About Us - Looking to the Future

The Management Group have a vision for what the Reserve can achieve in the next 10 years:

To create the best Local Nature Reserve in Scotland: a place where people and biodiversity co-exist to each other's mutual benefit.

With support from the community, from partners and from funders it is believed that the Local Nature Reserve can achieve the following outcomes:

Merkinch Local Nature Reserve in 2018

Merkinch Local Nature Reserve is 10 years old and is now seen as one of the most important local assets for the communities of Merkinch and South Kessock. It is widely recognised as the best Local Nature Reserve in Scotland: a place where people and biodiversity co-exist to each other's benefit.

Ten years ago it was scarcely known outside of the local community and many of them did not visit. Today people from other communities in Inverness come to enjoy the views, the walks and the wildlife. Many visitors to the City find the Reserve a surprising green haven away from the hustle and bustle of the City centre. Often the Reserve is an unexpected highlight for visitors making longer journeys around Inverness on foot or cycling.

Key to this transformation has been the community of Merkinch taking the Reserve to their heart. They have developed a sense of care and pride that has ensured that the Reserve is well loved and carefully managed, by them, for all the community and the wonderful array of wildlife supported by the Reserve. It is the development of local skills and expertise in management within the community that is one of the greatest testaments to the success of the last 10 years.

But it is not just the wonderful wildlife, the great views to the sea and to the mountains and the sense of space that attracts visitors. The Westfield Centre, opened 6 years ago, has been a great success and acts as a focal point for all that the Reserve offers. Winner of many awards for its visitor facilities, its sustainable design and its environmental programmes the Centre is a meeting place for groups, for old friends to have a coffee and enjoy the views over the Beauly Firth, and a location that employs many local people within the other associated businesses - all of which complement the ethos of the Reserve. It is here that business and the environment truly go hand in hand. The ongoing support of BTCV has been a key element in the success of the Centre.

The Centre also provides a focus for the many volunteers whose efforts have made the Reserve such a success. Here all their records of the 200+ bird species are kept and shared with the many bird watchers that use our hides. Here visitors can watch the kingfisher's nest on the latest CCTV monitors. And from here the management and monitoring of the lagoons is co-ordinated. The study of the delicate balance between the freshwater and saltwater vegetation is now in its 8th year and is yielding interesting results that are helping scientists understand the effects of sea level changes in the Beauly Firth. The Reserve is also proud to have just celebrated its 5th PhD student who has worked on the site, and the partnership with UHI goes from strength to strength. Studies of the fascinating invertebrates on the Reserve are regularly revealing new species for the Reserve and it is one of the key sites within the Highland Biological Recording system. When it comes to biodiversity, there is always something wild going on!

The work that local schools have undertaken on the Reserve has meant that all local children have grown up with the Reserve as their local outdoor laboratory. The Highland Council Countryside Rangers have been a huge help with this work too. Creating the Learning Space on the Reserve website and the Virtual Library have been an important part of this and young students from the early years are now helping as adults, to ensure their kids get the same enjoyment from the Reserve as they did. Everything about the Reserve is helping the local community understand their relationship with the environment and helping to demonstrate the benefits of sustainable living.

For many a visit to the Reserve is not about learning or wildlife - it is just about enjoying a walk in a safe and beautiful environment with wide horizons over the sea to the mountains beyond. The early upgrading of the paths was a major stepping stone for the Reserve in opening the area up to a wider audience. It was through visiting and seeing first hand what the Reserve has to offer that the community got behind the developments that we see today.

For many the highlight of the Year is the Annual Reserve Celebration - and it is many things but it is not reserved! This has now become the key event for celebrating the wildlife diversity of the whole City and Merkinch is rightly proud of this responsibility.

Perhaps the greatest achievement is that it is the community itself that has achieved this through its hard work and commitment. A few people at the beginning had the vision and managed to pass this onto others who could share this, and the web of those involved spread. Now the management group are regularly called on to share their experiences and knowledge with others locally and further afield. What they have achieved is widely recognised as an outstanding example of community action benefiting all.

Merkinch Local Nature Reserve truly is a place where people and biodiversity co-exist to each other's benefit.