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
Hi there! This is Leticia, and because today is my last day with BTCV I'll write this post to tell you what we did last week.
On tuesday we went to the Hermitage of Braid. Our job there was cut down the big branches of the trees that are next to the road, because some of them were touching the top of the vehicles. We met there a lot of kids, in an school trip. They were having fun, as we did, and hopefully the weather wasn't to bad, just a soft rain during about half an hour, but that was nothing now that I know the Scottish weather, the one that you are so proud of.
On wednesday we worked with the rangers again, but this time we went to Cramond beach. It's there a beautiful sp. of rose, wich is not autochthonous, and because it's invasive the other plants can't grow up next to it. So we had to remove this rose from the beach. It seemed to be easy, but we didn't realise that it was a hard work, until we started to pull out the plants, and discovered the long roots that they had under the sand. Some of theme were longer than 3m, or 10 feet sorry, hahaha! The weather was windy but nice, and at lunch time we went to the island. Fraser tried to have his bath but it wasn't enough water for him. Next time!
On thursday we went back to Pentlands, to the car park were we had been the week before. This time we coulndn't start a fire, so we lift all the branches in packets for the next time. It was more luck for the drain that now is unblocked. It was Kenny's birthday, and he brougth a very nice muffins for all of us, uummmm!
Now is time for me to say good bye. I'm willing to go back home, because I miss my family and friends, but I know I'll miss you. It's been very nice to meet you and work with you. I think you are doing a great job and I hope we'll keep in touch.
Thanks for everything, a big hug and a lot of kisses for all of you!
Leticia.
Posted by Anonymous at 13:20 0 comments
Labels: Cramond, Hermitage of Braid, Pentlands
It may sound glamorous, but lifting crowns has nothing to do with royalty. We spent the last week removing the lower branches on trees in various parts of Edinburgh.
Lots of trees were planted for the millennium, and they are now big enough to need a bit of attention. Unfortunately it's difficult to get between them, so we have been learning how to cut lower branches off trees with minimal impact on the trees, and helping to clear out the undergrowth between them.
On Tuesday we were up on the Pentlands, in a car park miles from anywhere. On the way we got caught behind a herd of cows being moved to a new field a few kilometres down the road. It really made a mess of our nice clean van... As the car park is so isolated people seem to like dumping things there, so we cut back the vegetation to make it visible from the road and hopefully discourage them. It rained quite heavily in the morning, so we had a bit of trouble starting a fire to burn the branches, but we persisted and had roaring flames by the early afternoon so we could sit and appreciate our hard work. We'll be going back there in a couple of weeks to finish trimming and unblock a drain.
On Wednesday we were out at the Hermitage of Braid doing a similar task to make a bridge clearer, and on Thursday we were at a school in Duddingston helping with their trees. It's amazing how much you can get cleared with so many people, and last week our minibus was overflowing. We had to ask several people to make their own ways to the sites, as the good weather seems to have brought more people out with us.
Sadly this is Leticia's last week with us as she is going back to Spain next week. It's been wonderful working with her, and I hope she enjoyed her time here. We will have a new Spanish VO, Fatima, starting with us in two weeks time.
Posted by Gemma at 11:06 0 comments
Labels: Duddingston, Hermitage of Braid, Pentlands
