by Tom Forsyth, Chairman, (Retired) "Friends of the Figgate Park"

Dear Friends

it is with some regret that I have retired from the committee of Friends of the Figgate Park.I have been aware for some time
that age was creeping up on me and I am no longer very capable of physical labour. Since our AGM the committee has taken
on more keen voices with new ideas therefore I see it as the ideal time for me to step aside.

I remain a member of FOFP and will support and encourage all the plans. I am still a keen local naturalist and will pass on occasional notes.

Best wishes
Tom Forsyth

Then and Now
(The birds of the Figgate Park from my childhood in the 1940's and 1950's compared with recent years).

Before land reclemation in Seafield Bay and the opening of the new city sewage works, the beach at Seafield held a truly massive pollution of distillers/brewers spent grains, up to several feet thick. This was food for great flocks of birds, noteably Greenfinches and the bay off Seafield beach, due its prolific sewage-induced marine life was a haven for tens of thousands of wintering sea ducks.

What has this to do wiht the Figgate Park?, Well - the extraordinary population of greenfinches, which nest in loose colonies, was spread from the ivied walls of the Eastern General Hospital to the wilderness area in the Figgate Park, between the burn and the railway sidings. In smaller numbers, along with the greenfinches, were nesting goldfinches.

The wintering sea duck population of scoters, scaup, long tailed duck etc. was deemed to be the largest in Western Europe. During NE storms the sea state at Seafield caused many birds to seek shelter inland, and the Figgate pond, if ice free, would be covered with scaup. Wigeon, the whistling duck, also overwintered on the pond and pintail and shovellers were occasional visitors. The harder winters in those days also produced larger flocks of redwings and fieldfares. Summer migrants included four species of warblers-chiffchaffs, willow warblers, whitethroats and sedge warblers. Sadly now we get one or two pairs of white throats and an occasional willow warblers.

In changing times we now have a resident population of grey-lag geese who have abandoned their normal migratory habit and colonised this area of Scotland, some of them nesting among the gulls of Inchkeith. They are joined by Canada geese who have gradually moved up from the north of England. These can hardly be ranked as wild geese. On a normal morning dog-walk one can expect to see or hear twenty to twenty five bird species varying with the seasons. Gooseander and goldeneye in the winter, dipper and heron all year round. The "Figgy" with its burn, pond and still some wild undergrowth left is a great wildlife haven.