River Clean Up

I got an email yesterday from the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. Slightly short notice but they were having a river clean up session today so I decided to head along. I was a bit nervous at first as everyone seemed to know each other and what they should be doing but I soon relaxed.

We spent the first hour or so picking litter along a strech of river. It is astounding how much of it there was. After a short tea break some people went off to haul stuff from the river whilst another group of us went to pull Himalayan Basalm from the river banks. It's an invasive species that smothers other native plant life and will take over the river banks if allowed. As I wasn't sure what happened at these sessions I'd put my "wet shoes" in my bag. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity to put them on and wade up to my knees to pull the stuff that could only be got from the river. Thankfully it was a warm day so I'd gone in shorts!

I had a really good time and I'll definitely be going to more in future. I took my camera out with me but there just wasn't the opportunity for photos so you'll have to make do with a shot of my shoes instead.


(I'm holding back yesterday's photo until I have permission from the person in it)