Water of Leith Conservation Trust

Water of Leith Conservation Trust The WOLCT works to conserve and enhance the water of leith river for the benefit of all wildlife and visitor to it.

Cared for by the Edinburgh Community you can support our work by making a donation here - https://bit.ly/35rq8Q3 We work to conserve and enhance the Water of Leith, its heritage and wildlife. The Trust promotes education and recreation through the Visitor Centre, and works with volunteers and community groups to deliver around 300 river clean-ups and habitat improvement tasks annually. Operating

since 1988, it was the first river charity to be established in Scotland. Support our work by becoming a member, sending a donation or joining the hundred strong team of volunteers who are involved in projects on the river and in running the Visitor Centre.

A morning session with the Edinburgh office of Perk on the hunt for the invasive Himalayan balsam along the river banks....
19/08/2026

A morning session with the Edinburgh office of Perk on the hunt for the invasive Himalayan balsam along the river banks.

The team waded from Bells bridge along to St Marks removing approx 100 plants to help prevent their seeds spreading further. Along the way they also removed 4 bags worth of plastic waste from the river.

Thanks for the help folks.


Weekly Update 10th of 16th of AugustWhilst the festival is in full flow, our wee river was performing as always with vol...
14/08/2026

Weekly Update 10th of 16th of August

Whilst the festival is in full flow, our wee river was performing as always with volunteers in high viz next to it as the supporting act.

On Monday the team gave downstream of the centre a good trim back to restore the width and filled in ankle breaking holes by the bench. Whilst this was going on we also trained up 6 volunteers on using a scythe to help with our meadow cutting program.

Tuesday - Volunteers were up on the Murrayburn by Riccarton pulling Himalayan balsam before it could seed. Whilst our scything team cut Juniper Green meadow to stop grasses out competing wildflowers.

Wednesday was down at Redbraes hunting rubbish and balsam in the river, monitoring the riverflys to check the river was in good health and giving the paths a trim back.

Thursday we had a big team from dentsu uk & ireland out at Stockrbridge cutting back the Deanhaugh path and wading for rubbish.

On Friday our wildflower team were out at Balgreen surveying the plants at Balgreen and Bells meadows

A wonderful encounter with nature
14/08/2026

A wonderful encounter with nature

A fun afternoon with the Edinburgh office of dentsu uk & ireland as part of their global volunteering day.Their staff m...
13/08/2026

A fun afternoon with the Edinburgh office of dentsu uk & ireland as part of their global volunteering day.

Their staff made a huge difference trimming back the overgrown Deanhaugh section, preparing railings to be painted next week, wading the river for rubbish and trimming back branches.

Great work folks

Weekly Update 3rd – 9th of August As the summer holidays come to an end, we continued our hard work with practical conse...
08/08/2026

Weekly Update 3rd – 9th of August

As the summer holidays come to an end, we continued our hard work with practical conservation sessions at Dean Village, Heriot Watt, Coalie Park and Rocheid. Our survey team were also busy this week surveying areas in the Pentlands, Coalie Park, Longstone and Murrayfield.

The week started in Dean Village with volunteers wading for Himalayan Balsam, removing graffiti, litter picking and path maintenance.
Tuesday saw us return to the Murrayburn up at Heriot Watt to remove flowering Himalayan Balsam plants before they have a chance to seed.
First Wednesday of the month means the boat clean up down in Leith. The volunteers collected 312 cans, beating the previous record.
The week finished with staff from the Edinburgh office of ClimateXChange giving the Rocheid path some TLC.

With survey season in full swing the volunteers surveyed our four managed meadows in Coalie Park, looking for changes since the survey earlier in the year. They also assessed new areas in the Pentlands and Murrayfield to advise changes to our learning programme and potential rewilding. We also had the Riverfly survey team down at Longstone assessing river invertebrate biodiversity and water quality.

A great session completed by staff from the Edinburgh office of ClimateXChange this morning on the Rocheid path.After a ...
06/08/2026

A great session completed by staff from the Edinburgh office of ClimateXChange this morning on the Rocheid path.

After a good summer the vegetation was taking over along the walkway. So it was great to have a dedicated team out helping to trim it back and sweep off debris.

A much improve section for regular users.

06/08/2026

This last month on the river

Weekly Update 27th July to 2nd AugustAn action packed week of conservation with practical tasks at Bonnington, the Murra...
31/07/2026

Weekly Update 27th July to 2nd August

An action packed week of conservation with practical tasks at Bonnington, the Murrayburn and Balerno, as well as surveys in Balerno and the Craiglockhart Dells.

The week started down at West Bowling Green Street with one team wading for litter and INNS, while the other trimmed back, maintained and cleared up the walkway.

Tuesday our rangers were back up on the Murrayburn checking sites for Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam. Giant Hogweed plants are flowering at the moment, so any seed heads need to be cut and properly disposed.

Later in the week, we continued our path maintenance, clean-up and hunt for INNS at Balerno. This ran alongside our final Riverfly survey of the site for this season, looking at river invertebrate numbers and water quality.

We ended the week with surveys of our two meadows in the Craiglockhart Dells. These surveys assess meadow biodiversity and pollinator habits.

Weekly Update 20th – 26th of July Practical conservation sessions at West Mill Road, up on the Cockburn and at Juniper G...
24/07/2026

Weekly Update 20th – 26th of July

Practical conservation sessions at West Mill Road, up on the Cockburn and at Juniper Green as well as summer holiday events at the centre.

We kicked off the week at West Mill Road with volunteers wading for litter and invasive species, while the dry land crew tidied up the path and trimmed back vegetation.

Tuesday saw us back up on the tributaries, wading the Cockburn for Himalayan Balsam.

Finally, on Wednesday volunteers continued to wade for litter and invasive species and tidied up the local area. We also started our summer meadow surveys up at the Juniper Green meadow, looking at species diversity and floral abundance.

Weekly Update 13th - 19th of July.As the sun continued to shine we ran conservation tasks this week at Bells, St Marks,M...
17/07/2026

Weekly Update 13th - 19th of July.

As the sun continued to shine we ran conservation tasks this week at Bells, St Marks,Murrayburn and Leith.

At Bells having trimmed the walkway from Britannia hotel to the Gormley statue the previous week. We completed the trim back on this section around to Roseburn steps this week, refreshed more of the soakaway drain and hunted for the last Himalayan balsam on the slopes.

At St Marks with a combination of our volunteers and staff from Veolia - UK we managed to wade 1.1 miles from Canonmills to Redbraes removing Himalayan balsam and light litter along the way.

On the Murrayburn at Longstone we tended the trees planted earlier in the year funded by CMS Law. In addition to removing historical waste from the river banks of mostly wet wipes.

Then we finished the week at Leith with our regular Coalie Coalition session looking after the redevelopment. Removing tagging, weeding the setts, watering the flower beds and refreshing the art work.

Address

24 Lanark Road
Edinburgh
EH141TQ

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

0131 455 7367

Website

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