Walking round Arthur's Seat and Marching for the European Union

It was another beautifully sunny and unseasonably hot day yesterday so Crafty Green Boyfriend and I went for a walk round Arthur's Seat, where there were some very welcome cooling breezes. There was a haze in the air

and the water of Duddingston Loch was sparkling in the sun

There was excitment in the skies as two jackdaws and two kestrels engaged in battle (though the photo only shows one of the kestrels)

This battle went on for several minutes and was fascinating to watch. It was lovely to see the daytime moon too

and the first autumnal colours in the trees

These Canada Geese posed obligingly at the Dunsapie Loch

We took a different route than we normally do when coming off Arthur's Seat and wandered up onto a lovely green trail

with lovely views over Edinburgh

We admired the swans at St Margaret's Loch

We had lunch in a cafe on the Royal Mile and then joined the nti-Brexit march as it passed

As on the Climate Strike (which you can read about on this blog here) there were lots of dogs marching along with their owners, including Chewie, who apparently loves meeting lots of new people but isn't too happy with the loud noises of a political march

The march ended up at the Scottish Parliament where the Shebang drummers played

and the police presence was very muted and good natured

When the Brexit referendum was held I voted to stay in the European Union. The EU has it's faults and problems but it offers many benefits, particularly, for those interested in nature, it's environmental protections (which I blogged about here). There are those that argue that the referendum result (slightly more people voted to leave the EU than voted to remain) should be respected, but that are those that argue that we had been misinformed before the referendum and we were required to vote on something we didn't know enough about. The march yesterday also called on politician's to avoid a No Deal Brexit (which would see us crash out of the EU with no trade deals on the 31 October) and to call for a People's Vote on any future relationship with the EU. Whichever way you voted in the referendum, it surely is only fair that we get a vote on our future relationship with our nearest neighbours.