Butterflies and Oak Galls in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens

We had a lovely visit to Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens yesterday. As this year's Big Butterfly Count  finishes today, we decided to carry out a quick count of butterflies in one of the flower borders in the Botanics. We were delighted to see this beautiful Red Admiral 

 

and this lovely Speckled Wood 

In another part of the gardens, we came across a wonderful oak tree that had several different types of galls on it. We're used to seeing galls on oak trees, but I've never seen so many different galls on one tree. There were Knopper Galls, caused by the wasp Andricus quercuscalicis:

Oak Marble Galls, caused by the wasp Andricus kollari

Artichoke galls, caused by the wasp Andricus foecundatrix

 and Spangle Galls (the circular galls on the underside of the leaf in the photo below) caused by the wasp Neuroterus quercusbaccarum

We also walked through Inverleith Park and met this very handsome feral pigeon by the Pond 

  

 

A Good Year for Insects?

 I carried out a butterfly survey at Lauriston Farm today. As regular readers might remember, this is the site of Edinburgh's Agro-ecology Project, which is rewilding parts of the fields and setting up community growing plots and planting orchard trees among other activities. The organisation is keen to know how wildlife is benefitting from the rewildling initiatives. The last couple of years haven't been great for butterflies, but this year I've seen more of many species, both on the farm and elsewhere. Though today I didn't see a lot of butterflies (the wind, though acceptable for a butterfly survey was possibly too strong for good numbers to turn up). I did see a Meadow Brown (though the photo below was taken a couple of years ago in Portobello Cemetery)

 

The latest post on my Crafty Green Substack went live this morning, follow the link to read it: A Better Year for Insects.  

Time to leave Etsy?

My Crafty Green Magpie Shop has been open on Etsy for nine years now. I also for a while had a separate Crafty Green Poet shop (for handmade items only) at which time the Crafty Green Magpie sold only vintage and craft supplies. More recently I amalgamated the two shops. Over the years I've sold a fair amount of things, though it's never been hugely busy. Now though, the listing fees barely make it worthwhile, given that sales are becoming rarer. (I haven't helped this by recently limiting my sales to the UK, due to various customs issues with various overseas markets, but then the UK was always my largest market). 

So, at the moment I'm thinking of only keeping the shop open until the current listings have all run their natural course. I may change my mind but it's looking likely that this is the end. You can have a final look around here.  

Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? by Lev Parikian

 

I first came across Lev Parikian via his excellent Six Things Substack, which includes his 100 Birds posts, which are clearly related to his book Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? 

As a youngster, Lev Parikian was an avid birdwatcher. He also told lies about his birdwatching success.  One hundred and thirty species ticked off on his list? It was really more like sixty. When he turned fifty, he decided to go birdwatching again.  He would aim to see two hundred British bird species in a year. And this time he wouldn't lie.

This book details the author's rediscovery of the joys and challenges of birdwatching. The narrative skillfully blends information with personal anecdote, plenty of humour and vivid descriptions such as this observation of a group of Canada Geese: 

"A squadron of eight birds organising themselves into formation, calling to each other in fervid excitement, a frenzy of organised chaos coming together at the last second as the final goose slots into place. They churn the water and the air, sending their fellow waterfowl scuttling for cover.... I'm struck by the everyday beauty of the spectacle." 

This sighting of a common bird is what really sets Lev off on his ambition to see 200 birds in Britain in one year. Two hundred seeming like a manageable target. So each chapter tells of a month's birdwatching, his visits to various bird reserves around Britain and his meetings with conservationists and bird experts. There's a list of birds seen that month at the end of  each chapter so you can follow his progress as he goes along. He's not just ticking birds off a list though, he's learning about their behaviour, the evolution of flight and birdsong. As a conductor he's particularly interested in music, but admits to finding birdsong challenging (which I think is something most of us can relate to!). 

His enthusiasm always shines through, he's always as delighted to see a common bird as a rarity and has little time for the type of birder who'll ignore a whole flock of lapwings in pursuit of a rarity. He also makes the point that a birder from the 1950s would wonder where all the birds have gone, lapwings nowadays are almost a rarity themselves. 

One of my favourite parts of the book is where he visits Edinburgh and discovers the wonderful place for birds that is the Water of Leith (one of my favourite birding places). 

"The Water of Leith is twenty-five miles long. The odds against there being a dipper on this short stretch must be ooh look, there's a dipper."  

