Spring in the Botanics

We had a lovely walk in Edinburgh Botanic Gardens today. The sun was shining and it was almost mild, though still colder than it would usually be for the time of year.

We particularly liked these flowers though not sure what they are:

This tree has a wonderfully twisted and textured trunk:

and this is one of the lovely views that can be had around the garden:

We had a lovely encounter with a goldcrest, such a tiny little bird and this one was much more tame than is normal, fluttering around for a good few minutes, despite lots of people wandering past. I didn't take a photo, because I wanted to enjoy the moment and my photos wouldn't be able to do justice to the bird!

We also went to the Jalan Jati (Teak Road) exhibition in the Botanics John Hope Gateway. This exhibition traces the wood used to make a 1950s teak bed right back to the area of rainforest it came from. The artwork and photography is stunning and the whole exhibition highlights the usefulness of DNA tracking of raw materials which can help to combat illegal logging. You can find out more about the DNA tracking technology on the Double Helix Tracking website. You can see some of the artworks from the Jalan Jati exhibition on the Migrant Ecologies website.

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