Tree Following: the Larch 5

Today I thought I'd look at what's growing underneath the larch that I've chosen to study for Tree Following.

Here's what it looks like as you approach it

quite a nice green undergrowth, though as you get closer, you can see there are patches of bare earth, covered only with fallen needles

there are sone celandines growing in the undergrowth, along with ivy, nettles, at least one species of umbellifer and a small leafy plant that remains a mystery to me, but I'm sure I'll recognise it when it comes into flower.

Also in the shade of the larch, there's a young sycamore tree and a couple of other trees too. 

There was no sign of the long tailed tits that I watched building a nest in the tree a couple of weeks ago, but a chaffinch was perched nearby with a mouth full of either nesting material or food for a nestling.

for Tree Following. 

Here's a clearer photo of some celandines, growing in the hollow of another tree in the Dells to give you a better idea of what they look like

Meanwhile it was wonderful to hear and see the first blackcaps, arrived back from their winter in Africa. One of my favourite bird songs. Some blackcaps spend the summer in the UK and winter in Africa, others spend summer in Scandanavia and winter in the UK. Some may even be resident in the UK.....

Lovely also to see blue tits checking out the nest boxes that I helped the Water of Leith Conservation Trust put up in the Dells last year.

and finally from today's walk:

the old dog's grave -
newly scattered ashes
and fresh flowers.

for NaPoWriMo

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Stars

Lost Stars

We have lost the stars
behind neon orange clouds

so we carry the sign of the star
in our hands

hoping it will guide us
through the gathering night. 

For NaPoWriMo

***
This poem was inspired by the design of my latest craft project, details below.

***
This scrap of beige faux fur just fits my wrist and as soon as I saw it I knew I'd make it into a wrist cuff. However, it took me months to come up with the design for the finished product! Then suddenly I realised it would look nice combined with this nylon lace from a repurposed vintage robe and the buttons and star just fell into place too. Quite a nice item to wear for a party or other night out!

It was surprisingly quick to make and I think it turned out quite nicely. It's very definitely one of a kind as although I have more of the fabrics and the buttons, I don't have more of the stars. I've listed this piece in the Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop.

Mesolithic Edinburgh

Cramond is one of the most ancient sites in Scotland, certainly in Edinburgh. It is best known for it's Roman settlement, but it was also settled as far back as 8500BC in the Mesolithic Period (click on the above photo to read the information board!).

I was in Cramond yesterday, to add my objections to the exhibition of the proposed development of Cammo Fields (and you can read my thoughts on that here). It was a very misty day. Looking over the site of the Mesolithic settlement, I could almost imagine how it must have been all those years ago.

I leave the church hall and walk along the gravelled path
through the Roman site,
where signs label barracks and kitchens.

A car passes slowly on the winding tarmac lane.

I slip down the muddy slope
through layers of history.

Mist closes behind me
muffles vehicle noises,
hides the present and the Romans.

Ghosts gather between the trees,
middens of discarded hazelnut shells
their only legacy.

for NaPoWriMo

Skylark Street

Imagine if these fields where skylarks sing and linnets and tree sparrows forage are replaced with housing, with streets being called Skylark Street, Tree Sparrow Lane and Linnet Place.
 

If you care about Edinburgh's Greenbelt, please take time to object to the plans (lower photo) to build 670 houses that Edinburgh Council are considering for the field (top photo) that is currently home to several important bird species.

The City of Edinburgh Council claims to consider the Local Biological Diversity Action Plan (LBAP) when making planning decisions. If that is really true then why are they even thinking about building houses on this field which is home to 4 species of birds specifically mentioned in the LBAP (tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting and linnet) and to two other species (skylark and, in winter, fieldfare) that are red listed as being of being priority conservation need in the UK ? 

A pre-planning application exhibition is currently showing at Cramond Kirk Halls today and this weekend. Please go along if you can and add your voice to the protest. Before we even think of building on biodiversity rich green spaces, we shold be looking at brownfield sites and bringing empty homes and other abandoned buildings back into use.  

If you can't attend the exhibition, you can contact the developers directly. You can also write to your Edinburgh councillor (whichever area of the city you live in) and write to the Edinburgh Evening News and to other relevant publications. If you live in the Cammo area, you can join Cammo Residents Association in their fight against this inappropriate development (they're on Facebook and Twitter too). .

I have written to the Edinburgh Evening News and to the members of City of Edinburgh's Planning Committee. You can read the text of my letter and a list I compiled of the committee members email addresses.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Birds at Musselburgh

This is one of the Canada / greylag hybrid geese that I've watched grow up on Musselburgh's River Esk over the past year. Handsome bird, isn't it? Below, it's with a greylag and two Canada geese (plus two adolescent mute swans). Not sure what it's future will be...

Just further down the river I watched the always distressing annual ritual of mallard mating

There are 3 or 4 males in that pile, underneath which is one female, who kept flying off and diving into the water to try to avoid the males' attentions. After several minutes, they all calmed down and floated happily downriver together.

Then I walked along the John Muir Walkway to Musselburgh lagoons. This walk is well known for the views you get in winter of waders and sea ducks, but at this time of the year the grass by the path fills up with smaller, more secretive birds. Yesterday I delighted in the first wheatears of the year, a male and a female chasing each other, several reed buntings chasing each other and surround-sound skylark song, which is something that is becoming rarer and rarer as skylarks continue to decline across the UK.

I was delighted to see about ten house martins swooping over the Boating Pond (or were they actually sand martins? it seems a bit early for house martins to be back in Scotland for the summer, but although sand martins have definitely arrived back already, these birds seemed too dark to be sand martins). Whichever species, always wonderful to see them.

***
sunlight through clouds -
skylark rising
sings.

for NaPoWriMo

Frogs!

Splash!
The frogs hide beneath
their spawn.

For NaPoWriMo

****
Yesterday we were round at Crafty Green Boyfriend's mother's house. We took the time to check out the garden ponds:

the larger pond (though not actually all that big) is generally home to several frogs. We didn't see any, though the water was moving in tantalising ways. It was lovely to see the frogspawn, which has started hatching already.

When we turned round we saw a splash in the small pond, but didn't actually see the frog and when we walked past, all we could see was more frogspawn almost ready to hatch

Later in the evening, there was a second clump of spawn in the small pond, though still the frogs were hiding.

A grey heron flew past, but thankfully didn't land. A heron can empty a garden pond of all its frogs and tadpoles in probably less than an hour.

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

NaPoWriMo and Malawian Art

blackbird sings
in the skeleton tree -
white mist

 ***

April is NaPoWriMo - national poetry writing month. The idea is to write a poem a day, these poems will by necessity be first drafts, but hopefully can later be developed into more polished works. I'll be  taking part, posting poems both here and on Shapeshifting Green (though not poems on both blogs every day, that would be silly).

Yesterday the NaPoWriMo Early Bird prompt was to write an ekphrastic poem (one inspired by a piece of art) and today on Shapeshifting Green, I've posted a poem inspired by artwork by Jomwa Phiri, an artist I met while I lived in Malawi, who has since become one of the best known artists in that country. I recently found I had more of his paintings than I remembered and have put one in the Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop.