The Water of Leith is the main river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 flowing through Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, to the port of Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

 where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

.

It is 35 km (21.7 mi) long and rises in the Colzium Springs at Millstone Rig of the Pentland Hills

Pentland Hills

The Pentland Hills are a range of hills to the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around 20 miles in length, and runs south west from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale.Some of the peaks include:* Scald Law...

. It travels through Harperrig Reservoir

Harperrig Reservoir

Harperrig Reservoir is a reservoir in West Lothian, Scotland, UK, to the west of the Pentland Hills, four miles south of Mid Calder.The Water of Leith flows through it, and nearby are Eliburn and Cobbinshaw Reservoirs.-References:*****...

, past the ruins of Cairns Castle, through Balerno

Balerno

Balerno is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 12 kilometres south west of the city centre, next to Juniper Green and Currie. Administratively, Balerno falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council.- History :...

, Currie

Currie

Currie is a civil parish and suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated 10 kilometres south west of the city centre. A former village within the County of Midlothian, it lies to the south west of the city, between Juniper Green and Balerno on the Lanark Road...

, Juniper Green

Juniper Green

Juniper Green is a village on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 9 kilometres south west of the city centre. It bridges the city bypass, and extends along the foothills of the Pentlands. It is bordered by Colinton to the east and Currie to the south-west. Administratively, Juniper Green...

, Colinton

Colinton

Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 6 kilometres south west of the city centre. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-west it extends to Lanark Road and to the south-west to the City Bypass...

, Slateford

Slateford

Slateford is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of the Water of Leith.The former village of Slateford lies on the Lanark Road where it crosses the Water of Leith 1/4 of a mile south west of Slateford Station. The name "Slateford" comes from local rock found in the area and...

, Longstone

Longstone

Longstone is a suburb of Edinburgh in Scotland. It borders Saughton, Wester Hailes, Slateford, Kingsknowe and Parkhead.Longstone's most dramatic features are the Slateford Aqueduct carrying the Union Canal and the adjacent railway viaduct . Underneath these runs the Water of Leith, and the canal...

, Saughton

Saughton

Saughton is a suburb of the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, bordering on Sighthill, Longstone, and Stenhouse. In Scots, a "sauch" is a willow...

, Balgreen

Balgreen

Balgreen is a suburb of Edinburgh. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic, either being Baile na Grèine or Baile Grain from the gravel on the riverbank. It does not, as some etymologies have suggested, come from "Ball Green"...

, Roseburn

Roseburn

Roseburn is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.The area lies in the west of the city, beyond Haymarket and close to the Murrayfield area . It is immediately to the south of the A8 road....

 and on to the nearest it gets to the city centre at the Dean Village

Dean Village

Dean Village is a former village immediately northwest of Edinburgh, Scotland city centre. It was known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was a successful grain milling hamlet for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by the strong currents...

, on the site of old watermill

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

s in a deep gorge. This ravine

Ravine

A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...

 is dramatically spanned by the Dean Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...

, which was built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry

South Queensferry

South Queensferry , also called Queensferry, is a former Royal Burgh in West Lothian now part of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located some ten miles to the north west of the city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth between the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge, approximately 8...

, and lies next to the New Town

New Town, Edinburgh

The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is often considered to be a masterpiece of city planning, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...

.

The river flows on past Stockbridge

Stockbridge, Edinburgh

Stockbridge is an area of Edinburgh, located towards the north of the city, bounded by the New Town and by Comely Bank. The name is Scots stock brig from Anglic stocc brycg, meaning a timber bridge. Originally a small outlying village, it was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th...

, Inverleith

Inverleith

Inverleith is an inner suburb in the northern part of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. It is an affluent suburb. Its neighbours include Trinity to the north and the New Town to the south, with Canonmills at the south-east and Stockbridge at the south-west...

