A load of Rubbish!

Today I made my weekly walk along the Water of Leith. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of bees buzzing around in the flowers, I got a really good view of a dipper preening by the water, and a couple of bullfinches, saw and listened to some mystery birds that looked like willow warblers but sounded like whitethroats and was excited to get not one but three really good views of a peregrine falcon as it hunted over the river.

So why the title of this post? Well, in the area that I learned today is referred to as the Secret Meadow, a beautiful expanse of grass, bee-filled comfrey flowers, apple trees and rabbits, I found a huge stack of empty beer cans with the remains of a bonfire and some bottles of suncream. Ironically whoever had created all this waste had thoughtfully piled most of it all into a large cardboard box, but really such disregard for the environment is very saddening. The mess will be cleared up tomorrow by someone with a wheelbarrow, but that's volunteer time that could be better spent doing something more creative.

At tonight's volunteer meeting too, the issue of rubbish came up all too often as one that needs constant attention. The situation isn't really helped by the fact that there are not many bins along most stretches of the river and those that there are are not very large, nor do they seem to be emptied too often. But is it too much to ask that people carry their rubbish home with them?

On the topic of rubbish, I have a haiku over on Haiku News today, matched with two relevant news articles. You can find it here.