Burdiehouse Burn begins as the Lothian Burn in the Pentlands, runs between Liberton and Gilmerton in the Burdiehouse Burn Valley, and becomes the Niddrie Burn before running into the sea at Joppa.
In 2000 the valley was planted with a Millennium Wood and soon afterwards the Friends of Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park was established. It has cared for the park ever since, with the help recently of Esperanza Martin of Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust. We are very grateful to the Friends and Esperanza for letting us join them.
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| Esperanza teaching us how to use loppers and bow saw to remove lower branches. |
The wood is now maturing and, as the trees have flourished and are all the same age, are in need of thinning and having their lower branches removed. This will admit more light to the valley floor in summer, allow people to explore under the trees, and prevent the woodland becoming overgrown and threatening.
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| Getting stuck in. |
We were also joined by Pete Carthy of Instinctively Wild who demonstrated the camp kettle.
Water in an outer chamber is heated by a small fire of twigs in the middle, with the kettle acting as a chimney. Tea for all was ready in four minutes. If you think that looks fun, sign up to be notified of future Wild Reekie events as Pete has agreed to lead a Bushcraft one.
It was a beautiful snowy day to be out amongst the trees, warmed up by hard work: we all felt well exercised after a day wielding heavy loppers. If you're walking through Burdiehouse Burn Valley, especially next spring when the leaves come out, have a look at the Millennium Forest.
Follow me at @eleanormharris.
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