Summit to Sea

East Lothian has always been a working landscape, but a show-garden nonetheless harbouring an unusual variety of diverse landscape features, geology, habitats and species. But what if the land that fashions our county could also help to reconnect increasingly fragmented habitat islands and reconfigure farming practices without sacrificing productivity? That’s a journey we’re inviting farmers, landowners and business to help shape with us.

Why bother when the farms already work?

• Family legacy – Handover a holding that still works but also shelters owls, pollinators and clean water for the next generation.
• Quiet resilience – Shelterbelts and wetter field corners buffer crops and stock against hotter summers and heavier cloud-bursts now common on the coast.
• Community credit – Villages like Gifford and Aberlady increasingly champion the farms on their doorstep; being an early adopter locks in goodwill when planning, diversification or staffing needs change.
• No-haggle compliance – Light-touch habitat strips today could well head-off tomorrow’s tighter regulations on soil management, nitrogen and pesticide / herbicide applications and water use.

We’re thinking that everything is voluntary, at this stage mapping opportunities based on a farm or riverside walk – the measures would be co-designed later.

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Proof it works in working landscapes

• Lochhouses Farm, Dunbar – thirty years of hedgerow and beetle-bank tweaks now deliver higher yields on the same acreage while hosting skylarks and corn buntings. NatureScot
• Clint Estate, Lammermuir fringe – Part of the hill-edge is no longer intensively farmed; routine muirburn has stopped, with mosaic native planting along cleughs and the moorland edge reconnecting woodland across the estate. Scotland Big Picture
• Spott Estate, between Dunbar and the Lammermuirs – Marginal arable fields are being given back to nature with restored hedgerows, native scrub/woodland mosaics and new wet areas to hold water and boost biodiversity.
• Eddleston Water, Borders – Re-meandering and riparian planting on mixed farms cut peak flood flows by up to 25 %—without taking fields out of rotation. Tweed Forum

These prove landscape-scale restoration is compatible with livestock, timber and even sporting interests and that landowners can lead the design.

Next step

1. A farm walk – no slide-decks, just a look at the lie of the land along a watercourse (our first pilot project)
2. A quick survey and map of opportunities – by our river watch partners and volunteers – for you to keep, no obligation.
3. Decide if any (or none) of the options suit – everything proceeds at your pace.

Contact Us: mapping@summit-to-sea.uk

Bring your questions, scepticism and local knowledge—we’re here to shape a scheme that fits your ground, your business and your legacy.