Friday 21 February 2014

A Hidden Path

My birdwatching walks are starting again next Monday (and are fully booked, so you won't be able to just turn up on the day!). One of the walks I'll be doing with the class is around the farm fields at Liberton Brae and into the Hermitage of Braid. I walked the route today, to check the state of the paths (which can get very muddy). Part of the route goes along the Braid Bridle Path, which feels like a secret passage between a busy road on one side and a golf course on the other

it's also very muddy at the moment, if it gets any muddier, I'll be taking the group along the pavement on the other side of the road!

There was a wonderful fungus growing alongside this path

Thanks Caroline for identifying this as the Yellow Brain fungus!

The route then passes down a steep streamside path, which feels like a secret passage between a field and a golf course

The wild garlic is showing itself now

and I was fascinated by this tree, which is full of holes


the path eventually crosses the Braid Burn

then it passes some fields, where there are new friends to be made


and I hope this little cat isn't too destructive of the local birds

Although this term is fully booked, there are still places on the evening birdwatching class that starts on Tuesday 29 April.

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Meanwhile, if you use vintage thread spools in crafts, I've just added some to the Crafty Green Poet Etsy Shop.  

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.





10 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

it's a lovely area to take a tour!

Caroline Gill said...

I think the fungus is Yellow Brain Fungus, I have some on my blog, but this is a better pic.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

This looks like such a lovely and amazing path. Wow. I wanna be there!

Dartford Warbler said...

That looks an old path with a long history. A lovely place to walk . The holes on the tree trunk might be old sockets of long fallen branches. There seems to be scar tissue on the bark around each hole.

Enjoy the bird watching walk. I would love to join you if I were nearer!

eileeninmd said...

What a pretty place to take your birdwalk.. I would like to be there, but you might turn me away, LOL!
Wishing great bird sightings on your walk.

Have a happy weekend!

Little Miss Titch said...

lovely place to take a walk,xx Rachel

Hootin Anni said...

Wow...wish I'd be going with you on your birding tours!! What a gorgeous area. And the fungus...looks icky. LOL

Trofim said...

How sad that people have to be taken on walks and shown things. When I was a kid, it was just there. We experienced it as just part of our lives, spontaneously, no organisation or management. We went out in the woods and fields in the morning, came back when we felt hungry, went out again. It's laudable and nice that people want to experience wild places, but it really should be done alone, in solitude, to really appreciate it. Being organised somehow takes away its meaning.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Trofim, to a large extent i agree with you, I much prefer being in nature by myself or with Crafty Green Boyfriend, just the two of us. But I think a lot of people who come on my birdwatching walks see them as a social event too, and they learn about things that they don't know about. Then a lot of them become more likely to go on walks by themselves

Sandy's witterings said...

Yellow brain fungus - marvelous - never seen it's like before.