Early Spring in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens

 This weekend Crafty Green Boyfriend and I had a lovely trip to Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens. 

Before we got to the Botanics, we walked through Inverleith Park where we said hello to this young black headed gull

You can tell it's a youngster because of the brown in its plumage. Also, though most of the adult black headed gulls have at least started to get their brown headed breeding plumage, this youngster still only has the small black patches on it's head.

Spring has already sprung in the Botanics, with daffodils in full bloom 

sometimes beautifully interspersed with crocuses

Some of the many species of rhododendrons in the gardens are already in bloom

 There is an excellent exhibition on in the Gateway Building at the Botanics. Forth Lines is a Forthline and Restoration Forth exhibition to 'remember, reconnect and restore the Firth of Forth'.

Over the past year, people who live and work along the Firth of Forth, whether based in Edinburgh, Fife or East Lothian have come together to create an illustrated story through 184 crafted squares of calico. Each square relates to one specific square kilometre of coastline. The range of artistic techniques is impressive, often using found and upcycled materials, and there are some very beautiful pieces in this exhibition. It's well worth a close look at each square. The exhibition runs until 24 April 2022 and is free. 

Tree Following March Update

 For Tree Following this year, I've chosen a magnificent old cherry tree in North Merchiston Cemetery in Edinburgh. Crafty Green Boyfriend and I started walking round this cemetery (and the nearby Dalry Cemetery) every day for our #DailyExercise during the first UK lockdown last year. And we're still doing the same walk regularly, though not quite as often. 

In early February, the tree still looked winter bare

 

and the buds were still tight winter buds 

while near the tree, the crocuses were almost ready to bloom 

 By mid-February the buds were much more advanced 

Sadly over the past couple of weeks, many of the lower branches have been chopped from the tree. Edinburgh City Cemeteries department claim they're not responsible, the council forestry department denies all knowledge of it, it certainly isn't the work of the cemetery friends group, so we have a mystery here, though some people still claim that the council cemeteries department is responsible. The amount of branches that have been cut back haven't damaged the tree, though it's annoying that the blossom will be less accessible for close up photos for Tree Following, but the real issue is that vegetation is being chopped back in the cemetery with no one knowing who is doing it!

Return to Inch Park

I returned to Inch Park yesterday to discuss facilitating a course of nature walks round the park later this year as part of a new programme of adult education hosted by Inch House Community Centre. 

When Crafty Green Boyfriend and I visited the park the weekend before last, the fields were flooded. Yesterday I found out that there is a sluice here, allowing the Braid Burn to flood these fields when water levels are high, preventing flooding causing damage further downstream. The fields have mostly dried up now

I was delighted to be given a tour of Inch House which is a wonderful, historical building, and I blogged about it in my Shapeshifting Green blog.

Sunshine in Kirkliston Cemetery

 It was cold this morning, but soon warmed up in the beautiful early Spring sunshine. I visited Kirkliston Kirkyard and cemetery, just outside Edinburgh to continue my wildlife surveys of the cemeteries managed by Edinburgh City Council. There are three sections to this lovely cemetery, the old kirkyard

an extension to the kirkyard

and a more recent cemetery (which is still being used for burials)

The sunshine had brought the birds out, although none of them allowed me to take photos! Rooks and jackdaws were busily building their nests in nearby trees, blackbirds were chasing each other and singing, dunnocks and wrens were skulking about, and a collared dove was sitting quietly on a wall. 

There are some beautiful mosses in the cemetery, including this patch of Anomalous Bristle Moss (Orthotrichum anomalum) with Grimmia pulvinata in the centre. 

I liked the way the drops of recent rain sparkled on this feather

Late Winter Sun in a Suburban Garden

 Yesterday Crafty Green Boyfriend and I spent much of the afternoon at his Mum's house. The weather was lovely, so we enjoyed the sunshine in her beautiful garden. The snowdrops are in bloom around the garden

and the rhododendron will soon follow

and the rhubarb has started sprouting, so we can look forward to plenty of rhubarb crumbles this Spring!

 We found these snail shells in a corner of the garden, which suggests that s song thrush has been using one of the stones or bricks as an anvil for smashing the shells off the snails they so enjoy eating)  (If you click on the photo you will enlarge it and have a better view of the snail shells).

Last week when I had visited, I'd enjoyed watching a fox sunbathing in the garden. There was no sign of the fox this week, but the neighbour's cat Atticus wandered by to say hello.

The Wildlife of the Dells

This morning I did my patrol of the Colinton and Craiglockart Dells alongside the Water of Leith. It's a beautiful place, but sadly sometimes has a litter problem (though not as much as it used to have back when I started patrolling). Today I collected two bags of rubbish along my walk. 

But it was a nice mild day and despite the lack of sunshine, Spring definitely seemed to just be around the corner. Robins, wrens and song thrushes in particular, were singing beautifully. I'm always impressed by how many song thrushes sing in the Dells, as this is a species that is declining across the UK. 

The birding highlight of the day though was seeing (and hearing!) three great spotted woodpeckers. These birds were chasing each other around the tree tops, calling loudly, with one (or two?) of them taking regular time out to drum on the tree trunks. I know that great spotted woodpeckers nested in almost exactly that spot last year, and hopefully they will do so again! The woodpeckers were too high up for me to get photos. 

I'm very happy that the Water of Leith Conservation Trust has just published a short article I wrote about surveying plants in the Dells. You can read it here.

Wildlife in Cemeteries

 I've spent a large part of the last six months surveying wildlife in Edinburgh's cemeteries. I've been very impressed by the wildlife I've seen in some of the cemeteries, despite winter not being the ideal time to be doing this type of work. I'm hoping the council will give me some more hours to do further surveys in the warmer months, but I'm not sure how likely it is that I'll get enough hours to do the work justice. 

I still manage to visit our local cemeteries regularly, though not as often as Crafty Green Boyfriend and I did when we used them for our #DailyExercise during lockdown. I walked around North Merchiston Cemetery today. The trees still look very wintry, though the leaves are in bud and will be opening soon. 

The crocuses are in bloom

My tree for the Tree Following Project this year is a beautiful old cherry tree in North Merchiston Cemetery and I'll be posting my latest update on that in the next few days. 

I was very pleased to be asked to write an article about wildlife in Edinburgh's cemeteries for the St Michael's Church newsletter (St Michael's is the church on the opposite side of the street to the cemetery, though the cemetery is independent of the church). You can read the newsletter here (scroll down to read my article).

For Nature Notes.