| Tayside Biodiversity - Action
Plan - Tayside's
Rich Biodiversity |
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Perthshire,
Kinross-shire, Angus and the City of Dundee – which,
for the purpose of this LBAP, encompasses the Tayside
area - covers 7,500 square kilometres of widely different
landscapes in which 385,000 people live and 3.75
million tourists visit. The area covers nearly 10%
of the land area of Scotland.
Our geological heritage has contributed directly towards the variety and abundance
of flora and fauna. To the west is the forbidding Rannoch Moor and the ancient
pines of The Black Wood. In the east mineral-rich rocks and soils have created
the rare alpine habitats on Caenlochan. On the coast we have the most extensive
reedbeds anywhere in Europe and at Barry Buddon one of the largest sand dune
complexes anywhere in the UK.
For the purpose of the Tayside Biodiversity Action Plan we have separated
the
region’s great diversity into six habitats –
Coasts and Estuaries
Farmland
Upland
Urban and Built Environment
Water and Wetlands
Woodland |
| INTRODUCTION
TO TAYSIDE’S HABITATS |
Coasts
and Estuaries
For centuries we have looked upon our local coasts
and estuaries as a source of food, for sheltered anchorage
and for trade. There is massive diversity:
from the muddy shallows of Montrose Basin to the sand dunes of Barry Links
and the wide nutrientrich Tay Estuary. In the latter, the reedbeds form
the largest continuous stand of this habitat anywhere in Britain and are
host to the only breeding site in Scotland of the rare Bearded tit.
The variety of life supports shoals of commercially important fish and
internationally important groups of Dolphins and Porpoises. More than half
the world’s Pink-footed geese can be found here in the winter. Our
beds of seagrass and seaweed also provide important nursery grounds for
flat fish in the summer and food for ducks and geese in winter.
Farmland
The vast majority of Tayside, stretching from the mountains, hills and
glens, through the fertile valleys and straths and down to the coastal
plains carses - would be correctly classified as ‘agricultural land’.
Totalling around 700,000 hectares, the area has been influenced by people
for over 6,000 years.
Extensive upland sheep grazing units utilise semi-natural grasslands, whilst
on the lower ground highly intensive vegetable, fruit and cereal crop growing
regimes means that our area includes all the main farm enterprises seen
in Scotland. Just over 200,000 hectares of arable land provides a patchwork
of fields, hedges, dykes, veteran trees and farm buildings in the lowland
areas.
Upland
Heather moorland is by far the most extensive single upland habitat in
Tayside and represents an eighth of the whole area. Additional mosaic heather
moorland also occurs with peatland, rough grassland and montane habitats.
The total area of 223,300 hectares represents 9% of upland heath in Scotland
and some 5% of the whole UK figure. Impressive though these figures are,
the area of heather moorland in Tayside has actually declined by over a
third in the past 50 years.
Montane habitats, which account for approximately 5% of Tayside’s
landmass, are those found above the natural tree level - 600m above sea
level. These alpine and sub-alpine areas represent some of the most natural
and undisturbed habitats anywhere in the UK. They are seen as a key habitat,
not only because Tayside holds a significant proportion of the Scottish
total (13%), but also because of the number of rare species associated
with the habitat. The high incidence of calcareous rocks also gives rise
to a flora which is unusually rich in species for the Highlands of Scotland
where mainly acidic rocks and habitats predominate.
Urban and Built Environment
Although only making up a small percentage of the actual land surface in
Tayside, the built and developed environment has a significant impact on
our biodiversity in the last hundred years. We have utilised ancient sand
dunes in golf course creation, engineered rivers and burns into narrow
channels in every town, opened up parkland and old grazing pastures as
public open spaces. Our buildings have replaced cliff-top habitats for
many of our favourite species such as House martins and Swifts; modern
housing offers cave-like roofs for our most common bat, the Pipistrelle.
Our influence can therefore be seen throughout all the built up areas of
the region from school grounds and gardens in sheltered housing complexes,
to our private gardens and urban roadside verges.
Water and Wetland
The Tay drains the largest area of any river in Scotland and its flow is
the greatest in Britain. Our other large river systems such as the North
and South Esks rise in the mountains and drain the north-east of the region,
whilst the Angus coastal burns rise in the lowlands.
Tayside boasts a wealth of lochs and standing waters. Many of these now
attract breeding pairs of Osprey – a third of the entire UK population
of these rare birds of prey now nest here. Flood plains contribute valuable
habitat mosaics and at the same time help regulate seasonal water flow.
The transition between rivers and other habitats frequently gives rise
to some of our most valuable and unique habitats, including wet woodlands
and reedbeds. Thousands of kilometres of burns also act as wildlife corridors
between farmland and woodland which heighten their biodiversity.
Woodland
There are few areas of Scotland which offer the range and variety of the
woodlands found in Tayside. They range from the wet woodlands found on
the banks of the River Tay to the ancient Scots Pine found in The Black
Wood of Rannoch. Many of our woodlands are steeped in a rich historical
and cultural background which has led famous poets and songwriters to such
works as Rabbie Burns‘ “The Birks O Aberfeldy”. Perthshire
has also been called “the cradle of Scottish forestry” in recognition
of the part played by the Planting Dukes of Athol in the 18th Century.
Of our 13% tree coverage (103,000 hectares), only a fifth is of ancient
or semi natural origin. The outlook for Tayside’s native woodland
habitats and the species that rely on them is undoubtedly better than it
has been for a very long time, but there are still challenges to overcome,
one of them being the safeguarding of the Capercaillie which is now down
to dangerously low numbers.
Of the 50 ‘Great British Trees’ nominated to celebrate the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 we should be proud that three of them
are from our area. The Parent Larch at Dunkeld has a girth of 5.6m and
is one of the biggest European larches in the UK. At Scone grows the Douglas
Fir, an original tree grown from seed sent back from the Columbia River
in Canada in 1826 by David Douglas. But what might be viewed as an icon
of Tayside’s unique tree and woodland biodiversity heritage is the
third nomination. The renowned Fortingall Yew, reputedly Europe’s
oldest tree, could be anything between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. It is
believed to be the oldest living thing in Europe – surely Tayside’s
best tribute to celebrating our biodiversity through the ages. |
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