The Cot Burn: A Home for Nature

Burns visible and invisible:

Burns (small streams of water) may arise from surface water (e.g. from waterlogged or boggy ground, or from ponds and lochs), or emerge as springs, ‘sources’ and ‘wells’ from ground water. A surprising amount of our fresh water originates in ground water. This water may have travelled for miles percolating through sedimentary bedrock before emerging on the surface of the ground. The bedrocks under and around Burntisland are sedimentary, mostly sandstones, but the landscape features of hills and ridges are mainly less permeable intrusive igneous rocks from volcanic activity. There are many springs in the area and the Cot Burn is one of those small watercourses that arises as a spring.

Drains and culverts: During the agricultural revolution, much previously boggy land was drained with field drains. Later, as the town and its population grew, water was piped as drinking water, and used for industries like the old Distillery. This has resulted in many of the local burns that 500 years ago ran visibly along the ground, now running out of sight in pipes and culverts.

As already indicated, in medieval times, when the burns were all still visible, it’s very possible that the junction of the Cot and Kirkton Burns was the spot specially chosen to build the 12^th century church that eventually gave the Kirkton its name.

The Cot Burn arises on the east Binn, near the present Golf Club House.

In the 19^th century it was put into a culvert under Kirkcaldy Road. When the town expanded in the 20^th century, it was entirely culverted, firstly from Kirkcaldy Road to the park and later from source to park. Only in the Toll Park does the Cot Burn run in the open air.

The Cot Burn leaves the Toll Park in another culvert under Cowdenbeath Road and in that culvert joins the waters of the culverted burns from Dunearn and the west side of the Binn as the Kirkton Burn. So, the Cot Burn, along with other burns from Dunearn and the west side of the Binn, is a feeder stream to the Kirkton Burn.

In other words, the water that you see running in the Toll Park as the Cot Burn, runs towards the sea as the Kirkton Burn. It’s just a question of naming but it does cause confusion. For many people it’s just the ‘Toll Park Burn’, the ‘Toll Burn’ or just ‘The Burn’. The name doesn’t matter at all to the creatures that live in and around it! Keeping the Cot Burn name reminds us of its history and identity.

As the Kirkton Burn, it runs in a channel along the back of the gardens in Glebe Place to the Jubilee Tavern and then disappears into a culvert under the road. It is part piped past old Ged’s mill dovecot (where it once powered old Ged’s Mill), and into a pond formed as part of a SUDS (sustainable urban drainage system) at Kirkton Drive. It runs, diverted around the housing estate, beside the Fife Coastal Path to the tidal pond under the path and railway. It reaches the sea off the west breakwater from there via a pipe under the ‘Red Pond’ grassy amenity area.

It is thanks to the effectiveness of the remediation of previous pollution of the Cot Burn, the Whinnyhall water treatment works, and the landscape planning when the ‘Alcan’ housing estate was built, that the Kirkton Burn is such an attractive feature. From the Fife Coastal Path that runs by it, you can see moorhens, mallard ducks, herons, grey wagtails, dippers, and perhaps, even kingfishers. You may see an evening murmuration of starlings as they settle into the reeds and trees in and beside the Kirkton Burn for the night.

Additional information is available on the history of the burns around Burntisland, their names, and how they were planned to be used as water supplies in the past from this old newspaper excerpt:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/6127/page/1072/data.pdf

The map extract below is from ViewRanger.

It shows Burntisland with the various lochs, ponds, and watercourses around town in blue, and the sea.

Stenhouse old reservoir (now a trout fishery) is to the north west. Kinghorn Loch is to the north east.

Dunearn Loch is on the summit of the hill. The Binn Pond (an old reservoir for the distillery) is at the west of the Binn by Silverbarton Hill. The tidal pond (by the site of the old seamill) is beside the railway and it’s via this that the Cot/Kirkton Burn reaches the sea. You can just make out the pond at the SUDS on the Kirkton Burn. The Cot Burn is clearly shown at the Toll park. The blue ‘blob’ west of town by the railway is not a pond but the waterfall at Starley Burn on the Fife Coastal Path.

(The ponds by the B923 Kinghorn Loch Road are part of Whinnyhall Water Treatement Works. The ‘pond’ at Binnend is also part of the Whinnyhall facility. These are not publicly accessible.

