Braes of Alyth: Wild Cores and Corridors
– was created and is led by Bamff Wildland,
a leading nature restoration project in Perthshire.
The boundary of the project is defined by the catchments of the (upper) Alyth and Auchrannie Burns, for whom Bamff is a modest watershed. This project enables Bamff Wildland to draw on years of nature restoration experience, supporting neighbours to carry out restoration work collaboratively, in a way designed to maximise connectivity across the area.
BoA began in the winter of 2022, with a six month Nature Restoration Fund development grant. This enabled the project to commission a comprehensive River Habitat Survey of all of the parts of the two catchments where landowners had agreed to participate, and relevant surveys of woodlands and other habitats.
The Cores and Corridors model is a spatial proposal for how to create landscape scale nature restoration within an area where human land uses, such as farming and forestry, are an important part of the landscape. Larger areas, devoted to nature, are ‘cores’, and these can be connected by nature corridors, in order that cores don’t become isolated. The most obvious and vital points of connection are waterways.
Waterway restoration:
- Improves freshwater ecology by restoring diverse river habitats, including riparian vegetation
- Restores riverine processes, allowing the waterway to filter agricultural and other pollutants – purifies water
- Mitigates drought
- Mitigates downstream flooding
RIPARIAN restoration:
( A VITAL PART OF WATERWAY RESTORATION)
- Creates buffer zones that prevent pollutants from entering water
- Shades water, keeping temperatures within the safe zone for fish survival
- Provides habitat for mammals, birds, invertebrates and amphibians
- Creates a vital food source for pollinators (e.g. willow flowers early, providing nectar for early emerging invertebrates)
- Stabilises banks, reduces soil loss, and improves soil structure
In October 2023, BoA received a FIRNS development grant, looking at how Natural Capital funding could provide an economic model that would enable nature restoration in our project area.
This project involves:
- Engagement with landowners in the project area
- Community engagement (including a consultation survey and a public event)
- Working with natural capital advisors
- Collation of existing ecological data including GIS mapping
- Appraisal of several frameworks for ecological monitoring (to provide evidence of ecological improvement in the future)
The project team will continue to look for opportunities to move this project forward, and to share learning with peers across the Tay catchment and the country.
This project is supported by NatureScot in collaboration with The Scottish Government and in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund.