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www.crabpublishing.co.uk

CRAIL MATTERSincorporating About Crail W/C 20 March No 7

Free

Denburn DispatchesHeavy rain onthe first Satur-day of Marchbumped dig-ging in Den-burn Wood tothe followingweekend, butthe merryband of volun-teers made upfor the delayby raking thepaths, by

making a start with planting a new flowerbed, andby tackling all sorts of spring-time miscellanea. Wealso wrestled a couple of boulders away from thelawn: the conveniently bum-compatible stonesfound a new occupation as seats under thecorkscrew willow. Clearing the burn continues bit bybit, and a few spadefuls at a time we are findinguses for the soil dug out from the channel. The firstbloom of spring flowers has already faded but helle-bore, lesser celandine, lungwort and daffodils areall looking cheerful, and on sunny days the blueanemones are impossible to miss, so carry on vis-iting! The litter-picking round in March was unusu-ally quick; thank you for taking your rubbish withyou! Your friendly neighbourhood Denburn Diggerswill continue gardening (and picking up rubbish afterthose few incapable of common decency) on thefirst Saturday of April at 10 a.m.

Monday Club20 March at 2.15pm in the Community Hall

AGM, and “Stories”Judith Hutton

The Charity Trustees’Toolkit and the role of the

Charity ChairCrail Matters has been informed of a seminar to beheld in Perth on Tuesday 25 April at 6,30pm on TheCharity Trustee Toolkit, and The role of the CharityChair. The Seminar will be held in The Soutar The-atre at the AK Bell Library, York Place, Perth, andis organised by JH Mitchell, Solicitors. If you would like to attend, please contact colin.lid-dell@hmitchell.co.uk to request a Booking Form.Places are £10 per person for either or both ses-sions and all proceeds will be donated to this year’snominated charity PKVAS, Scottish Charity Num-ber SC005561. Given the number of Charities op-erating from Crail, and some of the difficulties theyface, this may be considerable relevance.

Planning Notices- Two storey rear and side extension to dwelling-house (Non-material variation to 16/03749/FULLfor two storey rear extension) - 30 Bow Butts CrailAnstruther Fife KY10 3UR- Erection of a domestic garage and formation ofgate and fence - 22 Pinkerton Road CrailAnstruther Fife KY10 3UB- Two storey extension to rear and external alter-ations - 17 Castle Street Crail Anstruther FifeKY10 3SJ- Alterations and single storey extension todwellinghouse - 5 Balcomie Road Crail AnstrutherFife KY10 3TN- Erection of poultry unit comprising of 3 poultryhouses, service building and 3 feed silos with as-sociated infrastructure including 4 gas tanks, ac-cess, parking, drainage and boundary fencing -Airdrie Farm Lochton Crail Fife-Listed building consent for internal and externalalterations including replacement door formationof new path and opening in existing boundary wallDoocot Park Nethergate Crail Fife KY10 3TY

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NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDER TO EXEMPT LAND FROM ACCESS RIGHTS

LAND REFORM (SCOTLAND) ACT 2003 THE FIFE COUNCIL (THE RICOH BRITISH WOMENS OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, KINGSBARNS)(EXEMPTION) ORDER 2017

Notice is hereby given under section 11(2)(b) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 (“the Act”) that TheFife Council proposes to make The Fife Council (The Ricoh British Womens Open Championship, Kings-barns) (Exemption) Order 2017 (“the Order”) under section 11(1) of the Act.

The effect of the Order will be to exempt (i) between 0600 hours on 31 July 2017 and 1900 hours on 7 Au-gust 2017 the Kingsbarns golf links, the adjacent car park a section of the coastal path, and fields to thesouth west of the golf links, all as shown outlined in red on the plan attached to the Order, from the accessrights which would otherwise be exercisable in respect of that land by virtue of Part 1 of the Act. A localalternative route for the coastal path will be available during the currency of the Order, the details of whichwill be posted at both ends of the path.

The purposes for whichthe Order is made areto allow a charge to bemade for admission toThe Ricoh BritishWomens Open Cham-pionship and to providefor public safety andsecurity prior to, duringand after the event. Itis proposed that theOrder will take effectfrom 06:00 hours on 31July 2017 and will ex-pire at 19:00 hours on7 August 2017, unlessrevoked earlier.

