Down to hard core and some whin dust. Makes it a bit bumpy. Do not tell the wee malkies on their motorbikes.
Driest I have seen it in sixteen years.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
WoL path is very dry
(72 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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The path to Dalmeny via Kirkliston is also the dryest I've seen it. One slight damp patch.
These ENE winds have dried everything including my garden, which is turning to dust.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Hardly surprising: it's veritable drought conditions: no rain for over a week. My allotment needs watering regularly as the soil is crumbling to dust...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Water of Leith is drying up as well. Lowest I've seen it in years.
https://twitter.com/riverlevel_3002/status/861541494838235137
Posted 6 years ago # -
I was around at the weir close to St Mark's Park a few days ago and there can't have been more than 2cm flowing over the top.
We had 20% or less of normal April rainfall
Posted 6 years ago # -
The Water of Leith was drier a couple of years ago. I have a photo taken in November 2015 of a dry river-bed just below the weir in Colinton Dell - all the flow being taken off down the mill lade, with just a trickle heading down the face of the weir.
Posted 6 years ago # -
What on Earth did the residents of Ullapool do to offend the Rain Gods?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Hmm, it will probably be less midgy than usual in Scotland this year, except for the far north west, where there might be a plague of midges!
Posted 6 years ago # -
The midge forecast was on the BBC Scotland news this morning. Due to the mild winter they're expecting a bumper crop...
However, I think this has been the forecast for several years!
Robert
Posted 6 years ago # -
What on Earth did the residents of Ullapool do to offend the Rain Gods?
When I was cycling round the NC500 last year my partner in crime, who hailed from those parts, told me about a long and ultimately successful campaign by a local hotelier to get the weather forecast for Assynt changed from that for uninhabited mountainous inland (read wet) parts of Assynt to the inhabited coastal parts (typically dryer).
Posted 6 years ago # -
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Dr Blackwell said the recent mild winter would have helped midge survival rates and, if rain comes soon, the "first explosion" of midges could come at the end of this month.
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She said when the 1:1 male to female ratio along with other factors, such as females that fail to find food, were taken into consideration, there were likely to be 21 billion females in a season "looking for a blood meal".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-39847894
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Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy the north of Scotland scenery, the odds seem stacked against you.
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https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1238707/brace-yourself-for-21billion-midges
Posted 6 years ago # -
I went on holiday in April. I had raised a few trays of seedling inside and I put them outside, thinking that with a reasonable rainfall and not too much frost, about half would survive. Cold ENE winds and no rain gave me a casualty rate of about 98%. Ditto some veg seedlings I'd planted out - 75% casualty rate.
Late seed plantings this year..
Posted 6 years ago # -
likely to be 21 billion females in a season "looking for a blood meal".
I wonder if we can arrange a compromise. We stake bike thieves out for the midges and they leave the rest of us alone. Though it may detract iwrats' vultures from a couple of meals it does deal with two problems quite well I'd say.
Posted 6 years ago # -
No slugs as such just now. I have a million snails living inside the drystane walls holding up my garden but as yet they are not eating the hosta
Big midge like creatures already there, nasty nip but not like the wee blighters
Posted 6 years ago # -
"Late seed plantings this year.."
"No slugs as such just now."
I had an entire planting of seedlings wiped out by slugs in April. One week they were all there growing away, the next eaten up, completely gone. The rest of my seeds didn't germinate because it was so cold for the time of year.
Alas the mini drought seems to be killing the transplanted bay tree dug up from the garden of a member of this parish. I have been watering the allotment every few days but the April winds, followed by the recent and continuing dry spell, seem to have done for it. Trunk has cracked open in two places near the base of the tree, presumably due to extreme dryness. About a third of the leaves still alive but I don't hold out much hope. RIP.
On the brighter side, garlic, potatoes, strawberries, red currants and raspberries all doing well. Onions bit of a mixed picture: hopefully some more green shoots will poke out of the soil soon.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Does anyone have some left over seed that I could throw over some ground whose vegetation was previously obliterated by some overly enthusiastic mini diggering. Stuff like long grasses and wildflowers that look after themselves.
Does birdseed work or are those crops neutered?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@crowriver we have moved our bay tree to a very sheltered spot and it is doing ok, it was struggling in April.
Posted 6 years ago # -
No much growing in our veg patch either. Germination seems to be a struggle this year although the first shoots of runner beans are now visible on the third attempt.
Klaxon, I do have some wild flower seeds which I was given a couple of years ago I don't know if they are still fresh enough to germinate. If you're nowhere near West Edinburgh I could stick them in the post.
Harlaw Hydro isn't enjoying the dry spell either:
http://www.harlawhydro.org.uk/power-meter/Posted 6 years ago # -
Is no one watering their seedlings? I have high hopes for our new wild flower meadow as I only planted a couple of weeks ago and it's been warm since then. Main problem is shade later in the year.
Our chard from last year is coming up well again. Excellent veg and expensive in the shops.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I was up round Bonally on Tuesday night even usually boggy bits between White Hill and Capelaw were bone dry. Finally found out what it would take to dry out the Pentlands!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Noticed yesterday that the lawns around the building at work are starting to go brown. That doesn't normally happen until around July (when we haven't had a wet summer).
Not only that, but the permanent, year-round puddle under the bridge on the NEPN on the way up to Craigleith has dried up and disappeared!
Posted 6 years ago # -
@amir - I've struggled to get down to our allotment often enough to do enough watering, so my seeds there are sad. About to plant some more this weekend.
The salad leaves I planted at home where I can water more reliably are doing very nicely, including some rainbow chard.Posted 6 years ago # -
@amir, my seeds were sown late February or mid-March. Plenty of rain then but some frost, so stand pipe to allotment switched off. Radish seedlings looked great by early April, the rest just didn't germinate. However mid-April the slugs came and gobbled the radish seedlings up: total devastation, nothing left at all. The rest didn't do anything.
Will be re-sowing soon for a late summer salad crop. Might stick more spuds in too as they seem to be thriving. A bit too late now for runner beans etc. Have had success with rainbow chard in the past, may try again. Tends to take over the bed a bit though.
Posted 6 years ago # -
A pal of mine put a rain gauge in his garden. He said it registered 4mm after half an hour under the sprinkler. 4mm was the whole of April's rainfall.
Posted 6 years ago # -
acsimpson: Would any time on Saturday or Sunday after lunch suit you for being in the house? Good excuse for a ride to come and get them.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Klaxon, you've got mail.
Posted 6 years ago # -
There are still two damp patches and one actual puddle between Slateford and Balerno. Didn't check the pedestrian path along the inside of the awful watermill flats.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Rain timed for my commute! Rain on my duvet cover hanging outside.
That stuff does get you wet, doesn't it?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Cycled out the WoL to Balerno today to donate some tennis balls and pet food to the SSPCA. Also spotted an enormous pile of blankets in their reception area.
Anyway, the WoL was very not dry today. Possibly the heaviest rain I've ever had the 'pleasure' of cycling in. Then it started hailstones, so I cowered under the bypass. Nice test of recently-bought waterproof shoes (they passed), but both bike and I got absolutely clarted.
Posted 6 years ago #
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