Last week made a nice change as we were at some new locations doing some unusual tasks.
On Tuesday we were back at Corstorphine Hill, as the trip to John Muir Country Park was called off by bad weather. So the attack on the spiraea continued. It was hampered by: a) the bad weather and b) the shortage of volunteers (‘where is everybody?’).
However, we were applying a new method: taking up the spiraea -without cutting it down first. Here is an action shot!
img alt=”CH 6.jpg” src=”https://blogs.tcv.org.uk/tcv_scotland/CH 6.jpg” class=”alignright” />
It wasn’t completely successful. Unfortunately a spade succumbed to the pressure – taking Chris with it. – One less to clean on Mondays anyhow.
The new method seemed to work quite well, and a good amount of spiraea was removed and placed in the ubiquitous ‘habitat piles’.
On Wednesday we were up the Pentland Hills, hurrah! After meeting the ranger at Flotterstone, the group was split – half going up Scald Law and the other going up Carnethy. I was up Carnethy along with Nigel the Pentland Ranger and his small dog (with a passion for stones). Certainly there was quite a hike up Carnethy – and an absence of a path!
We encountered a few sheep on the way up, and some fantastic views of the hills, Edinburgh and further.
So we eventually found the ‘official’ path, and started on the drain clearance. This is where there the small dog came in useful – it was just the right size to walk along/inside the drain!And it removed stones it found! (Ok, so it actually brought some of them back to the drain…but still).
I think we cleared some 18 drains along the Carnethy stretch – plus 3/4 more that the Scald Law group had missed on the way down. Some of these were in a really bad way and had to be completely dug out – so well done guys!!
On the return to the minibus – we had cake (!) thanks to Neasa. A great end to a tiring day.
Last Thursday we were at the beach! At Yellowcraigs removing ‘pirri-pirri burr’ -and no, there was no Nando’s involved anywhere. Apparently this pirri-pirri stuff is invasive and is taking over – but on first glance it is hard to believe.
Firstly you have to find the plant – pushing aside all the marram grass, and trying to find a plant with leaves the size of your fingernail. Then, search for the burrs – which, fortunately, are larger than the leaves. Find the burrs in the photo below:
So, after a morning of not complete success, lunch involved sunbathing, paddling and frisbee. Afterwards – a return to the burrs and a nice little wildlife walk round the dunes and over a little hill. Whereupon we found an unusual plant, soapwort, which shouldn’t really have been there at all.
To say we were over prepared just about covers it – as we had several bin bags, carrier bags and pots to collect these burrs – by the end of the day we had collected a ball of burrs about the size of your hand.
Nevermind! At least the weather was good and it made a change from the ‘normal’ invasive species removal!