SNH: new reserve important for nature and people

Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve (NNR) is situated in Caithness and Sutherland.

Formerly known as The Flows NNR, and set in the open peatland landscape of Caithness, the new reserve has been extended by 3,960 hectares and now covers an area of 15,380 hectares.

Peatlands are vital to locking in carbon emissions – rising carbon in the atmosphere is a trigger for climate change – and Forsinard Flows NNR, owned and managed by RSPB Scotland, is a particularly fine example of Scotland’s peatland areas.

Flow Country peatland restoration is one of the priority projects helping to deliver on the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity. This is one of the ways in which the Scottish Government aims to achieve its 2020 Biodiversity Challenge outcome of a ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse’ Scotland.

Ian Ross, chairman of SNH, said: “National Nature Reserves are important places for people and nature and we are delighted to formally declare the new reserve today.

"We are pleased to support the work of Scotland’s NNR Partnership to develop the suite of National Nature Reserves and, through this formal declaration, endorse the award of the NNR accolade to this new extended reserve.

“Scotland’s National Nature Reserves are the finest examples for people to see the best of Scotland’s nature. And peatlands, in particular, are an obvious asset to our country, and present the challenge of managing them effectively so that they continue their role of carbon sequestration.

“We recognise the RSPB’s ongoing restoration of the Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands which are of great interest for their birds and habitats, but also for their service in capturing and storing carbon emissions.”

Scotland’s organic soils hold almost a third of the equivalent carbon held by all of Europe’s forests. And its soils also contain around 50% of the total UK soil carbon store, equivalent to 186 years of Scotland’s total CO2 emissions at current rates.

Organic carbon-rich soils – notably peat – are the main store of carbon in Scotland, containing more than 3000 million tonnes – around 60 times more than in Scotland’s trees and plants, and around 25 times as much carbon as the rest of all the vegetation in the UK.

Pete Mayhew, RSPB Scotland’s senior conservation manager, said: “RSPB Scotland is delighted that our Forsinard Flows Reserve has been given the accolade of Scotland's newest National Nature Reserve. This is a testament to not only the fantastic peatland habitat and wildlife which are of global importance but also the years of hard work restoring these habitats from previous damage and working with local communities to share these wonders with a wider audience.”

This is the second new NNR declaration since the formation of the NNR Partnership, and follows the declaration of the Great Trossachs Forest NNR last autumn. The SNH Board approved this extension to The Flows NNR in August 2015.

The Flows NNR was first declared in 2007. It is owned by the RSPB and covers around 11,400 hectares. This extension, and re-naming to Forsinard Flows NNR, includes ground that the RSPB has been restoring back from forestry to peatland habitat.