Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth (Abhainn Dhubh [Black River] in Scottish Gaelic) is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh, and East Lothian to the south. The river is tidal as far inland as Stirling, but generally it is considered that the inland extent of the firth ends at the Kincardine Bridge.
A large number of towns line the shores, as well as the petrochemical complexes at Grangemouth, the commercial docks at Leith, oilrig construction yards at Methil, the ship-breaking facility at Inverkeithing and the naval dockyard at Rosyth, with numerous other industrial areas including the Forth Bridgehead area, Burntisland, Kirkcaldy, Bo'ness and Leven.
The Kincardine Bridge and the famous Forth Road Bridge and Forth Bridge carry traffic across the Firth.
The inner Firth, i.e. between the Kincardine and Forth bridges, has lost about half of its former intertidal area as a result of land being reclaimed, partly for agriculture, but mainly for industry and the large ash lagoons built to deposit the spoil from the coal fired Longannet Power Station near Kincardine.
The Firth is important for nature conservation. The Firth of Forth Islands SPA (Special Protection Area) is host to over 90,000 breeding seabirds every year. There is a bird observatory on the Isle of May.
Firth of Forth islands
- Bass Rock
- Craigleith
- Cramond
- Eyebroughy
- Fidra
- Inchcolm
- Inchgarvie
- Inchkeith
- Inchmickery with Cow and Calf
- The Lamb
- Isle of May
Towns and villages on the shoreline
- North Shore
- South Shore
Places of interest along the Firth
- Blackness Castle
- Dalmeny House
- Hopetoun House
- Ravenscraig Castle
- Scottish Fisheries Museum
- St. Filan's Cave
- St. Monans Windmill
- Tantallon Castle
References in pop culture
Progressive rock band Genesis wrote a song entitled "Firth of Fifth", a play on "Firth of Forth". It appears on Selling England by the Pound.
External links
- Scottish coast and countryside
- Firths
- Ramsar sites in Scotland
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Edinburgh and West Lothian
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Falkirk and Clackmannan
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Mid and East Lothian
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest in North East Fife