Really enjoyed the last two Ezra Klein podcasts with Ben Shapiro & this one with Spencer Cox. Both very thought provoking & inspiring conversations. Great quote from Yuval Levin got an airing too: “Unity is not thinking alike. It’s acting together.”

Making the most of the morning rigging up the compost sieve swing 👌 in the Greenway Garden.

During a ‘moderate’ spell of rain on 03/09/25 the unmonitored Dovecot CSO began emitting ‘screened water’ from the sewer into the Water of Leith. Concerning to see sewer debris left behind & raises questions about exactly what is going into our local river when these CSOs do their job?

Massive thanks and appreciation to the 27 volunteers who helped make the event a huge success, and less stressful for the event director 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Amazing turnout for the inaugural Hailes Quarry Junior Parkrun! 83 young runners! 🤩 Brilliant support from Parkrun & their team, our volunteers & run directors. Special guest volunteer @drscottarthurmp.bsky.social had the honour of counting down to start the run. 🙏🏻

Dovecot Park Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) working well today. This one’s not monitored yet. A powered screen is removing sanitary products, wipes, nappies and other stuff that should not go down the toilet. What enters the Water of Leith is a dilution of sewer particulate stuff with rainwater.

Agenda for our September meeting on Monday 8th. All welcome

Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) monitoring triggered overnight with discharges into the Murray Burn & discharges at two sites in Colinton into the Water of Leith. Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) kit is due to be installed on a CSO next to Sainsbury on 10/09/25. @drscottarthurmp.bsky.social

Getting ready for the offical Hailes Quarry Junior Parkrun launch next Sunday. We met with all the volunteer marshals, run directors and a small group of young folks for a practice to make sure we’ve got everything covered & ready for the inaugural event. www.parkrun.org.uk/hailesquarry...

Very cheeky 🦊😁

Young foxes out having fun in the street last night. Never seen one sitting on a car roof before 😂 The youth of today! 🦊🦊🦊#Foxes #longstone

Father John Misty at the Barrowlands. Epically good.

Celebrating Ricky’s birthday this morning in the Greenway Garden with the crew. Lovely to get a surprise visit from The Health Agency walking group to round off our session. Also a visit from Fiona who is looking at planting trees in different parts of Wester Hailes. Lots going on. Positive vibes.

Dissapointing to see the installation of the new crossing delayed yet again. Was supported to be Sepetember this year but has now been pushed out to January 2026. 👎 We will seek an explanation as to why, again.

An amazing afternoon in the Greenway Garden. Stunning food, great vibes, and folks coming together helping each other. Can’t express enough gratitude to everyone who helped. 🙏🏻 @starcatchersuk.bsky.social

The Longstone Firework Control Zone (FCZ) was approved at the Culture & Communities Committee yesterday. Good to hear lots of consensus about the need for proper licensing of firework sales (Scot Gov) and need for this to be progressed urgently.🙏🏻

Excellent to see the new Disc Golf course was approved at yesterday’s Culture & Communities Committee. A super accessible free sport. All you need is your frisbee. @sw20.info

Guess it's of comfort to local residents that when the Combined Sewer Overflows discharge into our river during heavy rain events, that it's a low percentage diluted faecal matter. Lovely. Gardyloo!

BIG NEWS 😃 - In partnership with @sw20.info we are really pleased to be launching the inaugural weekly Hailes Quarry Park Junior Parkrun on 7th Sep 2025 at 9.30am. Everything you need to know about the Junior Parkrun is on the event website. www.parkrun.org.uk/hailesquarry...

Out with fellow run directors checking over the route for the Hailes Quarry Junior Parkrun. Exciting news tomorrow. @sw20.info

Thanks to everyone who came along, helped, participated, and enjoyed the Calders Greenshoots Gsrden open day. Perfect weather ☀️☀️☀️ and it’s looking perfect ☀️☀️☀️for the Greenway Garden Family fun day this coming Saturday followed by sweet, sweet rain as the remnants of Erin move over the uk on the tues

Out with the team doing a bit of tidying and weeding. Plants responding well after the winds and a decent watering from the canal the other night. Lots of insects and butterflies making good use of the wildflowers.

