Birds on the Hill

 After a very wet winter, we're having a very dry Spring. The threat of wildfires in Scotland is very real at the moment so if you're out and about, please don't light fires and don't use disposable barbecues! 

As well as being very dry, it's beautifully warm and sunny. We had a lovely walk earlier today around Edinburgh's Corstorphine Hill, taking in some of the quieter routes as well as some of the main paths. 

The sycamore trees are beautifully coming into leaf at the moment 

and it was lovely to watch this blue tit flying to and from it's nest hole in this beech trunk 

It was probably feeding its mate who's sitting on eggs, though we have no way of knowing that for sure! 

These jackdaws were very entertaining to watch! To start with it looked like they were courting - one of them was bobbing around fluttering its wings, then the other one attacked and they started fighting but eventually they patched things up. 

The lesser celandines seem to be more numerous than ever this year, there are several patches of these lovely flowers in full bloom on the hill 

and close to this patch, there was a large patch of cuckoo flowers (lady's smock) 

Much though it's lovely to see the sunshine, I would like it to rain soon, so that the plants can grow properly and the birds and mammals have enough to drink!