BTCV Edinburgh Diary

Last Tuesday we were at Craigmillar castle i led a group of four volunteers which consisted in Dave cat and Chris and myself Ronnie doing some path reconstruction in preparation for Scotland in bloom coming to view it.Kenny Gemma and Fatima led the other volunteers and done some vegetation cutback general ground maintenance and a litter pick we all had a good day the weather brightened up as the day progressed.
Wednesday at hermitage it rained so we all got soaked but we stuck to the task like the true btcv environmentalists and completed the bat and bird boxes.after dinner those who were willing to brave the elements ventured out into the wilderness to do some vegetation cutback.
Thursday it was still raining and the hardy btcv adventurers ventured out onto the unknown area known only as the dark side of Corstorphine where we took up arms against the mighty Himalayan triffids the battle raged on for several hours and there were many casualties but btcv were victorious our flanking force were on the other side of the hill installing a few seats.after the battle we returned to headquarters and prepared for our next mission more to come

Posted by ronnie at 13:54 0 comments  

Labels: Corstorphine Hill, Craigmillar, Hermitage of Braid

On Tuesday, we were working at Murraypark. On the one hand, we finished with the decking and on the other hand, we carried on making the handrail. As soon as we started working, the surprise came by Eileen's hand and her fabulous cake, because of her birthday. Happy birthday and thank you Eileen!!!
The week carried on with Stanwell Nursery, where first of all we made six wooden flower beds and then, filled in them with soil in order to get them ready for use. Once more, the surprise came, but this time by Ronnie's hand and his wonderful cake. It was due to his birthday. Happy birthday and thank you Ronnie!!!
To finish the week, we went to the Pentlands. There, we were making a footpath with the Pentlands Ranger Martin's help.
Fatima

Posted by BTCV Edinburgh at 12:56 0 comments  

Labels: Murraypark, Pentlands, Stanwell Nursery

Last Tuesday we went up to the Pentlands. We split into two groups, with one group going up Scald Law in the morning and the other group staying in the valley, and then we swapped over in the afternoon. Both groups were doing path work; mending cross drains up on the hill and filling in big holes and muddy puddles on the paths in the valley. The sun came out in the afternoon so we put sun cream on and lay on the grass by the burn after we finished work.

Posted by Gemma at 09:08 0 comments  

Labels: Pentlands

Last week we went to Burdiehouse Burn where we took the rubbish out of the river and we made the path with the help of the ranger Jessica. Also we went to Corstorphine Hill. There we dug out the invasive species like Himalayan balsam and picked up the rubbish. To finish the week we went to the Pentlands in the Regional Park. We flattened a path and we made a ramp to the bridge and filled in some holes with stones.

And that's all folks!

Fatima

Posted by BTCV Edinburgh at 16:21 0 comments  

Labels: Burdiehouse Burn, Corstorphine Hill, Pentlands

On Monday 21st Boukje will be leaving BTCV Scotland to take up a new position with a landscape architecture firm.

Boukje has been involved in many projects during her year with BTCV, primarily her work has been with the North Edinburgh Community Centre Greenspace Initiative which has seen the transformation of community centres and their communities in Granton, Drylaw and Muirhouse. She has also been central to the planning and design of many of the mid-week projects we have undertaken.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Boukje for all her very hard work and help over the last year!

Chris

Posted by BTCV Edinburgh at 13:48 0 comments  

Labels: Announcements

Last week we went back to Murraypark to continue with the garden at Tweed House. At the start of the week we were faced with a big muddy hole with a couple of bits of wood, but we managed quite a transformation.

On Wednesday we were expecting a large delivery of plants, so our first job on Tuesday was to prepare beds to put them in. We had to remove lots of turf and find somewhere to put it before we could dig over the ground and cover it with weed-proof material.

Our plants turned up as promised on Wednesday, so we got as many into the ground as possible straight away. There were a few left for Thursday, but when the bark chippings were delivered late on Thursday morning all the plants were in and we could cover the weed-proof layer and make it look very attractive. It was quite a challenge not to lose sight of some of the plants under the bark, but when they get bigger it will look very colourful.

Between putting all the plants in we managed to continue with the decking. We finished the frame and fixed it into the ground, then started to attach the posts for the handrails to go around the decking. The rain on Thursday held off, so we managed to get all the handrail posts fixed in place and concreted in, and even got some of the decking laid.

There are pictures of our work so far on our picture site. We will be going back next week to finish it off.

Posted by Gemma at 21:11 0 comments  

Labels: Murraypark

last week at ravelstone woods we spent the morning clearing japanense knotweed which we burnt on a fire that kenny and the ranger lit.it was agood day weather wise we stopped for lunch at 12 30and had a game of cards there were a couple of new volunteers that came out with us who seemed to really enjoy themselves.after lunch we spent the afternoon doing some path scraping and clearing vegetation that was pertuding on to the path and we finished up at 3 pm then we collected up the tools and made our way back to the van.this was the second time we had been there in the last year.

Posted by ronnie at 12:59 0 comments  

Labels: Ravelston Woods