Various ponds in flooded old quarries on the golf course are also shown. It is unwise and potentially dangerous to attempt to investigate these. They are best left to the local wildlife and viewed from the safety of the golf course above them.)

The Cot Burn confined: Outside of its culverts, the Cot Burn in the Toll Park is confined in an unnatural ditch almost straight and with steep sides. Unlike the Kirkton Burn, its banks are quite steep, narrow and shaded. Times of greater flow have resulted in erosion of the banks in places. However, over time, the burn has partly re-naturalised itself. Some twists have developed, and there are sections of faster and slower flowing water due to natural obstructions in the watercourse like stones and vegetation. Some parts of the steep bank have collapsed towards the water and so are now less steep.

The town has grown up around the Cot Burn so it is now surrounded by buildings, back garden fences, asphalt roads and paths. Both the Cot Burn and the Toll Park have become urbanised and there’s been a loss of biodiversity.

However, the Cot Burn is still a home for nature and its little wild strip along the edge of the Toll Park creates opportunities for wildlife to flourish and people to relax and engage with nature. This natural balance can so easily be upset by human actions e.g. by dumping waste on the burn banks, littering, or allowing pesticides, herbicides, car wash chemicals, or dog excrement to get into the water.

Trees by the Cot Burn:

There are a number of mature willows and alders by the burn. These trees don’t look much like each other, but they have some things in common: They both prefer to grow near water and they both have flowers called ‘catkins’. In spring, you can see the different male and female flowers on the alders. In the autumn small ‘cones’ develop containing seeds, though alders are not considered true conifers.

Trees are beneficial to the burn in several ways: Their roots can help stabilise the burn banks. They draw up water which can also help prevent flooding. They provide shade and so help keep the water a more stable temperature for any water living creatures. They provide food for insects and birds, and perches and nest sites for birds.

We have planted some additional smallish native trees for people and birds to enjoy, including birches, rowans, holly, crab apples and hazel, whose berries, fruit, seeds and nuts help provide food for birds.

You can find out more about trees from the Woodland Trust at: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk A tree ID app is available to download from their website.

Wildflowers:

There are lots of online resources and books on wildflowers.

You may find this site helpful: https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk

The plants that you see at the Cot Burn are likely to fall into one of the following categories:

· Aquatic plants – real specialists that like to grow in the water.

· Plants that prefer to grow very close to the water. These may be the easiest to see and often look the most attractive.

· Plants that are less fussy but like damp or shady conditions so may also be common in woodland or damp meadows.

· Plants that thrive almost anywhere, in meadows, by roadsides, and close to people. They may outcompete some of the more delicate waterside loving plants.

Insects:

Without insects, there would probably be no other complex life on earth! We need the pollinators! The greater the diversity of plants, the greater the diversity of insects.

If you want to learn more, check out Bug Life at: https://www.buglife.org.uk

See also the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org

Birds:

You can probably recognise many of the common birds around here.

The RSPB are the UK’s biggest nature conservation charity. You can download a bird ID app from their website: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/

Amphibians:

Can you tell a common frog from a common toad? Or a common (smooth) newt from a palmate newt? Common newts have been seen in the Cot Burn!

Frog Life have a website with helpful resources for children: https://www.froglife.org/

Toads and frogs feature a lot in stories and may be some of the first wild creatures that children get to know close up. How amazing is it that tadpoles grow from spawn (eggs laid in water) and turn into frogs and toads! It’s not magic; it’s science!

Unfortunately, amphibians are at risk due to habitat loss as ponds and wetlands are drained, and adults may get killed crossing roads when seeking a mate or to reach a breeding site.

For information on all Scottish wildlife see the Scottish Wildlife Trust website: https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk It’s not all about deer, dolphins, beavers and red squirrels!

Their website has a Learning Zone with ideas for learning with children.

If you are interested in nature and wildlife, consider joining one or more of the above organisations. Or seek out local groups of other interested people.

We hope that you will enjoy spending some time around the Cot Burn. There’s always something to enjoy or discover!

A pair of mallard ducks investigating the newly cleaned up Cot Burn, March 2021