, Canonmills

Canonmills

Canonmills is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is south-east of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Inverleith.It lies in low-lying ground north of Edinburgh's New Town on ground that was uneconomic to connect to the higher New Town street levels....

 and Warriston

Warriston

Warriston is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is north-east of the Royal Botanic Garden. The name derives from Warriston House a local mansion house, now demolished....

 where it passes through shallows at a place known as Puddocky which is commonly thought to refer to "puddocks", the Scots language

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

 term for frogs, but actually took its name from the former Paddock Hall which was sited nearby. The river continues past Bonnington

Bonnington, Edinburgh

Bonnington is a district of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is south-west of the Leith Docks.The Water of Leith flows by here.The former Bonnington Church united with North Leith Parish Church in 1968, with the united congregation thenceforth using the North Leith Parish Church building in...

, the site of another watermill, to Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

 where it widens into the old harbour and port at the Shore. Leith Docks have been extended considerably out into the firth

Firth

Firth is the word in the Lowland Scots language and in English used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland and England. In mainland Scotland it is used to describe a large sea bay, or even a strait. In the Northern Isles it more usually refers to a smaller inlet...

 from the old shoreline, and there are now plans to discontinue their use as a port and use the area for housing redevelopment.

There is a Water of Leith Walkway

Water of Leith Walkway

The Water of Leith Walkway is a public footpath and cycleway that runs alongside the small river of the same name through Edinburgh, Scotland, from Balerno to Leith....

 beside the river for the 12.25 miles (19.7 km) from Balerno to Leith, with approximately half a mile of the route on roads. The route forms an attractive haven for wildlife, passing through areas of woodland, often well separated from roads. For some distance the walkway follows the route of former railway tracks, and the remains of tunnels, bridges and other features of more than one railway may be seen at many places along the route.

A visitor centre is open to the public where the Union Canal

Union Canal (Scotland)

The Union Canal is a 31.5-mile canal in Scotland, from Lochrin Basin, Fountainbridge, Edinburgh to Falkirk, where it meets the Forth and Clyde Canal.-Location and features:...

 passes over the Water of Leith via the Slateford Aqueduct

Slateford Aqueduct

The Slateford Aqueduct is a navigable aqueduct in Slateford, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by Hugh Baird and completed in 1822 with advice from Thomas Telford....

 at Longstone

Longstone

Longstone is a suburb of Edinburgh in Scotland. It borders Saughton, Wester Hailes, Slateford, Kingsknowe and Parkhead.Longstone's most dramatic features are the Slateford Aqueduct carrying the Union Canal and the adjacent railway viaduct . Underneath these runs the Water of Leith, and the canal...

, in south-west Edinburgh. The Water of Leith Conservation Trust is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of the river. The Trust provides education programs about the river and the environment.

The river is stocked with brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

, and also contains wild grayling

Grayling (genus)

Thymallus is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is T. thymallus, the grayling. The genus's five distinct species are generically called graylings, but without qualification this also refers...

, eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

s, stone loach

Stone Loach

The Stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, is a species of ray-finned fish in the Balitoridae family.It is found in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein,...

, minnow

Minnow

Minnow is a general term used to refer to small freshwater and saltwater fish, especially those used as bait fish or for fishing bait. More specifically, it refers to small freshwater fish of the carp family.-True minnows:...

, three-spined Stickleback

Three-spined stickleback

The three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a fish native to much of northern Europe, northern Asia and North America. It has been introduced into parts of southern and central Europe.-Distribution and morphological variation:...

 and flounder

Flounder

The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic...

. A few sea-trout run the river, and occasional Atlantic salmon are reported, although those from which scale samples have been obtained have turned out to be from other catchments. Until the weirs are either demolished or furnished with effective fish-passes, there is little chance of a population of salmon establishing themselves in this river again. Otters have been seen in the river in recent years; North American mink are also frequently seen. The river and its environs are the haunt of a wide variety of woodland and water birds, including kingfishers, herons, wagtails, woodpeckers and dippers.

External links

• Water of Leith Conservation Trust: The River, Visitor Center, Education, Conservation
• Scottish Government, 16/03/07: Water of Leith Flood Prevention Scheme
• Water of Leith
• Water of Leith Millennium Bid document. The bid was successful and paid for new sections of the Walkway and the Visitor Centre.
• Water of Leith Walkway leaflet
• "Forth District Salmon Fishery Board"
• "River Forth Fisheries Trust"