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The Petition

As a consequence of the almost universal common sense conclusion, a long term park user [that's forty years or more] raised a petition. You can read it here: https://www.change.org/p/reopening-of-entrance-to-linn-park-at-snuffmill-bridge.

By the 25th May 2022, just over 850 people had signed it. As of the 12th of August this had passed the magic one thousand and risen to 1,040 signatures. As at the 4th October 2023 it had reached 1,265. Keeping up the chat has resulted at 10th July 2024 in 1482 signatures. At 14th February 2026, we keep getting more support: Now at 1,560.
PLEASE, if you haven't already, follow the link above and sign it. It takes you to Change.org.

Read more: Petition to reverse the closure of the Path below the Castle

Thanks to a young park user Christopher Burtt we have some photos of "Stigmaria".

Google Images verified the left hand most of the photos in the following terms:

• This specimen appears to be a fossilised Stigmaria root from a Carboniferous-era Lepidodendron tree.
• The small, circular indentations are scars where root-lets were once attached to the main root system.
• Similar fossils are often found in coal-bearing rock formations worldwide, dating back approximately 300 to 360 million years.
• It is not uncommon for these fossils to be discovered along river beds or coastlines where erosion has exposed.

Christopher found the first one in 2023 when he was just seven years old. The left hand photo if of a part of the tree the rest are of the rootlets.

Where he found them is a well preserved secret - we don't want the park invaded ! They are as Google says of the Lepidodendron tree whose leaves grew straight of the trunk; the curious marks are where the leaves grew before they fell off.

His father points out that when these fossils were created over 300 million years ago, the equator passed through Scotland - well before the last ice age. There are of course lots of old coal seams and workings in the park. Many were never documented but excavated and the coal removed. It is why so many of the sandstone tenements have had to be bolted to prevent damage . . . 

The first verse has been posted on the gate at the forbidden path - viz the path beside the river below the Castle.

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost wrote "The Road Not Taken" in 1915 while living in England, and it was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in August 1915. The poem was later published in his 1916 collection, Mountain Interval. It was written as a playful joke for his friend, poet Edward Thomas, to poke fun at his indecisiveness on walks.

The "Entrance" to the forbidden path.

• Web site: https://theyardscotland.org.uk
• Addresss: Netherlee Road, Glasgow, G44 3ST. Phone: 141 465 0211. 
• Parking is available, but please note it’s owned and managed by Glasgow City Council. Thus they can’t accept responsibility for its condition or any incidents. The car park is shared with visitors to Linn Park.
• Scotland Yard Adventure Centre (known as The Yard) is a registered Scottish Charity SC002538 and Private Limited Company registered in Scotland 101671.

Some silly jokes [mostly recycled from the Gent's annual Christmas Dinners in the Old Smiddy] !

Recording

The first question is HOW do you record birds. There are two main ways - by sight and sound.

By Sight

This is very time consuming and one needs to to take photographs - and that is extremely difficult. Birds are relatively small so the photographer has to get up close. Linn Park is fortunate in that over years many many birds have been photographed, and this web site has been unusually fortunate in the number of phorographs sent to us.

By Sound

Again this does require a bit of time and effort.

Read more: Merlin and Identifing Birds