Valentine's Day Massacre

About four years ago  a local school and myself put up a living willow shelter at the Scottish Wildlife Trust Cathkin Marsh site. A popular bird watching location and quite a unique area just south of Glasgow. However it seems the shelter became a regular spot for more amorous activities, which did not go down well with the local 'twitchers'. This resulted in one of the more unusual commissions to date, that is taking down a perfectly good live structure that had not been vandalised or over run  by some nasty willow disease.

It was a strange experience taking down the structure and seeing it as a pile of twigs at the side of the path.

However it was not all destruction, as I had another job to do. The local cows, who occasionally browse the Marsh, had caused their own damage to the original 'fedge'. This screen was put up to create cover for those entering the viewing platform in the hope it would not distract the birds. It was decided a new screen behind the old one would maintain the original purpose but be out of reach of the cows.

So happy cows and bird watchers but a bit of a Valentine's day disappointment for the more energetically romantic users of the Marsh. 

Up and Down

After a chilly day making baskets in a yurt in Girvan (the yurt was warm) on Sunday and a day teaching living willow at Twecher it was time to head north to Inverness and then onto Inverewe.

I had tried to do a site visit at Inverewe just before Christmas but a series of storms led me to cancel. A little nervous as I set off after a recent fall of snow but as it turned out it was a great trip. I spent Monday night in Inverness which was a good choice as I had a stunning drive through great Highland scenery with snow capped mountains and brown/grey mottled glens.

The image in my mind of the National Trust for Scotland garden at Inverewe was no match for the actual experience. It is right on the coast with doorways from the walled garden actually opening onto the shore, this is backed by wooded hills consisting of collections of exotic trees. It took a while to find someone but meanwhile it was a good excuse to poke around without any distractions.

The purpose of my visit was two fold, one to look at an area of revetment work where a bank is to be supported by a low willow border, secondly a sculptured back drop for some new planting. Head Gardener Kevin Ball showed me around while other enthusiastic staff shared their ideas and observations. The two beds for the sculptures are about 35 metres long and need to attract the visitors to take a closer look. With such great weather it was a real joy to sit and sketch or wander around photographing the site.

I returned home greatly inspired, and set off the next day to continue work at Netherthird Primary, cheerfully unloading the van on a clear crisp morning. Just needed to loosen the soil to put down the ground cover, swung the pickaxe which bounced off the soil like it had just hit concrete. No planting today.