CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh

Who left the plug out?

(13 posts)
  • Started 2 years ago by ejstubbs
  • Latest reply from Murun Buchstansangur

  1. ejstubbs
    Member

    Was rather astonished to find this view looking westwards from the bridge over Threipmuir reservoir that takes you up to Bavelaw Castle:

    I was last out that way in mid-June, when Black Springs was looking worryingly dry, but the level looked OK from the bridge from which that photo was taken, with large fish jumping for insects and wildfowl swimming about. Yesterday the Black Springs end looked better, with some (not a lot, but some) flow through sluice below the causeway, and a fair quantity of wildfowl including three whooper swans and several score of grey geese (I didn't have my binoculars with me so couldn't id which species for certain - default would be greylag). The beaches on the main body of the reservoir looked smaller than when we were last there, as well.

    So it looks as if the situation has somehow been reversed since then. I took a quick detour down the causeway towards Easter Bavelaw and it didn't look as if any water was getting through the sluice there. Maybe it's been closed deliberately, if the Bavelaw Burn has dried up?

    At least the wildfowl at Bavelaw seemed fairly happy with the combination of mostly mud with just a bit of open water. I spotted an egret there, and disturbed a grey heron under the bridge which flew off cursing me audibly in heronish.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Yes, they do sometimes drain it like that.

    Thriepmuir walls being repainted is maybe linked.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  3. steveo
    Member

    I read it was something to do with maintaining the balance of the wetland.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  4. ejstubbs
    Member

    Thriepmuir walls being repainted is maybe linked.

    Ah, I didn't notice anything like that going on but that's very likely down to not being very observant. Which walls are you referring to?

    I read it was something to do with maintaining the balance of the wetland.

    Actually, I did wonder whether it might be related to that, subsequent to my OP. Perhaps restricting the flow into the reservoir from the Bavelaw Burn to try to keep the Red Moss from getting too dry? Which would make sense this year.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    Repointed I meant at the dam wall for Thriepmuir before run off into Harlaw. Black springs also was getting a lot done. Previously. There is a long and confusing article in Edinburgh Live. Taking advantage of low levels, compensation flow? For mills? Sometimes calling it Thriepmuir, sometimes Bavelaw Marshes.

    Not been on the board walk for some time. Used to be a Christmas Day trip when the kids were wee, so not sure how dry Red Moss will be

    Astonishing that moss was used as battlefield dressing.

    Bleaching of cloth also remain8ng evidence of this at the ponds in the woods at Malleny Millgate.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  6. ejstubbs
    Member

    Repointed I meant

    Ah, a simple typo, should have been able to work it out.

    We actually did the Red Moss boardwalk loop in mid June this year, as part of our stravaig around Threipmuir. There's a recent (June 2022) https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7194495, the caption to which talks of finding the water table unusually low.

    I was previously unaware that the part of the reservoir to the west of Redford Bridge is part of an area called Bavelaw Marsh which, along with Red Moss, forms the Balerno Common SSSI. I'd always assumed - due to the very proprietorial-sounding notices posted on the bridge by the local fish-bothering club - that its primary function was to be maintained as a recreational fishery. But the SNH site management statement for the SSSI seems clear that conservation interests have priority over recreational use. Which is probably as it should be.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  7. bill
    Member

    @ejstubbs Thanks for the post. We were up on the Pentlands on Saturday and I thought that Threipmuir looked weird, now I know why.
    Also a new Scottish word for me: stravaig! I like it.

    Do you have to post a stravaig activity both on strava and instagram (IG) ?

    Posted 2 years ago #

  8. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Also a new Scottish word for me: stravaig! I like it.

    I only knew it meant wandering about somewhat aimlessly, and it never occurred to me until now to think about its etymology.

    I find it's derived from the verb, 'extravage', which meant "to talk wildly or to ramble", and also "to go beyond the sphere of duty". Both of those came from the Latin, extrāvagārī, literally "outside to wander" (where 'outside' is not just 'outdoors' but in the sense of being 'beyond limits'. So it's why we also have 'extravagant', for something varying wildly from what is usual, or something that is excessive or "fantastically absurd" as OED puts it.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  9. ejstubbs
    Member

    I picked the word up from Tam Weir (on TV, not in person, sadly). Interesting to know its origin, thanks!

    Posted 2 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    I have done most sorts of Stravaigin in my time. I like to ramble verbally when hill walking.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  11. gembo
    Member

    to be a Flaneur is to Stravaig in Paris.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  12. ejstubbs
    Member

    Back at Threipmuir again the other day and found the situation reversed: the Bavelaw Marsh end was nice and full (large raft of tufted duck, plus wigeon and goldeneye hanging about), while the water level was noticeably lower on the part to the east of the Easter Bavelaw farm causeway, with large areas of exposed mud adjacent to the causeway. Which all goes to support the view that it's due to deliberate human intervention and not an ecological disaster after all.

    Large numbers of greylag goose on the south side of the reservoir, mostly in the adjacent fields. And another large group in the field on the north side, near the dam - with one lone canada goose (suspect a juvenile) trying to hide in plain sight amongst them. Also whooper swans on the reservoir itself. And a large flock of long-tailed tits whizzing about in the trees around the north end of Redford Bridge, contact calling continuously - almost like a scaled-up cloud of midges, only pretty and charming rather than annoying.

    Passed by Harlaw as well: much busier than Threipmuir for some reason, car park full and lots of cars littering the verge on the approach road.

    Posted 2 years ago #

  13. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    The reservoirs are now part of the WoL flood prevention scheme which probably explains the varying water levels/emptying before autumn

    "The water within the reservoir is managed by the City’s Flood Prevention and River Flow Management Team."

    https://www.harlawhydro.org.uk/background-3/the-resevoirs/#.Y3d5MHbP2hQ

    Nice chart at the bottom here:

    https://www.harlawhydro.org.uk/power-meter/#.Y3d68XbP2hR

    Posted 2 years ago #

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