The team are seen preparing the border adjacent to St Margaret’s Primary School ready for sowing with wildflower seeds which was done straight afterwards thanks to Iwan Thomas who brought along seeds.
Sowing the Seeds
Author: gcpower
Unveiling the new stone bench
“Our beautiful new stone seat with a fantastic view into the Glen and waterfall was unveiled on the 20th September 2016 by Graham Philp Manager of the Local Scotmid store and Patricia Edington the firms Membership and Community Manager at a short unveiling ceremony .
The creation of this seat was made possible by a generous grant from the Scotmid Community Grant scheme and also the skills of the highly talented members of the Dry Stone Wallers Association ( South East Scotland Branch). 4 members of the Dry Stone Wallers Association took the best part of a weekend to build the seat from scratch . It was amazing to see 4 tons of random stone transformed into this magnificent seat. As one stone waller member said ” It is like making up a jigsaw where all the pieces don’t fit!”
Our Chair, Neil McKinlay made a short speech at the unveiling ceremony welcoming everyone and thanking all those involved in the creation of the seat which he said is already being used by locals and visitors alike and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Stone Bench preparation work is well in hand
On three consecutive Mondays Jim, Neil and Iwan have been working on the area where our new stone bench will be located, which overlooks the waterfall that drops into the Glen. Iwan managed to procure the foundation materials to ensure a solid base for the bench. The area has been edged using stout rail sleepers. We have allowed generous access to enable pram and wheelchair users to enjoy this new viewing/seating area.
The work generated a lot of interest from passers – by, who were all very enthusiastic about our plans for the new bench. We were also delighted to hear that our grant request to Scotmid Co-operative to cover the cost of the bench materials/construction has been successful. Well done and grateful thanks to Scotmid! The date of the actual build by the stone waller’s voluntary group is scheduled for Sunday the 28th August. Why not come along and see them in action?
Lighting
The Council have approved the erection of additional lighting along the main walk/cycle path to extend the lighting coverage up to the entrance to the Ashburnham estate. This will be welcomed as currently the lighting stops a few hundred metres from the turn off. In addition new lighting is proposed to run from the Station Road entrance to the Glen into the Ashburnham estate. Again this will be most welcome as it is a very dark stretch of path between two well lit areas. It is hoped this work will be completed by the end of the Summer of 2016.
Land slip issue
There has been a significant land slip issue on the embankment from the Bowling Green area down into “Jock’ Hole”. This landslip issue has rendered the footpath into this area impassable from the main walk/cycle path.
We have been working closely with the Council to identify the causes of the landslip and plans are in place for engineering work to commence to address any further slippage.
It is hoped to have the work completed during 2016 and when firm dates for the work to engineering work commence they will be communicated. The possibility of reopening the pathway will be considered once the remedial works are completed. It will be a major undertaking to achieve this but we will make every effort so to do.
Stone benches
An exciting project is the proposed construction of two stone benches along the main walk/cycle path from Scotmid car park to the Rail Bridge . A voluntary group the South East Scotland Dry Stone Wallers’ Association have very kindly agreed to build the benches for us if we provide them with the stone materials. It is proposed for a bench to be situated overlooking the view to the waterfall in “Jock’s Hole”. This bench will be aesthetically pleasing and also provide walkers and cyclists with a good opportunity to rest their legs and take in the view.
Please see the post under “Current Activity” to review progress on this task.
Bird Boxes
Another project involving young people is the objective of attracting more birds, bats and wild life to use our environment. 10 new bird boxes have been prepared in “flat pack” form and the pupils at Queensferry Primary School built the boxes with some adult supervision. This provide the pupils with some rudimentary craft skills and they will also learn about the various species of birds that are regular inhabitants of the Glen and also the migratory ones who “visit” the Glen at certain times of the year. As part of the project the plan is for the pupils to make a record of the bird box “take up “rates and noting which species have taken up residence .
Litter Picking
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Wild Flower Border
One of the aims of our group is to encourage young people to become actively involved in the projects we are running and so develop an interest in nature and the local environment. One current project is the development of a new wild flower border on the entrance to the Glen from Station Road. The new border has been prepared and the sowing of the wild flower seeds took place in May 2016 with help from the pupils of Queensferry Primary School. The pupils will continue to help manage the border until the wild flowers become established as they will face stiff competition from indigenous weeds. The pupils will also learn the benefits a wild flower border habitat offers to insects, and other forms of wildlife
