Friday 28 November 2008

The Meadows

The Meadows is a lovely area of greenery in the middle of Edinburgh, it has few fences around it and feels like part of the city rather than a cordoned off park (though we have plenty of those too!). I wandered round the Meadows this morning, walking from the Shelter second hand shop (where I bought two books and 2 small picture frames for a total of £3) to the recently expanded New Leaf organic shop (where I had my Ecover washing up liquid refilled and bought some organic pears) to Real Foods (where I bought loads of food and some Sarakan toothpaste).

I was hoping to see redwings in the Meadows as they are often seen there at this time of the year. I didn't see any but that was more than made up for by the other birds. The whole Meadows was shimmering with a mist of low whispers from the trees. Looking up I saw that almost every tree was full of long tailed tits, busily eating and twittering. There were also a lot of blue tits and some goldcrests, one of which came really close and I got a wonderful view of its little yellow head crest.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a lovely day! Our local organic market is called New Leaf as well! :)

Anonymous said...

You’re so darned observant! Long-tailed tits and a goldcrest indeed! All I ever see on the Meadows are gulls, crows and the occasional chaffinch … although I was particularly pleased with myself when I noticed a treecreeper on Bruntsfield Links a couple of months ago.

I live very near to the Meadows, so I really must look up and pay more attention to the birdlife there. Thank you for drawing my attention to it. It’s amazing how rich central Edinburgh is in bird species.

Janice Thomson said...

I love the different tits you have there - some of those birds are such beauties.
I use Tom's toothpaste - all natural ingredients and no preservatives.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Janice - Toms is good but as its American i prefer not to buy it, reduce the airmiles of my toiletries. Sarakan is British.

Golebnik - its amazing what's there in the Meadows if you look,

this is my patch said...

What a wonderful treat to see these birds, I very rarely see long-tailed tits. This morning whilst walking to work I stopped to study a tiny blue tit in a tree, it didn't seem to mind my presence. The Meadows sounds like a beautiful place to be. x

d. moll, l.ac. said...

We have New Leaf here too, but it is not Buddhist, it used to be a proper co-op, but now it is a same chain (pretty good though). I have started brushing my teeth with soap (no kidding), check out Toothsoap. Toothpaste has glycerine in it that creates a sticky coat that keep teeth from re-mineralizing.....though your toothpaste sounds good....

Dave King said...

It is wonderful to have such an area on hand - and generous of you to make it possible for us to share it vicariously.

Anonymous said...

I went back to the Meadows early this morning and finally managed to find the long-tailed tits! I didn’t see any on the Meadows itself (themselves?), but there were a load high up in a tree just across Melville Drive. Long-tailed tits are so flighty that they’re almost impossible to photograph, but I just about managed to catch one here. I got a lovely view of a great spotted woodpecker on my way home, though. Thanks once again for providing the inspiration with your original post.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Golebnik - thanks for sharing your photos, they're wonderful! Glad you saw the long tailed tits and wow! a great spotted woodpecker in the middle of town!