As the leaves begin to change colour and the last of the blackberries are being foraged from the walkway you may hear the sound of strimmer and scythes being used by our volunteers on one of the eight wildflowers meadows along the Water of Leith Walkway. A rule of wildflower meadows is that the most beautiful wildflowers thrive on impoverished soil. If soil fertility is too high the grasses and the strongest wildflowers tend to out-compete the more delicate species. Therefore an annual task for the trust is to mow the meadows, leaving the cuttings for a fortnight to let the seeds drop and then raking them off to keep the nutrient level low. By mowing the meadows and nurturing grass suppressing species like Yellow Rattle, We aim to create an ideal balance of enough grass to give all year round ground cover and provide food and shelter for wildlife, but not enough to outcompete the wildflowers when spring and summer comes. And the meadows are Balerno garden, Juniper Green Corner, Bogs Mill near Colinton, The Dells Woodland meadow, Ballgreen Community Garden, Bells Mill, Anderson Place and the shoreline mix at the Fingal boat.