Dreel Burn Community Update, December 2024

Anstruther Harbour Festival

AIA had a stall at the popular Harbour Festival with Forth Rivers Trust engaging with over 170 visitors and local residents about our work on the Dreel Burn. The team shared information about volunteering opportunities, Balcaskie Wetlands Project and the Dreel Burn catchment initiative and provided the popular Forth Rivers Trust interactive rivers table.

Dreel Burn Explorers Day

A summer Dreel Burn explorers’ day for children was held at Gillingshill Nature Reserve on 2nd August, organised by AIA and delivered by the enthusiastic Donald Malone of Wildside Nature. 15 children between 5 and 10 years of age had a fantastic day dipping in the burn, searching under stones for invertebrates, making river habitats, playing in hammocks, trying archery, bug and scavenger hunts and arts and crafts activities. AIA worked with Friends of Gillingshill, Arncroach and Carnbee Development Trust and Fife Council, who supported the event with volunteers and preparing the nature reserve in advance for the visit.

Anster Nicht Talk: Restoring the Dreel Burn using Nature to Combat Pressures

Jonathan Louis, Co-Director of Forth Rivers Trust, provided an excellent talk about the Dreel Burn catchment initiative and the Balcaskie Wetlands Project as part of the AIA’s winter lecture series, Anster Nichts, held at Dreel Halls. The talk was attended by 28 AIA members and local residents, it was very well received and sparked interesting conversations.

Community River Day

To celebrate the second anniversary of the Dreel Burn Project, AIA held a Community River Day at Dreel Halls. The partnership event included input from Forth Rivers Trust, St Andrews University, Dreelside Woods Community Asset Transfer, Friends of Gillingshill, Footprint East Neuk and Dreel Burn community science volunteers. The event was included in the programme for the Fife Climate Festival and was attended by 47 visitors.

Balcaskie Bird BioBlitz

Fife Coast & Countryside Trust co-ordinated a BioBlitz event to survey bird life on Balcaskie Estate on 17th October 2024, filling a gap in the data identified by Dreel Burn Investment Readiness partner, Credit Nature. AIA encouraged new volunteers to sign up and support the event; 18 volunteers of all levels of birding experience participated in the BioBlitz. 62 bird species were recorded on the day, 19 of these were not on the original species list for Balcaskie, including redwing, golden plover, pink-footed goose, barnacle goose and wigeon. Volunteers enjoyed walking the routes on the estate on a beautiful sunny October day, they shared their experience and knowledge and used the eBird and Merlin apps to record and identify bird species.

Balcaskie Estate Willow Spiling

AIA worked with partners Forth Rivers Trust and Balcaskie Estate to organise three willow spiling events with volunteers at Balcaskie Estate in October and November 2024. Willow spiling is a form of green bank engineering used to support and protect the banks of a river.

Invasive Non-Native Species

Volunteers were out pulling Himalayan Balsam in May and July. AIA plans to map the problem areas along Dreel Burn and coordinate management of the INNS in 2025 with our project partners.

Community Litter Pick

The November litter pick, organised in partnership with Footprint East Neuk’s Dreelside Woods project, Anstruther and District Allotments Association and Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, found very little litter at the Anstruther end of the burn, demonstrating the impact that the Dreel Burn and the Dreelside Woods projects have had on public attitudes and behaviour. The volunteers therefore moved on to pick litter in other areas of the town. The March 2025 litter pick will focus on the beach at the mouth of the burn, Castle Street Beach.

Water Quality Monitoring

Over the past two years, our dedicated group of volunteers has sampled and tested the water at 9 monitoring locations along the length of the burn and organised the data. The volunteers currently test and record levels of ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, pH, conductivity and water temperature. Our community science group is collaborating with the James Hutton Institute to measure and analyse the effects of local storm events on the Dreel and their impact within the catchment.

Riverfly Invertebrate Monitoring

Our community science invertebrate volunteers will complete 12 months of monitoring in December 2024, at two Dreel Burn sites we have registered with the Riverfly Partnership. The data gathered by volunteers feeds into the national Riverfly invertebrate monitoring programme publicly available here: Riverfly data. Riverflies are sensitive to pollution and changes on their river, therefore monitoring their presence, abundance and diversity on a regular basis enables us to identify an issue and respond quickly. AIA has joined the Guardians of our Rivers group, coordinated by Buglife Scotland. A training session was organised in the summer together with volunteers from a water monitoring group in St Andrews on the Kinness Burn, allowing an additional three Dreel Burn volunteers to be trained in the programme and two existing AIA volunteers to participate in refresher training.

Balcaskie Wetlands Project

Forth Rivers Trust worked in partnership with the AIA, Balcaskie Estate and Balcarres Estate to deliver the Balcaskie Wetlands interventions from February 2024 to November 2024. The project included wetland creation of 3.15ha, tree planting, natural flood management measures, willow spiling bank stabilisation and the removal of a ford. The wetlands project is the first major landscape intervention to take place on the Dreel Burn, addressing the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Balcaskie Wetlands Project was delivered and managed by Forth Rivers Trust, funded by the Nature Restoration Fund and Fife Environment Trust. For further information on this project please visit Forth Rivers Trust website here. It is hoped the Balcaskie Wetlands Project will be a springboard for other projects along the catchment. The project has been documented by local film maker Bill Bruce, of Different Video, Balcaskie Wetlands Project: Phase 1 film is available below.

Funding

The Dreel Burn Project, launched in September 2022, has led to over £500,000 of funding for the Dreel Burn catchment to date. It is a testament to what grassroots community development funding can create. The National Lottery Community Fund grant for our Anster Community Development Project enabled the AIA to get our community-led project up and running. The project is supported by NatureScot in collaboration with the Scottish Government and in partnership with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thank you to all the funders and our project partners who are working so hard.

The Dreel Burn Project has received funding from:

• The National Lottery Community Fund
• CIRECO
• Climate Action Fife
• FIRNS Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (Nature Scot and Heritage Lottery Fund)
• The University of St Andrews Community Fund
• Fife Council

“It was a pleasure to come along. I thought the event was really thoughtfully organised, it was great to see how the public were welcomed and engaged and how all of the work was being showcased." Dreel Burn Community River Day

“We need to continue the momentum, sharing data with other projects and working together with organisations, liaising and learning in Fife” Dreel Burn Steering Group member

"At Anstruther Harbour Festival it was amazing to see how many people have already heard about the Dreel Burn Project, it really is galvanising community and they are behind you" Dreel Burn Steering Group member

To keep up to date with our project activities or find out about the many ways you can get involved please subscribe to our email updates via the Dreel Burn website www.dreelburn.earth, join our Dreel Burn Project Facebook Group, or email julia@anstrutherimprovements.org

Anstruther Improvement Association is a registered SCIO under Scottish Charity
Number SC016109