effect of reducing the water level and drying up the bog. The team was tasked with felling some of the larger of these trees and the removal of the smaller ones on the bog, by bow saw and chainsaw, and also by using loppers. We removed much from this location and various brash and habitat piles were created throughout the reserve.

February: The team was at Cullaloe Reserve carrying out the removal of willow from the loch shore.
The three days spent there were very warm indeed and most productive. We also erected bird boxes at various locations throughout the reserve. Sparrowhawk , fox, roe deer and green woodpecker were all seen that day.

Team numbers for this period were about six. This, as before, was made up from a mixture of New Deal (ND) and Training For Work (TFW) employees. Trainees stay with the team for six to twelve months depending on which scheme they come on. Age of trainees is a major factor in this and will determine the final outcome.

All trainees work towards a Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Level 2 Environmental Conservation, although the Scottish Wildlife Trust is now moving towards the LANTRA type qualifications and is at present carrying out training for its staff members, most of whom are Project Supervisors. This will move us forward and put us at the "cutting edge" of environmental conservation related training in Scotland.

March: With the onset and spread of Foot and Mouth all Scottish Wildlife Trust reserves were closed on March 2nd. So we began the task of putting up KEEP OUT signs at strategic points on our Fife reserves. This was met with a mixed reaction from the general public. A few of the signs were destroyed by various means. Luckily the spread of the disease was contained in the Borders and the far South West of Scotland and never reached Fife.

The teams were grounded throughout this period, so we set about a busy 'indoor' training schedule, constructing bird/bat boxes in a range of different styles and it gave us a chance to catch up with the paperwork that goes with the trainees' SVQ module.

This included the theoretical aspect of fencing , tree planting and native woodlands, with lessons and written tests on all these - and more!

April: Our pilgrimage to the Isle of May (NNR) was almost cancelled but Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) decided to open its reserve towards the end of March. We set sail on Monday, April 2nd with an eight-man work party. The Isle of May is very impressive, steeped in history and alive with a variety of sea birds and migrating birds. We saw peregrines, short-eared owls, kestrels, wheatears, ring ouzels, one Canada goose and of course puffins, among many other birds.

Much work was carried out to the various traps on the island. The position of the traps exposes them to the extreme weather conditions and as such the netting becomes damaged and therefore can cause harm to the birds caught. We used green plastic netting this year, which is better than the rabbit type netting which has been used in the past. One advantage is that it does not rust.

The Isle of May is a recommended visit for anyone who wants to see an intense natural habitat which is home to thousands of sea birds with the surrounding seas full of seals, Minke whales and dolphins.

May: With the Foot and Mouth situation ongoing we were still "grounded". The next big event for us was Gardening Scotland at the Ingliston show ground. The SWT Garden at the show was the biggest we have undertaken so far. In size it was ten metres by ten metres with an ambitious design by Heath Brown.

Tuesday, May 8th saw the start of our work for the show garden at Jupiter. SWT's urban wildlife Centre in Grangemouth. The team worked well and hard with a few frustrations along the way. But the end product was a very interesting garden and I'm sure all those who visited the site at Ingliston on the weekend of June 1st, 2nd and 3rd were impressed by the result. Thanks must go to the individuals concerned.

A bronze medal was won for our efforts. Though last year we gained a Silver Gilt, so we were a little saddened not to have done better this time. But even if the judges did not consider our work the best, visitors to the show were full of praise. We even managed to recruit 375 new Trust members.

June: Almost up to date and not that busy a programme of events took place this month. There were some small tasks to be done on our reserves and there were a lot of site meetings. The good news was the re-opening of our reserves and we were asked to take down the Keep Out signs and replace them with the Welcome Back ones.

July: We were now making up for lost time due to the restrictions during the last three months. We were at Bankhead Moss felling a few dead conifers which were in a dangerous condition near to a footpath. The task was completed in a few hours and the team was shown round the reserve. Interesting to note how full of life the reserve was, possibly due to no one being there for a few months. Everything was lush and we saw a peregrine (a first for this reserve as far as I know, or so I have been told), roe deer and treecreepers. Also seen were orchids by the boardwalk.

The end of July saw us at the Craigencalt Ecology Farm at Kinghorn Loch in Fife, where we were constructing and laying a footpath to aid the hundreds of visitors it receives each year (including Prince Charles). The bird hide was also constructed by us and this has been used by lots of school groups who come here as part of their education. It is even known about as far away as Russia and has been worked on by groups visiting from Rumania and the CIS States (formerly part of the USSR). It's a very important place and well worth a visit. Contact Ronnie Mackie on 01592 879567.

Team numbers continue to grow and at the end of July there were seven trainees. And during August we hope the number will be up to twelve. But we still have places and if you are interested in joining the team either a on an ND or a TFW scheme then contact your local job centre. The job centre will then contact me and I will get in touch to call you for an interview. It is as easy as that.

We are now looking forward to our very own flock of sheep later this year and plans are already being made for a conservation shepherd/ess who will operate out of the Fife base, although the sheep will be somewhere else thankfully. I don't think they'd all fit into my office!! The sheep will be used on various reserves such as Bankhead Moss and Lielowan. The team will be erecting stock fencing on the reserves being used on this grassland management project which we are looking forward to very much.