The scent of fennel

I had a couple of hours between my dental appointment and a meeting just round the corner from the dentist's, so what better to do than pop down to nearby Cramond for a spot of birdwatching?

First passing this lovely sight in a now cleared area of derelict housing near the dentist's

and there were plenty of goldfinches flying round here, attracted by the thistle seeds.

Actually there weren't many birds around at Cramond (apart from four great crested grebes floating round and a lot of gulls and crows). The black headed gulls are already losing their summer black heads

These umbellifer plants were all in seed, filling the air with the subtle fragrance of fennel. I'm pretty sure now that they're sweet cicely, though I'm sure I've misidentified them in the past (umbellifers can be so confusing!).