Firth of Forth
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The Forth Bridges cross the Firth |
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Satellite photo of the Firth and the surrounding area |
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 MayTowns and villages on the shoreline*North Shore
**
Aberdour,
Anstruther**
Buckhaven,
Burntisland**
Cellardyke,
Crail**
Dalgety Bay,
Dysart**
Earlsferry,
East Wemyss,
Elie**
Inverkeithing**
Kincardine,
Kinghorn,
Kirkcaldy**
Leven,
Lower Largo**
Methil**
North Queensferry**
Pittenweem**
Rosyth**
St. Monans*South Shore
**
Aberlady**
Blackness,
Bo'ness**
Cockenzie,
Cramond**
Dunbar**
Edinburgh**
Grangemouth,
Gullane**
Leith**
Musselburgh**
North Berwick**
Port Edgar,
Portobello,
Port Seton**
Prestonpans**
South QueensferryPlaces of interest along the Firth*
Blackness Castle*
Dalmeny House*
Hopetoun House*
Ravenscraig Castle*
Scottish Fisheries Museum*
St. Filan's Cave*
St. Monans Windmill*
Tantallon CastleProgressive rock band
Genesis wrote a song entitled "Firth of Fifth", a play on "Firth of Forth". It appears on
Selling England by the Pound.
*
Isle of May bird observatory
