Breaking news

Organisers behind research to build a community-owned wind turbine at Seafield are within touching distance of significant funding for the project, but they still need people to vote for the scheme between now and 2 December.

Although partly paid for through a loan from the Scottish Government, the Portobello and Leith Community Wind Energy Project (PLCWEP) needs further funds for a grid deposit, test boreholes and design of foundations, and to submit grid conection and planning applications, and to undertake further wind monitoring, landscape and bird studies.

Ten students from Broughton High School this afternoon helped CEC Park Ranger Jennifer Johnstone (pictured) plant hundreds of snowdrop and bluebell bulbs in the grass at the west end of the Rocheid Path. It may look like slave labour to you, but to them it is a practical component of their Environmental Studies course.

Some 20 pupils from Edinburgh Academy took a turn last week, planting the first of around 20,000 bulbs which, once in the ground, should begin spreading across the area without further human intervention.

In a move bound to cause controversy across the capital, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has applied for planning permission to erect 2 enormous logos on Edinburgh Castle.

One, facing Princes Street, would feature the 3-part Paralympic Agitos symbol, measuring 9.5m in height and 14m in width. The materials and colour of the structure are described as 'aluminium powder coated in blue, red and green' (Ref. 11/03565/ADV).

This splendid cormorant is attracting visitors (and possibly bears with buns) to a rear window in Axolotl Gallery's rear window on Dundas Street.

The sculpture, by mdmd, is part of an exhibition featuring the work of mainly Caithness artists, crafters and manufacturers called Katnes Folio which runs until 30 November. This reviewer particularly admired the uncanny painting 'Tree Dance, Melvich' by Eliot Rudie, and the inky depths of Meg Telfer's studies of a wintry Badenloch.

The twenty-six scenes depicted in Alison Auldjo's solo exhibition at the Union Gallery are loosely based on those she found herself among last summer, whilst painting in solitude around the Solway Firth. 

There are enormous swathes of sky, and equally arresting acres of land: rolling moors, perhaps, or areas where Forestry has shorn the ground of cover. Trees stand in dense tangles or isolated in little groups of two or three, clinging to the earth, braced against storms past, present and future.

Hell hath no fury like a woman pranged, especially when £1000 worth of damage has been caused to her brand-new car.

The local resident's 2-month-old, cream-coloured Audi was parked on Eyre Place opposite the junction with Eyre Crescent when, between 10am and 10.20am on 6 November, somebody drove past and scraped it along most of its offside.

There are unconfirmed reports that a brown/gold Renault Megane seen in the area may have been responsible.

Locals appalled at the felling of so many beautiful trees during flood defence works along the Water of Leith are mounting a campaign to defend those remaining at Canonmills Bridge.

Signs have gone up on railings in the area, headlined 'The Edinburgh Chainsaw Massacre':

A hundred years to grow, but just a day to chop down and turn a little corner of heaven into Desolation Row.

When I spotted fresh, juicy cranberries in my local grocers the other day, I couldn't resist trying out my recipe for cranberry and orange muffins.

Muffin recipes come in all shapes and sizes but one thing is universal – they are very easy to make. The key to making these is a relaxed approach. Don't worry about mixing too much as less is more when it comes to making muffins.

Everyone I know has been eating these over the last week as I'd doubled the recipe in order to make the most of the large bag of cranberries I’d bought.

We have just learned that Stewart Blaik, Chair of the Leith Central Community Council, died suddenly at home yesterday evening. The cause is thought to have been a heart attack.

Secretary Roland Reid today described Mr Blaik's passing as 'an enormous blow for Leith Central CC and for the wider community'.

Spurtle joins him in extending our condolences to the deceased's wife and family.

See STV Local's coverage here.