RiverLife Blogs
Here you can find all the blog posts from throughout the RiverLife project
There’s always some sewage
I knew from my training that pollution from sewage works happens, mainly as a result of our...
First Explorer walk along the Almond
The Kirkton fish pass is a dramatic site. A glassy, sheet of amber water which tumbles into a...
Exploring the Upper Almond
The last half a year has seen the RiverLife team start to move upstream of the river Almond, this...
Summer on the Almond
Most of my summers are spent organising things from Forth Rivers Trust HQ on the outskirts of...
Fundays in Polbeth & Polkemmet
The RiverLife team held a number of our Family Fun days along the rivers over the school holidays....
Craigsfarm volunteering
This month, at our regular volunteer meet up with volunteers from Craigsfarm, we ran an impromptu...
World Rivers Day – Engaging Communities
Communities who live along rivers have access to a natural heritage that is both beautiful and...
RiverLife Guided Cycles
RiverLife's Guided Cycles are gaining momentum. Saturday, 28th September was our 3rd guided ride...
Forage Walk Polkemmet
Sunday 1st September had long been earmarked in my calendar as a day to look forward to. It was...
Thanks Heineken
We have been working on the upper Avon for the duration of RiverLife with the aim of improving...
Bogburn volunteering session 6
Heading upstream - from our meeting point in Morrisons carpark - across the adjacent wildflower...
All Of Our Training.
RiverLife has been busy lately. Training our volunteers is an important part of our Project and,...
9th West Lothian Scout Anglers
To gain their Angler Activity Badge, Scouts need to become familiar with different fishing...
2nd West Lothian Scouts Introduction to Angling
Thanks again to Linlithgow Angling Club (LAC) who organised a two-part event this year for the 2nd...
Polkemmet Tree Workshop
​The RiverLife team had a fantastic tree inspection workshop with Friends of Polkemmet Country...
Guided Walk Maps
The RiverLife team have delivered 11 guided activities related to riparian habitat near or along...
‘Our’ Falls – mapping workshop at Community Garden
What things are you happy to have in your local neighbourhood, and that you would like to thrive...
Willow Spiling summary from Friends of Almondell and Calderwood Country Park
Willow Spiling: Â a fantastic natural and sustainable way to tackle the problems of river bank...
Tortoise and the Hare (Almond Style) Part 2
If you have read Part 1 you will have realised that the tortoise wasn’t actually a tortoise, it...
Howden Landscape Changes
For generations, mills to process materials – such as grain, paper and iron – cropped up along the...
Tortoise and the Hare (Almond Style) Part 1
Working with the Forth Rivers Trust most days / weeks throw-up new challenges, last week was no...
Wild Wednesdays
West Lothian Council Ranger Service have a fantastic family engagement initiative that gets pulled...
The elusive Bogburn lagoon Great Crested Newt
Earlier this year, an Environmental DNA sample - from one of the flood lagoons by the Bogburn in...
Pollinator Survey Workshop
On the 1st of August we had a special guest appearance from our friends over in Buglife! With the...
Crazy Croquet at Polbeth Gala Day
Despite threatening rain, the sun shone for the crowds who turned up at Polbeth’s annual Gala Day...
Balsam Bashing on the Almond
With the sun shining down on us, we made our way to the site. On the river Almond, near the canal...
Fencing on the Upper Avon
This summer - adding to the bank protection, tree planting and drainage work carried out as part...
West Lothian College photography
Since 2017, West Lothian College photography students have been producing excellent river themed...
Wild Wednesday Winchburgh
Wild Wednesday in Winchburgh last week saw a poor weather induced low turnout. However, those...
The woes of Balsam
 sThis is the right time of year to head out on the banks of your local river and find some...
Aspen propagation workshop
Today, RiverLife volunteers propagated around 250 cuttings using suckers from wild aspen root...
Aspen Refresh Workshop
On the 19th June we organised an Aspen refresh workshop for our project that focusses on the...
Aspen in the classroom
June saw the inaugural ‘Aspen in the classroom’ sessions with four schools in the Almond and Avon...
Howden Rock Ramp Opening Event
Work began on the rock ramp at Howden weir in autumn last year, well, these were the works that...
Polbeth Crazy Croquet and ‘Our’ Falls public art project
Do you recognise this? If you live in Polbeth or a nearby area, you might be able to identify our...
9th West Lothian Scouts Fishing Night
On a pleasant Tuesday evening on 11th June, 2 RiverLifers, 2 volunteers from West Lothian Angling...
Bog burn volunteering session 3
Today’s session, with 5 volunteers - including our regular angling club and community council...
Craigshill volunteering session 6
2 volunteers from Craigsfarm Community hub and RiverLife met on 6th June to continue some path...
Learning to be otter spotters
Although shy and elusive, otters thrive in Scotland and are often seen along the River Almond....
Limefield Falls Art Competition
May will see the first part of a new project running in Polbeth linking students at the local high...
Science Team Q&A sessions at Howden Weir
The construction of a rock ramp at Howden weir is the largest capital works project undertaken by...
Duck Race at Rugby Club By-Pass Channel
With the completion of the works at the rugby club weir, the RiverLife team wanted to run an event...
Bog burn volunteering
One of the RiverLife project’s main aims is the restoration of the Bog burn – including...
Bathgate Trolleys
We had our second session of regular volunteering at Bathgate on Thursday the 18th May. This was...
Willow
There are several UK species of this versatile tree – Goat willow, Crack willow, Bay willow, Grey...
RiverLife Guided Activities and Active Travel
Sunday May 11 was a fantastic day for RiverLife's first Guided Cycle. The route took our group...
Killandean tree maintenance and the woes of sundries
400 trees – including Alder, Birch, Aspen and Rowan - were planted by the Killandean burn towards...
Reflecting on River Rubbish
Our RiverRubbish Project has been run on two separate occasions now and they couldn’t be further...
River Crafts in the Upper Catchment
Annie Lord, works as an artist and has been getting involved with the project delivering a number...
Litter Picking with Friends of Polkemmet
On Sunday 19th of May, Scot and Amelia teamed up with Friends of Polkemmet to deliver a litter...