Full details of the pro-posed Order togetherwith a Plan showingthe land affected may

be examined during normal working hours at Reception, Rothesay House, North Street, Glenrothes andon www.fifedirect.org.uk.

Objections or representations in respect of the Order may be made to the Head of Legal Services, FifeHouse, North Street, Glenrothes, KY7 5LT for consideration, no later than 21 days after publication of thisNotice. These should be made in writing by post to the above address or email to june.barrie@fife.gov.ukand in the case of objections, the grounds on which they are made should be stated.

Morag FergusonHead of Legal Services

Editorial commentThis order does not relate to the intention of Fife Council to close the access road to the beach and It would seem that objections to this will not be covered in the formal process outlined above; objectorsto this should therefore presumably contact the local Fife Councillors.

Red - area included in Exemption Order.Yellow - alternative route for Fife Coastal Path

airvineReproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of HMSO.© Crown copyright and database right 2017. All rights reserved.Ordnance Survey Licence number 100023385.Aerial Photography © copyright Getmapping.

±1:15,486Scale:

Printing Date:

Prepared By:Service: Parks & Countryside

07 March 2017

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Book bonanza!Sale of pre-loved books – adult fiction, non-fic-

tion and children’sold and new favourite authors

Crail Town HallSaturday and Sunday 1st and 2nd April 2017

10am-5pm all day both daysAdmission free All welcome!

DONATIONS OF ANY UNWANTED BOOKS OFANY SORT FOR OUR CHARITY TABLE MOSTWELCOME – WE SUPPORT VARIOUS ANI-

MAL WELFARE CHARITIES

Crail MattersFunding

As readers will know, Crail Matters depends onvoluntary donations to survive. We are very grate-ful to the group of anonymous donors whose reg-ular donations makes publication possible. But wedo need further funding to survive. We intend tokeep the Newsletter free, and similarly we will notcharge local organisations for advertising events.We also want to improve its quality and scale. Ifyou enjoy receiving Crail Matters, and/or if yourorganisation places advertisements in Crail Mat-ters, if you have not already done so we urge youto think about making a donation. To give you asense of the costs involved - the ink cartridge weuse for printing is £123.00 and a box of paper is£15.00; we're having to re-order every 4 - 5weeks.

If you feel you can help, please make chequespayable to ‘Crab Publishing’; alternatively pleasecontact us if you wish to make a donation by banktransfer and we will send you the bank details.

Our current distribution is of the order of 750copies per week, and our digital distribution num-bers are consistently growing. If you currently takethe print issue, but have access to a computer, wewould urge you to subscribe to the digital edition- the quality of photographs is so much better.

Thank you for your support

Corn bunting area proposalCrail Matters has received a number of letters insupport of the proposal for the Corn Bunting areaat Bow Butts.

Closure of Kingsbarns BeachCrail Matters has received a number of letters ob-jecting to the proposed closure of the coastal pathand the beach.

Crail ScoutsRe the photo of Crail scouts. The venue will be thescout hall which was in Rose Wynd. From what I

can make out my dad Jimmy Calder is in the backrow far left under the picture.It's a bit fuzzy but thereare few others wholook familiar but wouldneed to see original tobe sure.Kind regards

Shona Irvine

Addendum after seeing a higher quality picture:It's not my dad, I think it's Robert Peebles.

Letters to the Editor

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WILD CRAILWill Cresswell,

with Photographs by John Anderson

I took the day off last Thursday to work on the pathacross the pond in my back garden. I was hopingthat all day just outside in Crail would pay off withsomething of interest flying over. Things are start-ing to move now and there was a steady passageof meadow pipits all day. After an hour or two Ithought I heard a chiff-chaff calling but it was onlyone call – luckily a few minutes later I heard it

