Sunday 2 July 2023

The Road to Duddingston Loch

The weather was (to say the least) very changeable yesterday! We went for a walk along the road at the base of Arthur's Seat all the way to Duddingston Loch.

 
This road is much more sheltered than the usual route we take around Arthur's Seat and did protect us from the worst of the wind. The views were lovely as ever and lots of different flowers were in bloom, including Vipers Bugloss, which seems to be much more common than it used to be in this area

Rest Harrow 

and Forget Me Nots

We were delighted to see two Cinnabar Moths, although the bright yellow and black caterpillars are very common on Ragwort plants, we very rarely see the beautiful adults (thanks to Crafty Green Boyfriend for the lovely photo)

We also saw several damselflies, mostly Blue Tailed Damselflies (this photo is the best I could do!)

 

though also other blue damselflies that we didn't get close enough to identify to species level. 

Canada Geese, Mute Swans and Mallards were gathered at the edge of the loch. 

There were also three odd looking geese, which are hybrids between Canada geese and Greylag Geese.  
The loch was looking beautiful in the sunshine, especially with the Water Lilies in bloom! 







4 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Beautiful photos from your outing. Love the Loch and the wildflowers.
The geese are cute, great closeups. Take care, enjoy your day and have a great new week!

Sal said...

I always say that there is so much to see out in this wonderful world of ours and so much is for free …as you’ve just shown!

You live in a lovely area! I don’t know Scotland that well but I did visit when I was very young and my parents took us to stay in Pitlochry. And then, as a student, I youth hosteled with a friend, around Scotland, and we stayed for a few nights in Edinburgh before heading north to Inverness.

I was actually in my second year of training to be a teacher and so for my second teaching practice, with a class of 8 Yr olds, I decided to do a project based on Scotland! It was wonderful too! I remember that we had art work on the walls, based on tartans and of course, the Loch Ness Monster, Castles and Robert the Bruce..etc etc! We all really enjoyed it!

It’s lovely to dip into your blog and see what’s going on where you live!

Sal😁

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Oh my very favourite kind of walks...even in changeable weather.

Rainbow Evening said...

beautiful wildlife and nature..... lovely duck and flowers

# great to walk in the nature during this hot summer season ....