The Ecology Centre in Kinghorn hit by vandals again

Staff and volunteers turned up on Monday to discover a smashed window, more anti-social behaviour in the bird hide and slashes to the polytunnel.

The damage comes as a huge blow to the small environmental charity based on the banks of Kinghorn Loch as they don’t have funds to continually replace and repair the damage.

And the weekend’s incident is not the first instance of vandalism at the site.

Every day one of the main tasks for staff and volunteers involves clearing dog waste and picking up litter, but increasingly they are have to deal with more and more vandalism to the site and a rise in anti-social behaviour.

Late last year a decision was taken by The Ecology Centre and Craigencalt Farm owner Adam McIntosh to add a combination lock to the bird hide as the number of instances of vandalism were unacceptable.

Robert Paterson, site manager, said: “Our staff and volunteers work hard to ensure the community owned site is a safe and inviting place for everyone to come to and enjoy.

“It’s really disappointing that we have to deal with the mess and damage that is caused and as a charity we just don’t have any funding to do this.

“We were fortunate to receive funding from Suez Communities Trust to buy CCTV which we installed to cover the site.

“We’re now working closely with the community policing team and have sent the CCTV footage to the investigating officers.

“The three acre site is used by a range of people in the local community from dog walkers to family days out and by our education team, who take children from Fife schools out for outdoor learning.

“We ensure it’s a pleasant, safe environment for everyone to use.

“We’re reaching out to the local community to highlight this issue with the hope that it might reach the people who are doing it and deter them from the area.

“If anyone is able to donate to help fix the damage any donations would be welcomed via our website.”