Rubbish in the burn – and lifted

Hiya again

When the rain stopped two days ago, your Blogger went to have a look at the state of the burn and found it full of rubbish -- chockablock!It doesn't help that there's a culvert or duct running below the concrete platform of the footbridge, where everything gets caught. But why anyone would toss a traffic cone into the burn is beyond me, or a big MDF panel.This morning, some members of the Oban Employability Team came in to lift the rubbish…… the platform of their small pickup was almost full by the time they were done!

How much effort and energy went into clearing this rubbish. Shame on anyone who uses the burn as a rubbish dump.

Flood no 7

Hiya
Scotland has seen some massive flooding in the past few days, and our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes. Here's hoping that no-one will lose their life.

Here, at Lynnside, the garden is flooded yet again today. The heavy rains and a high tide pushed inland by strong winds have conspired to flood not only the garden but also the lane that runs along its bottom end.

Today, 11:38AM
11:48AM12:01PM

As I type these lines, the bottom part of the garden and the lane are fully submerged and the water is running down the car park.
Having watched the rising water, it is quite clear to your Blogger that the obstacles underneath the wee bridge are choking up the burn. But the flooding is exacerbated by the fact that this is just about high tide in the harbour and all of the Black Lynn backs up, especially when the wind pushes the tide inland.
Nonetheless, the Council should do something to give the burn more space -- deepen the riverbed, widening a catchment basin further upstream, ...
The Council does not regard this as a matter of priority – anyone can tell by the dire state of the Black Lynn further downstream, by the car parks and super markets, where it is choked up and infested with shopping trolleys and all manner of large-scale rubbish.

After flood no 6: debris and choked-up grate in Black Lynn

The worst of this morning's flood is over. As I type these lines, the sun has been shining for a couple of hours and the water has receded significantly.
Debris, including a sizeable stump of wood, has collected at the foot of the tall new fence across the burn along Dalintart Lane:Your blogger spent quite some time this afternoon removing several long pieces of wood and planking as well as more substantial rubbish, lots of plastic bottles etc., not least to make sure the youngsters in the neighbourhood can't toss this material back into the burn.
The burn still flows fiercely and has been eating away at its bank, especially below the footbridge in Dalintart Lane.
Further downstream, however, there is a badly choked-up double grate that protects the entrance to a sizeable culvert. The yellow bouncy ball in the photo below has meanwhile been claimed by an adventurous first-year High School pupil. He was going to toss it back into the burn but I suggested he take it home to his little sister, if he has one.

Flood no 6

Hello again
As you can imagine, with the heavy rains of the past two days or so, the Lynnside Community garden was once again flooded earlier this morning. Flooding has affected large areas of Argyll & Bute, with several roads closed just when the commuters wanted to use them.School kids and workers were unable to use Dalintart Lane because the water was at least 10 inches deep.It is the 5th such event since 10th October, 2008, and so far the 2nd worst I have observed since I arrived here in early May last year. The bad thing is that much more rain has been forecast for the next few days... It remains to be seen how much of the produce, the potatoes especially, that Graham has so diligently put into the ground will pull through without rotting.Personally, I think some mitigation work is required:
A lot of debris has been caught up by the footbridge on Dalintart Lane, some of it planking, some of it heavy wood, threatening to damage the fence erected last September.One of the problems is definitely the fact that the modern concrete slab across the burn is significantly lower than the original (19th century?) arch; the pipes/culverts running underneath it also block debris.
While I'm not sure raising the slab to give the water more room would sort the problem, I am confident that the water would back up a lot less if those obstacles were removed.
See for yourselves -- I'm attaching a few photos and a small video clip (medium resolution so here's hoping your inboxes won't fill up too badly). Click here for a video clip.

By about 10:50, the rain had abated, and the water has receded to the extent that the lane is passable again. But this is no reason to be complacent: more rain has been forecast and the weather charts show large, deep green swathes of heavy rain coming up from the south.

Growing, weeding, "burning"

Hiya again
Summer is taking its course; the rain and warmth have pushed everything: vegetables, flowers, weeds.
Each rainfall uncovers more rubbish; yet another builders bag is filling up fast.
The butterbur along the burn is growing riotously, as are cleavers and balm. The weeds are also growing inside the concrete bed of the burn. With intense rainfall looming, they will slow the flow of the water and may cause flooding again.Kids from the neighbourhood -- definitely NOT the children from the islands who stay at the Glencruitten Hostel -- have been throwing loads of rubbish and plant material into the burn. Some of us from the garden group will have to work really hard to rake and fork it all out again to make sure the debris does not choke up the low passage under the footbridge......whose left bank is being undermined by the onslaught of water -- something will have to be done about this sooner rather than later:
But not all is doom and gloom: the sweet peas are looking spectacular just now.Notices about biochar, Scottish Orchards and EM Bokashi have been posted on the fence and are attracting lots of attention.

Spring is almost here!

Welcome back!
Spring is springing. Our Community Garden -- a work in progress -- is currently graced by quite a few clumps of beautiful daffodils and jonquils.
A grandstand view of the garden. In the foreground, black plastic sheeting keeps the weeds from making a comeback.
The long and the short view of a lovely stand of trees. Some of the saplings will have to go, though, as they're rather too close to the path.Youngsters keep tossing things into the burn so lovingly cleared by the Employability Team last November. For a better view, click on the photos.
A neighbouring tree reaches into a cloudless sky across the lane at the bottom end of the garden.
Almost at the top end, two sentinels guard the footpath:The top end still looks a bit bare but that will change once the drainage has been sorted out.
Water is a feature in various ways. The footbridge across the burn and its low-lying culvert that contributes to flooding when the burn is in spate.

Thank you for visiting!

Yet another wee flood (no. 5)

Hiya again
Yesterday morning, another wee flood event occurred at the Community Garden. The problem with these floods is that the lovely, fertile topsoil gets washed away and drained out into Oban harbour.
The only ones that looked truly happy about it were this couple of mallards: