I've been making postcards

Last year I had the unenviable task of clearing out a friend's flat after she died (you can read my post about house clearances over on my Substack here). In amongst all her stuff, were loads of unused postcards. I wondered what to do with these until I recently discovered Postcrossing. This website basically links people up to send postcards around the world. It's fun, it keeps alive the old fashioned habit of sending real mail and I also find it a good way of practising my languages (I've written and received a few postcards in German, a couple in French but none so far in Italian and don't expect to ever write any in Scottish Gaelic.) I've got lots of card making supplies and have taken out the card that's the right size, shape and thickness and made some postcards to send, with more on the way no doubt. I may use some of the postcards to send to people outwith Postcrossing. Here are a selection, all made from paper scraps and craft supplies purchased from second hand shops: 

 

Moths and Caterpillars on Corstorphine Hill

 We had a lovely walk on Saturday, around Edinburgh's Corstorphine Hill. It was very misty, with a heavy haar (sea mist) hanging over the hill, which was very atmospheric.

 

Before we even got onto the hill, we saw this beautiful Magpie moth in a hedge

On the hill we were very happy to find plenty of Cinnabar Moth caterpillars munching their way through the Ragwort. I very rarely see Cinnabar moths themselves, but at this time of year, the distinctive orange and black striped caterpillars are easy to find on Ragwort.  

There were also several Red Soldier Beetles in amongst the Ragwort - I haven't seen as many of these beetles as I would expect to see at this time of year.

 

A Customised T-shirt

This plain black t-shirt was still in perfect condition, except for a hole! So, I chose some nice fabric from my stash and covered the hole and made the repair into a feature.

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Meanwhile, over on my Crafty Green Poet Substack, today's post shares a collage and a poem on the theme of disappearing animals. 
 

Woodland Walks

On Saturday we had a lovely walk around Blackford Pond (where we saw a Kingfisher, a first for the pond, at least in our experience) and into the Hermitage of Braid. Here are some photos:

The photo above shows Blackford Pond, the photo below shows the Braid Burn, which flows through the Hermitage. 
 

Yesterday, I carried out my weekly patrol, picking litter and recording wildlife along the Water of Leith, where I saw another Kingfisher (not uncommon along the river, but always lovely to see)! Kingfishers rarely pose for my camera, so here's a photo of the area where I saw the Kingfisher. If you look carefully you may be able to see a Grey Heron...

If you click on the image, you should get a larger version. Clue: the heron is in a tree. 
 

The Bower Bird by Ann Kelley

Twelve year old Gussie needs a heart and lung transplant, but doesn't know how long she'll need to wait before she gets the surgery. So she focuses on living and enjoying life as much as she can. She's well-read with an insatiable curiosity in the world around her. She loves spending time with her cats and watching the wildlife around her new home she shared with her Mum in Cornwall. She also wants to find out about her relatives. 

I really enjoyed this book, though I did feel it lost energy and direction about half way through.  

Gussie is a great character, to inspire anyone who is living with uncertainty around health issues. I wasn't sure though what age group this book is written for. Given a main character of age 12, you'd think perhaps the book is written for youngsters of around 10, but it feels too grown up and too slow moving for that age group. However, the style of writing means it doesn't feel like its written for adults, rather as a children's book that adults can also enjoy. 

It's the sequel to The Burying Beetle (which I haven't read) but does stand alone.  

The Bower Bird by Ann Kelley, published (2007) by Luath Press.  

 

Birds and Butterflies on Arthur's Seat

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk around Arthur's Seat. 

Flowers were in bloom everywhere,  this view over the wall down the cliff gives an impression of how rich the blooms are in some places 

 There was Bloody Cranesbill

Rest Harrow  

and lots of Vipers Bugloss

We were impressed by the variety of butterflies we saw. We didn't see many individual butterflies but we did see at least one of each of: Painted Lady 

Read Admiral

Small Tortoiseshell; Small Heath; Ringlet; Meadow Brown and a couple of Whites (too far away to tell whether they were Large or Small Whites). We also saw a Six Spot Burnet Moth

We spent a few minutes watching a very exciting chase between a Kestrel and two Ravens, but weren't able to catch it on camera. 

A Rum Affair by Karl Sabbagh

Subtitled A True Story of Botanical Fraud, this book shines a light on a tale of botanical skulduggery on the Scottish Island of Rum that was never discussed when I was studying Botany in the late 1980s. 

In the 1940s, eminent British botanist John Heslop Harrison proposed that plants on Rum had survived the last Ice Age. But had he in fact cultivated those plants at home and planted them on the island so that he could lead groups of botanising students to find them as if they were native to the island? An amateur botanist, John Raven, believed that he had and set out to investigate.

This book examines this controversy in great detail, including the details of the fraudulent behaviour of Heslop Harrison, the personalities of both Heslop Harrison and Raven and the research carried out by the author. 

As a trained Botanist and fan of the Scottish islands I found the whole story fascinating. I do wonder though whether in fact it is too long and detailed for the more general reader, though the fact that it's written by a non-botanist probably does make it more accessible than it might of been had it been written by a botanist. 

A Rum Affair by Karl Sabbagh, this updated edition published by Birlinn ( 2016)

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Today's Crafty Green Poet Substack post is all about Appreciating Insects, you can read it here.