 This is a very entertaining and informative book for anyone interested in birds, particularly anyone who grew up enjoying birdwatching and who has lost the habit. Reading this will definitely make you want to get back out into the field.  

Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear? by Lev Parikian, published by Unbound.  

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Dr Neil's Garden, Duddingston

 On Saturday, we visited Dr Neil's Garden, a hidden gem on the edge of Duddingston Loch,  

near Edinburgh's Arthur's Seat (which you can see in the background to the right of the photo below)

It always seems to me to be an ideal place to spend a hot summer's day, with it's waterside location and benches positioned under a variety of shady, mature trees. We were delighted to see a variety of insect life too including Common Darter Dragonflies 

a couple of Wall Butterflies 

and this bee (I think it's a Common Carder) who had found a pleasant resting place in between the petals of this ornamental daisy 

At the edge of the garden is Thomson's Tower 

which hosts regular small art exhibitions, including the current exhibition of work by Irene Bell, Linda Green and Marion Barron which is on until 7 August.

The above photo of Thomson's Tower was taken from Jock Tamson's Gairden, which is a community garden, with orchard trees, vegetable plots and wildflower areas. 

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Also this weekend we enjoyed an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. Monkeys: our Primate family is beautifully curated and informative with several interactive activities for children and the young at heart. It would be improved if it could include a bit about the ethics of animal collection, with specific reference to how the taxidermy specimens in the exhibition were collected.  

 

Weekend Walk along the River Almond

We had a lovely walk yesterday along the River Almond, starting at the Cramond Brig and ending up at the village of Cramond. It's a lovely stretch of river 

I've always liked the ruin of the old Far a Fair mill 

There are lots of ferns in among the stones of the walls, including this Maidenhair Spleenwort

Close to the mill is a weir, which now has a fish ladder alongside it to allow salmon to travel upriver, you can just about see the fish ladder to the right of the weir in the photo below  

 Just further downstream is a beautiful meadow of planted wildflowers, which was buzzing with bees and hovercflies when we visited

 I particularly love the scabious flowers 

and their seedheads  

It was good to see so many insects, including this Red Tailed Bumblebee, feeding on a thistle

It's definitely a better year for many groups of insects compared to the last few years, though there are nowhere near as many as there would have been back when I was growing up in the 1970s. 

Still further along the river, we saw this handsome Grey Heron 

and this family of Goosanders 

We were also very pleased that the Cramond Inn is once again open under new management! A lovely, traditional inn serving good food and drink. It's had problems in the past under previous managers, but everything was great when we were there for lunch. 

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I'm happy to have a haiku included in the Creature Feature on Haiku Girl Summer.  

Rosebay Willowherb

 

Rosebay Willowherb is a beautiful flower, often underappreciated as it grows so profusely in some areas. it's well worth stopping to admire though. 

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My latest post is now up on my Crafty Green Poet Substack blog. You can read it here.  

Waterbirds enjoying the Rain

 It was raining most of the day on Saturday but that didn't stop us enjoying a wander around Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens. This family of Moorhens seemed to be happy with the weather

 as did this Mallard mother and her duckling (she seemed to only have one, I'm guessing she must have lost a few to predation from gulls and other predators). 

 

Nesting Lesser Black Backed Gulls

I love watching this nest from our living room window. The Lesser Black Backed Gulls nested later than usual this year as they first had to get through an extended territorial dispute with a painr of Herring Gulls. But they kept the Herring Gulls off this prime nesting spot and now have two chicks. 

We'll watch the chicks as they grow up. Once they get to a certain size, they'll leave the small nest site and drop down to the flat roof, that you can't see in the photo but which sits in between the roofs that you can see. This flat roof offers a perfect nursery for the chicks and they'll spend many a happy hour chasing each other round and then resting in the shade. Lesser Black Backed Gulls have nested at this site for many years now and always provide great entertainment! 

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It's time to vote for the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year! There are ten trees to choose from, each with its own story - trees that have inspired poetry and music and trees that have seen historical events. Find out more and vote here. 
 

A Good Day for Butterflies

 I was carrying out a butterfly survey this morning at Edinburgh's Agroecology Project at Lauriston Farm. After a rainy early morning, the day turned into a perfect day for butterflies. I saw over 80 in total, including this Comma 

 and this Small Tortoiseshell 

The Big Butterfly Count starts on 18 July and lasts until 10 August. You can find out more about this excellent citizen science project here. My latest post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack focuses on butterflies too, you can read it here. You can subscribe to the Substack to receive each issue directly into your inbox, though of course you may already get too many emails! 
 

