Friday 22 May 2009

Hawthorns and more along the Water of Leith

We went for a walk along my patch of the Water of Leith today. I hadn't managed to cover the whole length of my patch on Monday, nor had I then had a bag and gloves with me for litter picking! Today, we covered the whole length and filled a whole bag with litter (the Water of Leith Conservation Trust carries out regular big clean ups but there's a lot of litter dropped in between...), including a shoe that we found in a tree. More happy findings included two herons in different locations along the river and a family of grey wagtails dancing along the river, adolescent chicks shyly following their parents, who were chasing insects. The Italian name for wagtail (ballerina) certainly seemed appropriate today....

The hawthorn is magnificent at the moment and today I managed to get a couple of photos. (Weaver of Grass posted about hawthorn recently too, you can read her post and see her photo here.)

Also magnificent this year is the wild garlic, which fills the wooded riverside with the smell of, well, garlic.

The air was full of birdsong too, song thrushes, chaffinches, robins, wrens and blackcaps being the main singers.

11 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

That hawthorn is lovely Juliet - it is amazing that yours is out but that ours - apart from the odd patch here and there - is still only in bud. We are so looking forward to it.

Janice Thomson said...

That hawthorn is so beautiful. I would love that in my yard.

RG said...

Golly it looks great along there!

Kay Cooke said...

That looks so beautiful and spring-y! Cheers up my wet autumn day. Thank you.

Larry said...

A beautiful path to walk along. I didn't know there was wild Garlic.I guess that would be a perfect place to hide if one were being chased by a vampire!

Regina said...

Hi Juliet...:)
What a lovely day, it seems like. The flora and fauna is just so different from country to country so it's fascinating reading, really. Thanks for sharing.

Deb G said...

So beautiful.... I was thinking today about how lush and green things are here too.

Mistlethrush said...

I know what you mean about grey wags dancing. Well done you spotting the newly fledged.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely place! I've never come across wild garlic.. I'm not a big fan of garlic and can't imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by the scent of garlic :D

Unknown said...

Very lovely.

Lucy said...

What a lovely moist woodsy place!