On wading up this small stream last week we found a real mix of good and bad news. First the good. The Giant Hogweed is much reduced from the thousands we treated last year to just 65 plants. Hundreds of wildflowers where in full bloom and buzzing with bees along the new Longstone development. We also spotted this dipper nest at the entrance to the culvert along with many spiders webs.
However the bad news is still the perennial problem of littering and collapsing infrastructure. No one is taking responsibility for clearing up or securing the banks (see main image). Sadly this work is in a dangerous spot so not possible for our volunteers to tackle, and mean the access route over the burn has to remain closed. Land drains are also venting foul smelling water and goodness only knows what else in to the burn. Its easy to focus on how beautiful the Water of Leith is these days but we must remember that tributaries like the Murrayburn bring problems to the main channel and can have a huge impact.