Sunshine in the Cemetery

 It's pouring down just now, but at the weekend it was beautifully sunny and we had a lovely walk round North Merchiston Cemetery. This is one of the garden cemeteries of Edinburgh, which is no longer used for burials (unless you already have a family plot) and is mostly managed for wildlife. 

We were pleased to see several butterflies, including this Speckled Wood  

and this moth, which I  think is a Cream Wave Moth, though please correct me if I'm wrong, there are several similar looking species

 

Walks in East Lothian

On Saturday we had a lovely walk along the John Muir Walkway from Musselburgh to the Bird Hides at the old ash lagoons at Levenhall Links. 

Along the way, there's a lovely view across the mouth if the River Esk to the Firth of Forth with Edinburgh and Arthur's Seat in the background 

 

The boating pond was looking pretty 

 and the wildflower meadows were looking wonderful

 

We were delighted to see several butterflies and moths in amongst these flowers. We were particularly happy to see this female Common Blue, which despite its name, isn't actually common around Edinburgh, the photo below shows the butterfly's upper wings

and the photo below shows her pretty underwings

We were also very happy to see a couple of Six Spot Burnet Moths  

a Painted Lady butterfly, who looked quite tattered 

and this handsome hoverfly, which I don't think I've ever seen before, but have identified as Chrysotoxum bicinctum

We saw plenty of birds too, including these Black Tailed Godwits (thankfully one of them had raised wings, helping us to identify them as Black tailed rather than the, in many ways, very similar Bar Tailed Godwits.

The male Eider ducks are moulting and look very different in this  plumage (known as eclipse plumage). In the photo below, the male Eider at the front is in breeding plumage, the rest are males in eclipse plumage.
 

 There are lots of Seven Spot Ladybirds this year, this pair were obviously doing their best to secure the future of the species

Last week I had also visited Dunbar to have lunch with a friend. We enjoyed watching the Kittiwakes at their nesting site at the harbour, these are the prettiest of gulls and are named for their distinctive call, which really does sound like 'kittiwake, kittiwake' 

 and more Seven Spot Ladybirds, this one just next to one of the reflective cubes at the Dunbar Battery, which has recently been reimagined as an events venue. 

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Big Butterfly Count takes place this year from 18 July - 10 August. Find out how to get involved here.  

A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare

 

Swallows are wonderful birds, one of our most familiar summer migrants (though not as common as they once were). 

In this book, the author aims to follow the approximate route taken by a migrating Barn Swallow from South Africa to South Wales. He travels overland and only rarely sees swallows, so the book is mostly about the experiences of travelling across Africa, interwoven with occasional sightings of swallows, details about their biology and habits and the place of swallows in religion, folklore and literature. The author comments on local customs, political borders and environmental degradation (particularly deforestation). 

He notes that birdwatching as we in the UK know it, is a 'luxury' and not something that people across Africa generally engage in, though he does meet some swallow experts and fans along the way and learns some local names for swallow, including Nyankalema the Zambian name which translates as 'the one that never gets tired'. 

Swallows meet with many perils on their journey, including needing to cross the Sahara, storms, collisions with traffic and predation. Yet every year they return to our shores to delight us. 

"they seemed to delight in chaos, charging zig-zag into space, which was at once empty and full, as though playing chicken with physics."

A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare, published (2009) by Vintage.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare, published (2009) by Vintage.  

Orchids and Hoverflies on Corstorphine Hill

I told Crafty Green Boyfriend about the orchids I'd seen on Corstorphine Hill on my butterfly survey the other day and he was keen to see them for himself and to take some photos. So we took a trip there yesterday and here are some of the photos he took:

 

We went into the Corstorphine Hill Walled Garden and were very pleased with how many hoverflies we saw. After hardly seeing any Babded Hoverflies (Syrphus sp) over the past couple of years, we were delighted to see so many! Click on the photo below to zoom in and see how many hoverflies you can count on the Fox and Cubs flowers. 

We were also happy to see a number of other hoverflies, including this Sericomyia silentis, sometimes known as the Bog Hoverfly

and this Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria sp)

We continued our walk around the hill and saw a number of butterflies, including this Small Skipper

We were also happy to see some rabbits, though we were only able to get these two on camera.  

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I'm happy to have a haiku in  this selection on Haiku Girl Summer.