Dalkeith Country Park and Oak Wood

We went out to Dalkeith Country Park a wonderful area of woodland not far from Edinburgh. The flowers are in full bloom, including celandines (see photo 2) and wood sorrel. We saw lots of birds too including long tailed tits, one of my favourite birds. We then wandered into the Oak Woods (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) which is a wonderfully atmospheric area of widely spaced gnarled oak trees (photo 1). Many of the trees are ancient and falling apart, there are also lots of dead logs and tree-stumps covered with moss and lichen. There are no signs of young oak trees, which is sad, as this means the woodland will eventually die out. The park as a whole is also threatened by a new road which is planned to be built through it. Although this doesn't threaten the ancient oak wood itself, it would destroy the integrety of the park as a whole. Read more at Save Dalkeith Park.