Angus Miller: ‘Rivers past and present: the geological story of the River Esk’ See the video of the talk presented in March 2024

This talk covers the ancient origins of the Esk rivers, the impact of the ice ages and what may happen next.

Angus Miller discusses ‘Rivers past and present: the geological story of the River Esk’

Angus is a geologist based in Edinburgh and a teaching fellow at the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh. He is heavily involved in the Edinburgh Geological Society and the Scottish Geology Trust and has led key initiatives to promote the geology of Scotland, including Scotland’s Geodiversity Charter and the first Scottish Geology Festival. He runs Geowalks, exploring Scotland’s amazing geology and how it has shaped our landscape and human history.

In this talk Angus explores the ‘deep time’ record of flowing water in the area of the Esk valleys, which is responsible for creating many of the rocks of Midlothian including the coal fields. He also considers the course of the current river, and how this has evolved during the current Ice Age, with some thoughts about what might happen next!

To watch the video of this talk click here

If you want to learn more about the geology of the Esk river valleys:

Lothian and Borders GeoConservation leaflets (click here) give information on The Esk Valley, Pentland Rocks, Dalkeith’s Building Stones, The Geology of Dalkeith Park and the two geology walks at Vogrie Country Park.

The British Geological Survey site gives access to a wide range of geological information and data (click here)

If yyo want to join Angus on one of his Geowalks, click here.

Storm Damage in the Hewan Wood – January 2024

Storms Isha and Jocelyn in January 2024 have damaged a number of trees in the Hewan Wood.
PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL CARE WHILST WALKING IN THE WOOD until we are able to clear and make safe the damaged trees.

The Restoration Forth project

The next Esk Valley Trust evening Zoom talk will be about the Restoration Forth project and will  be on Thursday evening 1 February 2024 starting at 19.30.

Restoration Forth is a marine restoration project in the Firth of Forth to re-establish seagrass meadows and re-introduce native oysters.  Oysters and Seagrass bring many benefits to the marine environment, including water filtration and carbon capture.  Restoration Forth is focusing mainly on the impacts oysters and seagrass have for biodiversity, as seagrass meadows and oyster beds are a foundation for habitat for a wealth of other creatures.  The project aims to demonstrate the possibilities and create a toolkit for restoration that can be taken forward and inspire more people to protect and restore our Firth of Forth.

The Restoration Forth project team gave an excellent overview of the project. You can watch the presentation from Eleri from the Scottish Seabird Centre, and Anna from the Marine Conservation Society here.

More than Lighthouses

In November 2023 Mike Bullock, CEO of the Northern Lighthouse Board, talked about the Board’s rich heritage and how it operates today.

The Northern Lighthouse Board has provided a vital safety service to mariners since 1786 and is responsible for the superintendence and management of all lights, buoys and beacons within Scottish and Isle of Man waters. The service makes a significant contribution to the prevention of accidents and incidents around the coastline, safeguarding not only lives and property, but also protecting our precious marine environment. Find out about NLB’s rich heritage and history and how the organisation operates today in this engaging and informative talk.

After a career in the Royal Navy our speaker, Mike Bullock,  joined the Northern Lighthouse Board as Chief Executive in April 2014. During his naval career of 34 years, he served in six ships and submarines, worked in the British Embassy Washington DC, the NATO Headquarters in Northwood London, the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall and the Pentagon as the UK representative for Logistics. His final appointment was in Navy Command Headquarters, Portsmouth, where he had responsibility for Logistics and Infrastructure for the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies and holds an MA in International Security and Strategy from King’s College London. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Scottish Maritime Cluster, a member of the Hammermen of Edinburgh and High Constabulary of the Port of Leith, a Fellow of the Institute of Transport and Logistics, a Trustee of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh, a Trustee of the Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust and a Trustee of The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust.   He was awarded an MBE in 1990 and an OBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours list for Services to the Safety and Welfare of Seafarers.

Citizen Esk – Tackling River Problems with Community Solutions.

A video recording of the talk given by Ross Hughes of the Forth Rivers Trust on Thursday 21 September is now available to view.

Ross is the Environment and Community Development Officer of the Forth Rivers trust supporting and developing community understanding and engagement with the rivers of the Esk catchments. He has been driving the Citizen Esk project over the last 18 months. The project aims to enhance awareness amongst communities along the rivers Esk of the issues (not least the impact of pollution on the health of the rivers) that impact the river systems and the people around them.

A video of the talk that he gave on ‘Citizen Esk – Tackling River Problems with Community Solutions’ can be seen here.

Midlothian Outdoor Festival 2023

This year’s Festival takes place on 12-16 October.

Once again the Esk Valley Trust is delighted to be helping with the Festival which is organised by the Midlothian Ranger Service and supported by a wide range of volunteer organisations.

This year’s Festival takes place on 12-16 October.

Once again the Esk Valley Trust is delighted to be helping with the Festival which is organised by the Midlothian Ranger Service and supported by a wide range of volunteer organisations. If you enjoy the outdoors have a look at the programme which contains a range of walking and other events.

You can find the programme of events by clicking here.

Gladhouse from Top to Bottom

A video recording of Elspeth Smith’s talk about the Gladhouse Reservoir can now be seen along with a copy of her Powerpoint presentation. Just click on the header for this item and the links to the talk and ppt will appear.

Elspeth is a resident Midlothian Ranger working in partnership with Scottish Water with specific responsibilities around Gladhouse Reservoir.

This ranger posting is part of a larger project to ‘Enable Responsible Access’ to reservoirs in Scotland (in response to the issues highlighted by the mass visitations during the 2020 lockdown).

Elspeth presented a talk to the Esk Valley Trust, as part of the Midlothian Outdoor Festival, in October 2023. In it she covered the work that she has been doing at Gladhouse Reservoir. Her talk can be seen here and the associated Powerpoint presentation here.

Unfortunately, during her Zoom presentation the Screen Share function did not function so, very gamely, she presented the talk without the Powerpoint presentation but you can see her illustrations by downloading that file.

Newbattle Abbey and its Ancient Woodlands

You can watch a video of Caroline Freeman’s talk about Newbattle Abbey and its Ancient Woodlands

Caroline Freeman talks about the Abbey and College but mainly the ancient woodlands, the features that make them important, some of the issues that need to be dealt with, the objectives for the future of the woodland and how the woods are and will be managed to achieve them.

Caroline is the Community Woodland Ranger at Newbattle Abbey with an extensive background in environmental engagement and research.

You can watch her talk here

Craig Statham’s AGM talk can be seen on video

After the 2023 AGM Craig Statham gave a talk on “Maps Relating to the Esk Valley in the National Library of Scotland”.

Craig hails from Dalkeith, is a graduate of both Edinburgh and St Andrew’s Universities and has worked in heritage since 2001. He has a wide spread of interests and talents having been a Councillor in Midlothian, written several books (including biographies of Bruce Springsteen and Galashiels’ Jimmy Curran), worked in the National Library of Scotland and now manages the Local History Centre at Perth’s AK Bell Library.

To see the video click on this link: https://youtu.be/p9Lm5DTDU9s

Papers from the 2023 AGM were:

The Agenda and draft Minutes of the 2022 AGM: click here.

The Annual Report and Accounts for 2022: click here.

Spring Newsletter

Spring Newsletter 2023

The Spring Newsletter is now available here