About
Situated on the Northern side of the Firth of Tay, in an area known as ‘Dog Bank’, this site boasts an awe-inspiring location with sweeping views of the surrounding landscape. Gaze downstream and you’ll catch a glimpse of Dundee’s famous railway bridge, while to the South, you can enjoy uninterrupted vistas of Fife’s rolling hills. The North-facing site is adjacent to the Carse of Gowrie, a fertile plain renowned for its bountiful farmland that stretches along the River Tay from the picturesque city of Perth in the West to the vibrant city of Dundee in the East.
The site extends to approximately 523 acres in total, with around 33 acres of reedbed to the North and 490 acres of the foreshore, stretching Southwards from the high-water mark to the low water mark. This unusual site presents one of the few places in the UK where the seabed is privately owned and can be used exclusively for conservation purposes.
"The Tay estuary is an important seagrass habitat on the east coast of Scotland dominated by sediment biotopes, including mudflats which support sparse beds of two nationally scarce seagrass species. Seagrasses have been described as ecosystem engineers, creating natural infrastructure which may increase sediment deposition and stability."
Environment
The Firth of Tay is noted for its extensive sand and mudflats, its population of common seals, and its wintering birds such as oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, shelduck and velvet scoter. The entire reedbed on the north shore of the inner estuary is about 15 km long, and is thought to be the most extensive reedbed in Britain. Our approach at the Firth is non-intervention, focused on conservation and environment protection and seeking to measure and monitor the natural processes and abundant wildlife.
We will work in partnership with the RSPB, Tay Rivers Trust and leading academic institutions to better our understanding of this truly spectacular natural environment.
Our Plans
This site is genuinely incredible; home to some of the UK’s most unique intertidal and marine habitats, hosting an unbelievable array of birdlife, insects and invertebrates, the Firth of Tay also acts as a long term store of carbon. We plan on adopting a passive, custodianship of the Firth of Tay. We will focus on environment monitoring and measurement to support the growth of natural capital.
In the near future we plan to open up our first Blue Carbon Laboratory. An outdoor laboratory bringing together some of the best expertise in the world to research these unique habitats, allowing us to better understand the role they play in removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it within the seabed. Our aim is to study the site through a partnership with universities, supporting Masters and PhD students for years to come, with the research we undertake facilitating the creation of other blue carbon projects throughout the UK and beyond.
