Linn Park is a fabulous "green space". The Daffodils come out once the Snowdrops have shown themselves and then the Bluebells which this year have not been submerged by grass. Spring is here . . . the weather gets warmer and sunnier . . . and the ducks and drakes do what they do at this time of the year and hey presto Ducklings.
The colour of the blossoms
must be dyed in that sound -
a warblers call
lovelier than ever
in spring dawn
Saigyo
Tr. Burton Watson
Despite the blooming of the white Apple Blossom and pink Cherry Blossom trees, all is not as well as it ought to be. Park maintenance is at an all time low. However, some citizens have been out and mowed much of the golf course adjacent to Linn park. At point 165 of Bob Gray's survey published in May 2014 only a few of the 6 rare trees remain [C. lawsoniana and Chamaecyparis pisifera - a Group of 3 Lawson's cypress and & 3 Sawara cypress].
Better news is that local residents in the upper part of Old Castle Road have tidied up the trees on the bank between the road and Linnview Avenue at its foot - a major and not inexpensive exercise. Some forty trees have been removed. At a guess over half of them had already fallen over - or rather "fallen up the bank", and many of the others were dead from being covered in ivy. Noted that said residents own this land: and were suffering from a lack of evening sun due to what was effectively a collapsing wall of dense trees. Not only is the view improved, but also the safety of people and cars and even more importantly the health of the remaining trees.
The council forgot to cut down a tree growing out of curtain wall below the Snuffmill Bridge . . . a basic maintenance failure.
And then the council, having created a "tree preservation zone" without informing the owners [which is a legal requirement], sent them what is best described as a nonsense terror letter. As is said "People make Glasgow" [but dare we say it NOT the council]. Take a "drive" up Old Castle Road and Linnview Avenue using Google Maps street view - you can choose dates between 2008 and 2020 [2022 for Linnview Avenue]. The whole question of roots, tree height, and well being of trees is extremely complex . . . see here !
Green spaces need to be managed and preserved, and that includes the trees within them . . . and of course risks to the public need to be minimised. The continued closure of the perfectly safe path below the Castle is a case in point; but it forces people to make either a less safe detour and not everyone knows to take the path over Court Knowe, or to climb round the fence hanging over the river. On a construction site this situation would result in a criminal prosecution. Sign the petition here - the path has been unnecessarily closed for FIVE years.
For the photographs below thanks to Patricia on 19th April and Claire on 23rd April and 2nd May - what would the Facebook page do without you, and indeed the web site.
