Trees along the River of Stones

River of Stones has been a project to share 'small stones' of observation on our blogs through the month of January. I've enjoyed taking part, both writing my own stones here and reading other people's stones on their blogs. I'm generally a very observant person (though I'm also easily distracted and if I'm internally writing a poem all sorts of things can pass me by!) and quite good at taking notes but the River of Stones has helped me to improve in both areas.

Some people will continue the River of Stones with another month in July. I won't do that though - I've felt some of the 'stones' I've shared here have not been polished enough to want to share in ordinary circumstances and the 'stones' sometimes have felt to be cluttering the blog over the past month. So I will keep my future stones in a notebook and only share them (here and on Twitter) if I feel they merit it.

Another project I recently signed up for is Tree Year. I chose a hornbeam as my primary tree to study for this but this tree has been badly damaged in the winter storms and now has been partially cordoned off as the footbridge it grows next to is closed for maintenance work! So my study of this fascinating tree will be somewhat curtailed! Although I have chosen other trees too (a cherry tree across the road from our flat and a group of hawthorns alongside the Water of Leith) what i may well do is just blog about any trees as and when inspired.

From the Train

red and white lighthouse on a stone jetty - rain smears the sky above endless sea

for A River of Stones

Trees along the Water of Leith

I have started to study one of the hornbeams along the Water of Leith as part of the Tree Year project. I can see there may be a problem with this already. I mentioned in a recent post that this hornbeam had been damaged in the winter storms and now it has been trimmed back and tidied and has no low hanging branches for me to take photos of or even make sketches from. It also seems that the other hornbeam along 'my' part of the Water of Leith was blown down in the storms. So I won't be able to do such a detailed study of this tree as I thought, but I'll see what I can do. At the top of this post is a photo I took of the hornbeam today. Its buds are just starting to swell though you can't see that in the photo.

Below is a photo of a rather handsome holly tree also along the Water of Leith. It has such a magnificent gnarled trunk. I thought I would also include this in my Tree Year. And as there are some lovely hawthorn trees along the river, maybe I'll include them in to my Tree Year too!

I saw a lot of birdlife along the river today and for the River of Stones:

Blue tits were chasing each other through the branches, the dippers were paired up and singing

A great spotted flycatcher flew into a tree, crept around the trunk then flew off again

Long tailed tits everywhere, their most endearing habit is that they come towards me

when I stop.

Blackbird

a male blackbird hops energetically round the branches of the cherry tree, wiping its beak on a twig every so often

For A River of Stones

for Tree Year

River of Stones

Water of Leith

for A River of Stones

Above the Weir

a flash of kingfisher across the river disappears in the bushes

for A River of Stones and Weekend Reflections

I took the photo just above one of the weirs along the Water of Leith. We saw the kingfisher further along the river in Stockbridge and it certainly wasn't going to stop for a photo! Always a wonderful bird to see!

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I took lots of photos of the historic buildings along the Water of Leith in Dean Village and I'll be posting those in the next few weeks on my Over Forty Shades blog. Currently over there is a photo of a building in Colinton Village, also along the Water of Leith.

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As ever, red text contains hyperlinks to other websites where you can find out more!

Studying the Stones

smooth black mudstone, crystals embedded in it sparkle as I turn the stone in my hand

for A River of Stones

One of the perks of teaching evening classes with the Office of Lifelong Learning at the University of Edinburgh is having the opportunity to study evening classes myself for free! This year I have chosen to study The Geology of Scotland's Hills, which is a totally fascinating course. Scotland is one of the most geologically diverse places in the world and our tutor is both very knowledgeable and an excellent communicator (and brings boxes of rocks to the classes!).

And in other news

I had a ten minute reading slot last night at The Golden Hour at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh. I read alongside Kirsty Logan, JL Williams, Lipsynch for a Lullaby and Zebra Eye. It was a very entertaining evening and I enjoyed my reading - the audience seemed to do so too!

Whole Earth Foods recently held a 'Good Life' competition and they have just announced their winner on their website here. I'm delighted and honoured to have been chosen! (For readers based outside the UK, The Good Life was a 1970s sitcom in which the characters Tom and Barbara Good tried to live a back to nature lifestyle. it was in the 1970s that Whole Earth Foods launched their peanut butter).

The Personality of Wind

for a windy city, this is a strangely calm day, the air perfectly still, clouds floating lazily high in the sky

for A River of Stones

I've just discovered Windsite - a lovely new site that combines personal observations of the wind alongside the meterological data for the time and place of the observations. Have a read of it, and share your own observations!


As ever, the red text includes hyperlinks that take you to other websites to find out more!

a cloud 'rainbow' circles the moon

for A River of Stones

sunlight

on silver birches -

robinsong

for A River of Stones

photo taken along the Water of Leith

a herring gull flies
across the wispy clouds -
daytime gibbous moon


For A River of Stones

A Snowy River of Trees

snow covered trees ripple in the water, interrupted by passing ducks

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Taken last weekend along the Water of Leith near the Gallery of Modern Art.

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The snow has mostly melted now, it's almost warm and I heard a blackbird singing this morning. More like practising, really, but still, a wonderful sound.

for A River of Stones and Weekend Reflections

I posted more reflection photos on my Over Forty Shades blog here.

crow haiku

puddles on the grass -
a carrion crow drinks
from its reflection.


for A River of Stones

a blackbird flies between the perches he used to sing from last spring

The Tree Year

three blue tits chase each other round and round the branches of the cherry tree

for A River of Stones

I've also found another blogging project to take part in! This is The Tree Year. The idea is to pick a tree (or any number of trees) and to observe them through the year and to write about your observations, take photos, sketch the tree. Notice the lichens and mosses that grow on the tree, the insects that live on it and the birds that feed on it. Also notice how the tree changes through the year.

The trees I'm going to observe are the cherry trees across the road from where we live, which I can look at every day and a hornbeam along the Water of Leith, which I pass every week (though at the moment it is out of reach because part of the pathway along that part of the river is covered in sheet ice).

Stones on snowy lawns

a magpie marches across the snowy lawn

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as the snow melts, the grass reappears, seeming greener than it was before

for A River of Stones

Mouse carries stone

the mouse scuttles into view, runs away as I shriek, comes back again, retreats as I move, then back again to pick up the crumb of bread.

for A River of Stones

Another day, another river

an otter porpoises round a rock in the middle of the river

along the Water of Leith

(this is only the second time we've ever seen an otter! It played in front of us for several minutes!)

for A River of Stones

Down by the River

broken sea-shells scattered on frosty grass

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gulls float on the water, which ripples beneath them in lilac and turquoise

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Where the old school was demolished is now an empty field, part frozen over. Gulls and a curlew gather round the ice.

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snow on the hills across the river, an oystercatcher's piping call

For A River of Stones

wooded hills reflected in glass offices