We’ve secured funds to build a large adventure playground next to the Greenway garden. Our goal is to involve folk , particularly young people in a community self-build of the playground. We have a lot to do to in a short space of time. project needs to be completed before March 2026.

Also coming to Culture & Communities committee next week is a recommendation that an 11 hole 'Disc Golf' course be granted permission to proceed. The frisbee action proved a big hit at the recent summer event when loads of people tried it out with Edinburgh Disc Golf Community. Great to see this 🥏🥏

Firework Control Zone recommendations and consulation results coming up at Culture & Communities committee next week. 90% support for the Longstone zone.

One of the very old sweet chestnuts in Roslin Glen, Himalayan balsam, and dog sick/scrambled egg/flowers of tan slime mould.

Giving our new planting zone some attention today. Starting to look really good now as the wildflowers and other plants start to mature. 🌹🌼💐🌼🌺🌷A very nice welcome to our area.

Construction of new controlled pedestrian crossing with associated localised resurfacing of carriageway and footway expected to commence between 8th and 16th September next month on Lanark Road from Kingsknowe over to Dovecot Park.

We are looking to hire a Development Officer to take forward our plans for the community asset transfer of a site in Wester Hailes to build a micro community hub. The role is primarily project management and project development. We can offer the role as a job share or for a self-employed consultant.

Good to hear Scottish Water will meet with @drscottarthurmp.bsky.social to learn more about what has happened here. The Water of Leith is a prized asset in our community, and many others. Concerning that waste can make it into the river and pollute it.

A sample of the fat deposits mixed in with the leaf litter and river detritus.

SEPA have confirmed the substance found in the Water of Leith yesterday is fat. Concerning that has made its way into the river. Scottish Water will now attend to remove. Children play in the river in this section so disappointing to see it polluted with fat.

Friday joy Plantings at the side of Redhall Park @redhallpark.bsky.social They look glorious. They were started by 1 person, now with @agordonsalive.bsky.social and others. The selfless care & effort that has gone into giving this gift to the community brings me so much restorative joy. Thank you

Feels like it’s been a decent year for butterflies despite numbers being horribly low overall. Would love to teleport back into the countryside a couple of hundred years back to see how many we should have as a normal baseline.

Fly by of Ray’s top work looking lovely today. 🌹💐🌺🌷🥀🌼🪻z

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.” Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability & quality of life. Common sense. Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.

Behold, Phallus impudicus, aka common stinkhorn.

Think of all those pro-Israel pundits you saw on your television screens this past year trying to sociopathically justify the mass starvation of Gaza by robotically claiming Hamas steals the aid. They were all lying. Shamelessly. Even the Israeli military confirms it now.

“If you’re doing something right then taking your fucking mask off then”

Loads of ladybirds 🐞, different types of bees 🐝, hoverflies, wasps, and a host of other pollinators on all the wildflowers around the park at present. The knapweed flowers, hogweed seed heads, borage, and corn marigolds are popular with them.

We gave our new planting area a bit of love today. Wildflowers and sunflowers starting to come into flower. 🌼 lots of buzzing insects, even a holly blue butterfly 🦋

And Lil Tecca himself.

Warming up for Lil Tecca at the Barrowlands earlier. The youngest thoroughly enjoyed.

Some excellent finds on today’s adventure. Cinnabar Moth caterpillars feasting on Ragwort, Lesser Vespillo Burying Beetle & Red-breasted Carrion Beetle on a jobbie. Complex Poecilochirus carabi mites hitching a ride on the Lesser Vespillo Burying Beetle.

Splendid day out exploring Benmore botanic gardens. Last time I was here I was doing mountain leader training.

Plants and animals never cease to amaze! Super cool research. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Dodging between the showers in the Greenway Garden this morning. Harvested some items for Sunflower Pantry, processing dried herbs, weeding, digging up tatties, and plotting and scheming.

Ferociously hot from the get go this morning in the Greenway Garden. Growers ducking in and out quickly. Three new garden members joined, new bench installed, and ice lollies consumed. ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️🥵🥵

Very busy in the garden this week. Lots of growers coming and going, making the best the sunny weather. Big thanks to Richard for using his volunteering day from his employer to turn our compost heaps 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Clovenstone Garden looking great earlier today. The garden members have been doing a great job this season.