Loads of Toads! (And Hairy Footed Flower Bees!)

 

Yesterday we decided to go for a walk round Arthur's Seat, hoping to see both Hairy Footed Flower Bees and Common Toads. We were not disappointed! As soon as we got to the top of the steps up to the circular path round Arthur's Seat we saw several male Hairy Footed Flower Bees, busily buzzing around, mostly moving too quickly for our camera. Luckily one did land for long enough for me to get this photo 

 We then carried on to Dunsapie Loch, a small loch, which is generally a good place to see toads. 

 

And there were indeed toads. Loads of toads! We stood watching the Common Toads for a while, many were mating - some on the rocks 

some in the water
 

Some Common Toads were just swimming around, probably looking for a mate

There was a lot of toadspawn in the loch - you can see the strings of toadspawn behind the mating pair in the photo below  

in one area of the loch, we saw a few large clumps of frogspawn, with strings of toadspawn wrapped around it! You can see this in the photo below (the grey clumps are the frogspawn, the black ribbons are the toadspawn). 

There must have been hundreds of Common Toads in the loch! You can get an idea of how crowded the water was in the photo below - click on the photo to get a better view.  

In the area shown in the photo above, we noticed some females were actually laying spawn as we watched. We also saw a couple of toad balls, in which several males pile on top of one female, hoping to get the chance to fertilise her eggs. Despite all the frogspawn, we only saw a couple of Common Frogs. 

You have to be pretty lucky to see the toads gathered together like this. I've never seen so many before. After mating, the toads will disperse to live in damp areas all around Arthur's seat and the surrounding areas. It's nice to see that the countryside rangers have put out some toad ramps so the toads can more easily get onto the pavements on their way to the loch

 

An Inexplicable Appearance of Daffodils

I was disappointed to find a whole load of daffodils have appeared in amongst what used to be the most verdant patch of Ramsons in Edinburgh. Someone must have planted them (I suspect it was the Water of Leith Conservation Trust, who really should know better, but who, I know, have been on a mission to plant as many bulbs as possible up and down the river, without, seemingly, caring whether they're being planted in appropriate places or not.) Here's just a few of the inexplicable daffodils, in amongst the Ramsons. 

I'll be writing more about this in my Crafty Green Poet Substack to be sent out to subscribers on Wednesday. 

 

 

Rhododendrons, Cute Cats and a Kingfisher

 We had a trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens on Saturday, hoping to see the first lot of rhododendrons on display and we weren't disappointed! Here's a selection of the various rhododendrons currently in bloom - I love the variety of colours! 

 

We were also delighted to meet this beautiful cat with bright blue eyes

you can really see the eye colour in the photo below
 

we also met another cat hanging out at one of the Botanics' ponds 

At this point, I have to admit that I was more interested in the Kingfisher that  was flying around the pond, occasionally diving into the water. You can just see the splash of kingisher orange and turquoise in the far tree in the photo below - click on the photo to enlarge it 

The Botanics pond is a surprisingly reliable place to see Kingfishers in Edinburgh! 

Edited to add: I should also have mentioned the lovely area covered in Common Liverwort  (Marchantia polymorpha) and mosses! I think the most obvious moss is Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica) but please correct me if you know I'm wrong!

 

In the Dells

The weather has been very changeable today. Once the early morning rain stopped I went out to do a litter-picking, wildlife recording patrol of the Water of Leith. About three quarters of the way through, it started raining / hailing / sleeting! I didn't take many photos as it was also very windy and the wind kept threatening to blow my litter bag away, so I had to keep hold of it all the time, which made photography a bit tricky. I did however, make sure to get this photo of the developing new cones on the larch tree. 

 

I don't think I've ever caught them so early in their development! I blogged about the stages of their later development back in 2014, you can see those photos in this post. 

The Water of Leith features in this week's Crafty Green Poet Substack post, which marks International Day of Action for Rivers (which happens on 14 March).  

A Walk at Musselburgh

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk at Musselburgh, following part of the John Muir Walkway along the Firth of Forth. The weather was lovely and the tide was out when we started the walk 

There were plenty of birds around! The photo below shows a group of Mallards on the beach and a male Goldeneye on the water behind them.  

We were delighted to hear Skylarks singing! This is always one of the most wonderful things about walking this route at this time of year, as Skylarks are much less common than they used to be. One Skylark was singing, as you might expect, high up in the sky, but another (lazy!) Skylark was singing from the ground, which is very unusual (though I have once seen a Skylark singing from a fence post). 

George A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes

 

The author had recently moved to Wales, when she rescued three injured magpie chicks that had fallen from their nest and been abandoned. Only one of these survived, she named him George. 

This is the story of Frieda Hughes' life with George, who for a few short months was a huge presence in her life until he flew away back into the wild. 

The book is a very engaging tale of looking after a mischevious and very intelligent wild magpie who had a 'tangible sense of humour'. Interwoven with this primary narrative are details of Hughes' work at renovating her new home and garden, while suffering from chronic health problems and the breakdown of her relationship.   

George develops a good rapport with the author's three dogs, and we are treated to many scenes of how they would play together, George often hiding dog treats and the dogs finding them. George in fact seems to think he is a dog! 

He also developed a very close relationship with the author herself:

"He was also happy just sitting in my hand as I loved around doing chores: cooking, tidying up, whatever I could do one handed. Sometimes I held him in one hand and painted with the other; and he'd watch my face or my pantbrush as it moved, and seemed captivated. So was I. Of course I realised that everything took twice as long to do with a magpie hanging off me, but I also wanted to make  the most of every minute. His warmy feathered presence was like having an emissary of the natural world grounding me daily."

This ia a very readable account of life with a wild bird, with fascinating insights into the intelligence of magpies.  

George: A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes, published (2023) by Profile Books. 

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Today is World Book Day! To celebrate this fact, yesterday's Crafty Green Poet Substack post was all about books! You can read it here.  

In the Dells

Spring is definitely here! I did my regular volunteering session in the Dells alongside the Water of Leith this morning and took these photos. 

The Scarlet Elf Caps are more hidden away this year than they normally are, in the place where I've found them over the past few years, but I did manage to get this photo

The Hazel Trees are in full bloom just now, with all the catkins out and lots of the tiny red female flowers too, if you look carefully along the branches.  

In the corner of Colinton Cemetery, there's a lovely patch of Winter Aconite and crocuses

This is one of the few places where I regularly notice Winter Aconite, it's a lovely flower  

As well as all the Spring flowers, there were lots of birds around. Among others, I saw Bullfinches; Buzzards, Dippers; a pair of Coal Tits checking out nest sites; and a Nuthatch that looked like it was carrying food to a nest. I also heard Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming and Song Thrushes singing.