Saturday 17 April 2021

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!






4 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

What a wonderful patvh of Ladies Smock - I haven't seen so many together for years.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Weaver, this is the most extensive patch of Ladies Smock I've ever seen, so beautiful!

Larry Kollar said...

To be honest, I’m stuck on “disposable barbecues.” I thought we had every conceivable kind of disaposable objects in the US, but I’ve never heard of those! Then again, guys on this side of the pond really like their outdoor grills, and would prefer to take a decent portable grill to a park rather than a throwaway. Most parks here have permanent grills installed near picnic areas, anyway.

We’re having a similar weather pattern to yours in the southeast US—a really soggy winter, then long dry stretches. I should get some shots of what’s in bloom right now. Our large dogwood out front opened up over the weekend, following the cherry tree by about a week. And… we might get one more frost this week. Fortunately, my tomato plants are in large containers, so I can wheel them under the garage.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Larry, that's interesting that you don't have disposable bbqs over there! They're hugely popular here and are a real fire risk during hot dry weather. Permanent grills at picnic areas are a good idea. Hope your tomato plants survive the frost