again. Really calling this time and then the bird it-self appeared foraging very hard in the smallbushes and trees in my neighbour’s garden. Myfirst summer migrant of the year and a very earlyrecord. Last year my first chiff-chaff was April 4th,and in years before, April 8th, 4th, 15th, 7th and10th. Chiff-chaffs are one of the first migrants toarrive for the summer, and there have been manyrecords already in England this year, but theydon’t, as my records show, usually pass throughCrail until the first week in April. There is a fly inthe ointment though. Chiff-chaffs also winter in theUK small numbers (most only migrate as far asSpain or North Africa, although some do cross theSahara) and over the last 30 years the numbersdoing this, particularly in England, has increasedhugely. This far north it is much more unusual andI haven’t seen a wintering chiff-chaff in Crail since2006, on February 6th, and before that a Siberianchiff-chaff on a frosty day just after Christmas bythe burn at Cambo. So my money is on a genuinemigrant today rather than a wintering bird. It wasfeeding very hard in that manner that migrantshave after a long night’s flight when they reallywant to refuel and get on. It wasn’t singing whichmight indicate a migrant, but I find chiff-chaffshardly ever sing as they pass through Crail in thespring. True you do hear them but they are the

ones that are easy to notice. There are many morethat just keep their heads down and just keepfeeding, eager to be on their way. I hope this earlybird is a sign of an early spring – I may have seena wheatear on my way to Anstruther that morningas well. It flew over the car so I couldn’t clinch itswhite rump, and it was silhouetted. It just lookedlike a wheatear – something in the way it flew - andI bet it was. I will be on the lookout at the weekend:the coastal path and fields between Crail andAnstruther is always good place for earlywheatears.

My other rewards for a day spent DIYing in thegarden – a peregrine flying over in its powerful butlazy way, heading far out to sea, perhaps to theMay island, and a couple of hunting spar-rowhawks. Even with my head down working Iknew they were coming past because of the bluetits. The top sentry bird. Whenever you hear a bluetit alarm calling (it’s the same as their song) lookfor the raptor. They have eyes in the back of theirhead and seem never to make false alarms.

The weather has been very variable this week withmicro gales blowing up and then interspersed withperfect early spring days. The sea has corre-spondingly been choppy and then perfectly calm.Mark Twain’s saying “if you don’t like the weather,just wait five minutes…” seems particularly apt. Ido love the way the ever-changing state of the seamakes the commonplace suddenly noteworthy.Gannets diving between two meter high breakers,or guillemots dotted on a flat calm sea in mirroredpairs. It was the eiders’ turn yesterday. John’s bril-liant photo of one braving the spray is like aJapanese painting.

Chiff Chaff

Eider braving the spray

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Crail Rowing ClubCrail Rowing Club would like tothank everybody who supportedthe coffee morning on Saturday. Atotal of £281.70 was raised whichwill go towards the cost of mainte-nance and repairs in readiness forthe coming season.

Crail CommunityChoirMarch 207.30pmTown Hall

Everyone will be made very welcome.

There is no obligation to attend everyweek.

I passed Kinghorn on the train mid-week and keptmy eyes peeled for the humpback whale. It hasbeen breaching spectacularly – jumping right out ofthe water – just like they do on the wildlife docu-mentaries. I have only seen humpbacks coming upto breathe and spouting. Impressive enough, espe-cially when close. But to see one breach – and fromCrail. It probably wouldn’t get better than that forwild Crail: until I see a pod of killer whales pass, ora live leatherback turtle, or a black-browed alba-tross (all have been seen from Crail, although notby me yet). I just need a couple of hundred yearsmore observing. I am grateful to all those activistsand conservationists in the 70s and 80s that madeit possible that we have a humpback whale back inthe Forth again. And that can make me hope real-istically that I might one day see a humpback whalefrom my garden (to add to the minke whale alreadyon my list)

Eider braving the sprayKing Creosote at the East Neuk

Hotel The East Neuk Hotel is proving to be an increas-ingly important venue for live music in Fife. We arelucky to have a Mercury Prize nominee in our midstwho performs here on a regular basis. During hisprevious performance he performed cover ver-sions ranging from “Jolene” by Dolly Parton to thehauntingly beautiful “Song for the Siren” by TimBuckley. During his latest gig on Thursday 16thMarch he stayed closer to home, performing songsfrom his own Fence record label. This is very mucha family affair and songs he performed on Thurs-day included “Comfort in Rum” written by HMS Gi-nafore , his partner Jen, and “Lavender Moon” and“Waterfall” by Lone Pigeon, his brother Gordon.The up tempo number “Orr my dog” received anenthusiastic reception. Between numbers we were treated to hilariousanecdotes ranging from the man in India eating apizza (don’t ask) to his own DIY exploits with a

paint scraper which culminated in partialdemolition of a wall! A very entertainingevening, look out for more musicalevenings in the coming weeks.

