Nuthatches, ladybirds and funnel web spiders!

Another lovely sunny winters day, ideal for a walk round Colinton and Craiglockart Dells along the Water of Leith. Plenty to see too, starting with a group of four nuthatches! Nuthatches have only recently started to colonise Scotland from England and it's always lovely to see them. Crafty Green Boyfriend has worked extra hours recently and so was able to take time off to join me today and managed to photograph one of the nuthatches - click on the photos for a better view

We were also delighted to find some orange ladybirds, already snuggled together for their hibernation. This is a common winter sight along this particular fence in the Dells!

(If you're interested in finding out more about ladybirds and other beetles of the British woodlands then you may like the new issue of the Woodland Trust's Wood Wide magazine, which is all about 'Beguiling Beetles' you can download it here.)

There's a particular tree in the Dells which is covered in spiders webs, I had always noticed these webs but for some reason never thought to look closer. Today though, Crafty Green Boyfriend noticed that they are funnel webs, built by a species of funnel web spider

Each web as you can see includes a hole at the front. The spider builds the web and then hides in it and leaps out through the hole to catch unsuspecting insects!