Talk:River Spey

hydronymy
Does anyone know the hydronymy of the Spey River? It would be great to include that in the article. dodo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.131.110 (talk) 18:11, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I've added a few lines under etymology and will do likewise for the various tributaries which have article of their own, so far as i have any information. cheers Geopersona (talk) 16:59, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Speed
The article claims that the river flows at an average rate of 16m/s. I find this difficult to belive since this equates to 57.6km/hr. At this rate, the river would take only about 3 hours to flow its entire length. Perhaps the author intended to write 6m/s? Rubisco (talk) 14:39, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I removed this same assertion and comment (italicised here) from the article itself:  The mean flow is around 16 m/s making it the fastest flowing river in Scotland, and possibly the UK (depending on what constitutes a river).(this needs to be checked since a flow velocity of 16m/s would cause serious erosion of the river bed and banks ) The speed is clearly nonsensical; it is an issue which still need to be addressed. Geopersona (talk) 17:55, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Which criteria for determining a rivers' source are we using?
As confirmed on wikipedia's own page for River source there is no universally agreed method for defining a rivers' source so what has been used here and on all other UK river pages?

The headwaters of the Spey can broadly be considered to come from three locations if all the various criteria are considered (furthest from the mouth, head of most dominent watercourse, greatest elevation etc.) Loch Spey to the west, Shesgnan Burn to the north and Allt Coire Bhanain to the south. Taking the confluence of Shesgnan Burn as the datumn point the furthest point 'up stream' from here at 6.6km is via Allt Coire Bhanain between Meall Ptarmigan and Garbh Choire - a clear 2km further than any other tributary. This is also the highest point of the the three. However, based on Google's aerial photography the most dominant source is clearly from Loch Spey as the article currently identifies. However, if the Loch Spey watercourse is to be considered the correct source then the spring feeding into Loch a' Bhanain must be considered the actual true source location (this being 0.1km further than the longest spring to the north west of the Loch itself). This though is just 3.9km from the confluence of the Shesgnan Burn.

My personal preference for determining the source of a river is the furthest point from the mouth of the river regardless of any other criteria. Simontific (talk) 21:09, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Wild mushrooms
Burt Wolf: Travels & Traditions says Speyside is famous for its wild edible mushrooms and they figure in local cuisine. Is this worth mentioning in the article? --RThompson82 (talk) 22:49, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Catchment map incorrect
The map shows (in fact both maps show) Loch Laggan forming a part of the upper catchment of the Spey whereas the River Pattack which appears to be heading for the Spey dog-legs and flows back southwest into Loch Laggan which then drains via the River Spean to the west coast. Perhaps someone with the necessary skills can fix this? thanks Geopersona (talk) 08:09, 11 January 2022 (UTC)