Wild Crail continued

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The CrailSeagull

An eye on our world

What’s this stuff in last week’s issue about CornBuntings being given a privileged feeding place? Thisis discrimination!!! Thank goodness there’s plenty ofdumped refuse on the roads in Crail for us to eat, alongwith the pleasure of tearing up cartons and things.

Speaking of refuse, I saw a tasty morsel on Nethergate,swooped down to get it before a rude crow beat me,and landed in dog poo!! Bring back the Crail chalker Isay.

Seen all the geese flying over? Some nearly landed atFluke Dub, but I scared them off. Can’t have squattersin my holiday home! But seagulls are anything butconsistent, and there do seem to be an awful lot of hol-iday homes in Crail - more than when I first came here.I sometimes wonder where local people live? I wonderhow many there are - maybe someone should do a cen-sus. I have a nest, so I don’t pay council tax, but do allthese holiday homes pay taxes? It’s no wonder Crailseems very quiet.

I went for a cruise along Marketgate on Wednesday,and my eyes were blinded by the vivid colours of thenew flag. I’m sure I saw someone pointing to it, andsaying ‘it’s a case of lead kindly flag, amidst the en-circling gloom’.

Material for inclusion in Crail Matters should be sent to crailmatters@gmail.com and received on Friday middaybefore publication. We reserve the right to edit copy for length and style. Submission does not guarantee inclu-

sion.© Crab Publishing 2017: Editorial Team this week: Graham Anderson, Julie Middleton, Isla Reid, Valencia

Sowry, Max Taylor, John Wilson

ROYAL BURGH OF CRAIL AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY COUNCIL NOTES

Emergency CommitteeThe development of the Crail Emergency Plan isproceeding apace, and the Emergency PlanningSubcommittee has met to discuss the practical ar-rangements necessary. Discussions are also be-ginning with Kingsbarns Community Council todevelop a joint Emergency Plan for the two vil-lages, where we will be able to share resourcesand offer mutual support in the event of need. TheSubcommittee hope to have the plan finalised byend of April.

Roads and Traffic ManagementIt has been agreed with Fife Council that a speedsurvey will be carried out in the reasonably nearfuture in Marketgate and St Andrews Road. Park-ing issues are being dealt with by Fife Council onan ongoing basis; Enforcement Officers visit Crailtwice per week. Between 5 May and 7 December2016, 7 Penalty Charge Notices were issued.Areas that seem particularly prone to inappropriateor illegal parking are Castle Street and RoseWynd. Cars parked causing an unnecessary ob-struction or in a dangerous manner are a matterfor Police action. The Community Council may ap-proach Police Scotland for high visibility speed en-forcement where particular problems seemapparent. The Community Council has drawn theattention of Fife Council to a wide range of main-

tenance issues in Crail, and the Council willclosely monitor progress.

Tree Charter BranchThe Community Council have been invited to be-come a Tree Charter Branch. This is a growingnetwork of Councils and other local bodies thathave a special interest in the preservation of treesand local woodlands. Trees and woods are hugelyvaluable for our health, happiness and our chil-dren’s development. Our woodland heritage iseven richer and internationally more significantthan we realised, and the Tree Charter movementaims to stop taking trees for granted, recogniseand celebrate their huge contribution to our lives,and take responsibility for their welfare. The Char-ter for Trees will be launched in November 2017,and the intention is that this will influence policyand practice and celebrate the role that trees andwoods play in our lives.

Closure of Kingsbarns BeachReaders will note that an official notice of consul-tation has now appeared. If you sent objectionslast week to the addresses given, we suggest youwrite again to june.barrie@fife.gov.uk. Sadly, ex-perience suggests that at this stage volume of ob-jection is as important as content.