Summer in the Dells

We've been promised a heatwave this week and this being Scotland, we have no idea whether this will last longer than a morning! It certainly was lovely and sunny in Colinton Dell this morning and not too hot. I don't like it to be too hot when I'm wandering round picking litter, pruning overgrown plants (I prune back plants or branches that are either trip hazards, poke in the face hazards or are blocking the path).

The lime trees are no longer in bloom but they're still beautiful

and the hornbeams are sprouting their chandelier fruits now

The wildflower meadow in Spylaw Park is still beautifully in bloom

and the bees and hoverflies love it, including this Syrphus sp hoverfly

this footballer hoverfly (Helophilus sp)

and this little solitary bee, they're called solitary bees because they live by themselves rather than in hives, there were actually quite a few solitary bees in the wildflower patch today, possibly two species were represented.

This wildflower meadow is part of Edinburgh Living Landscape, which you can read more about here.

I wrote a piece on the value of different types of wildflower meadows on this blog recently, you can read it here.

For Nature Notes.