A Wild Day Out in Holyrood Park

The sun was shining for today's Wild Day Out in Holyrood Park, hosted by Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Historic Environment Scotland as part of Edinburgh Science Festival. Several marquees were set up around the Rangers Centre

and there was a full programme of events happening all day

I watched two birds being ringed (I think this is known as banding in the US?) - a male blackbird who sang all throughout the process and a coal tit. Both birds were then released and if their rings are retrieved in the future, or of the bird is caught again (as in fact the blackbird was on this occasion) then the information can be checked back and added to statistics about that species.

It was then time for me to join Robbie from the Rangers team to lead a guided walk. There was a good selection of walks throughout the day

Our walk went into Hunters Bog (seen in it's entirety in this photo which I took after the event when Crafty Green Boyfriend joined me for our own walk, I didn't take any photos during the guided walk).

While we were in Hunters Bog, Robbie showed us replicas of prehistoric items that have been found here (including a very useful portable sewing kit complete with bone sewing needles) and I talked about gorse, encouraging everyone (carefully as it's a prickly plant!) to sniff it (it smells of coconut). We also listened to the birds and watched a territorial dispute among the mallards on the small pond in the middle of the bog. We then walked over to St Margaret's Pond and fed a good selection of bird seeds to the ducks and swans (and talked about the importance of not feeding bread to birds).

The walk was only an hour long, as most of the attendees were children, but we packed a lot in and everyone enjoyed it, helped by the sunshine!

I then met up with Crafty Green Boyfriend and we walked round the Bog and around Salisbury Crags. The views here of both Arthurs Seat and Edinburgh are amazing.

The Wild Day Out is now an annual event and a great family day out!