A Berry Bright Riverside Walk

 I did my regular litter picking, wildlife recording walk along Edinburgh's Water of Leith this morning. It was a lovely morning, the sunshine looking lovely through the late Summer leaves

I was delighted to find this clump of Cuckoo Pint, which oddly I've never noticed before. 

 

I often see the berries at this time of year, but rarely see the arums. Luckily the clump above is in quite a memorable location so I hope to be able to find the arums in the spring. Wikipedia has a good page about this fascinating plant, along with a photo of the arum stage. 

Ant Invasion (Malawi, 1991)

As if from nowhere
an endless stream of large black ants
invaded our home.

. 

We had become fond of their smaller cousins

that seemed to kiss

as they passed each other on our kitchen walls

but these sharp-jawed soldiers marched

through every room –

our house a mere obstacle on their route.

.

Walking too close to walls

we risked our feet being nipped

by a member of this single-minded colony

just travelling from A to B.

.

And in this land carved out from forest

who are the invaders anyway?

 

 

originally published in the Russell Streur Nature Poetry Anthology published by North of Oxford.  

 

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I published a new post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack today, you can read it here. 

 

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I'm happy to have a haiku included in the September 2025 issue of Sense and Sensibility.  

Robin

 

autumn sunshine -
the robin's song
changes key 

 

previously published on Haiku Seeds.  

Weekend Walks

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk around Blackford Pond and the Hermitage of Braid. The pond is looking quite low after the very dry year we've had so far (though it has been raining occasionally over the past week). 

The Braid Burn is also quite low where it flows through the Hermitage  

and the grass at Midmar Paddock is looking very yellow 

 On Friday lunchtime we had walked the Maroon Mile from Tynecastle Stadium to the War Memorial at Haymarket. The Maroon Mile has been punctuated with information boards about local history and the history of Hearts Football Club to celebrate the club's 150th anniversary. North Merchiston Cemetery (of which I'm a member of the Friends Group) hosts two information boards, one celebrating the wildlife of the cemetery (including the 'Footballer Hoverfly' (Helophilus pendulus) which hasn't been marked with a photo)

 and the other highlighting the people buried in the cemetery who had connections with Hearts. 

I've written a wee bit more about the Maroon Mile over on my Shapeshifting Green blog. You can read it here. 

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In the run up to the 2026 Scottish Parliament Elections, Scottish Wildlife Trust are asking our politicians to Take Nature Seriously. read more here. 
 

Moody Clouds above Edinburgh

 I carried out a butterfly survey today at Lauriston Farm, Edinburgh's Agro-ecology project. I didn't see many butterflies at all, but was impressed by the clouds and surprised it didn't start raining while I was there. (I was hoping it would start raining as soon as I finished the survey, we desperately need the rain but you can't survey butterflies in the rain.)

 

Edited to add: it's now raining! Pouring! Hope this lasts for a while. 

Easter Craiglockart Hill and Pond

Yesterday we walked round Easter Craiglockart Hill and Pond. There are lovely views from the hill over to the Pentland Hills to the south of Edinburgh (the clouds look very moody in the photo below, but there was only the slightest bit of drizzle all day)

 The pond was quite busy with birds, though not many are visible in the photo below 

We were amazed by the number of Harlequin Ladybirds in the vegetation at the edge of the pond - the photos below show two of the very different forms of the adult Harlequins 

 While below shows a Harlequin larva 

It feels as though autumn is already here as the lack of rain over most of the year means that many trees are losing their leaves really early. 

 The Purple Loosestrife is beautiful at the side of the pond

 while it was nice to see these seed pods of Birds Foot Trefoil which demonstrate clearly why this particular plant was given its name 

After a nice lunch, we walked home along the canal and admired the Hairy Willowherb  

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I mentioned a few posts ago that I was considering shutting down my Crafty Green Magpie shop on Etsy. However, I've now decided to keep the shop open for another year before making a final decision. You can visit the shop here. 

Speckled Wood Butterflies

Speckled Wood butterflies seem to be everywhere in good numbers at the moment. They have two broods a year and the adults we're seeing at the moment are from their second brood. I saw this individual yesterday, who looks as though its had some hard times recently but still surviving well enough.