Firth of Forth (Scottish Gaelic: Linne Foirthe) 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. Geologically, the Firth of Forth is also a fjord, preformed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period of Britain. 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. There are a number of towns which 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. A third crossing, the Upper Forth Crossing, to be located next to the Kincardine Bridge is under construction and is expected to open in 2008. Additionally, in July 2007, a hovercraft passenger service completed a two week trial between Portobello, Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, Fife. The trial of the service (marketed as "Forthfast") was hailed as a major operational success, with an average passenger load of 85%. If a permanent service comes into operation, it could cut congestion for commuters on the Forth road and rail bridges by carrying about 470,000 passengers a year. 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
Cities, towns and villages on the shoreline
- North Shore
- South Shore
Places of interest along the Firth
- Aberlady Bay
- Blackness Castle
- Culross
- Dalmeny House
- Gullane Bents
- Hopetoun House
- Longniddry Bents
- Ravenscraig Castle
- Scottish Fisheries Museum
- Seton Sands
- St. Filan's Cave
- St. Monans Windmill
- Tantallon Castle
- The John Muir Way
- Yellowcraigs
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.
- German dance group Scooter released a song entitled "Firth Of Forth" as the b-side to their 2000 single "I'm Your Pusher".
External links
- Isle of May bird observatory
- Forthfast experimental hovercraft service, 16-28 July 2007
- Inchcolm Virtual Tour Take a virtual tour around some of the Inchcolm's military defences
