Spring Continues to Progress

 Today I carried out my regular patrol of the Dells along the Water of Leith. I pick litter (there wasn't too much to pick today!), record wildlife and chat to people (and pet dogs, including today my favourite dog of the Dells, Mitzi, who I hadn't seen for a while. She's almost 11, I remember when she was just a pup!). 

The Dells are very much in bloom, with the lesser celandines still out (there seem to be more than ever this year)

and the wood anemones in full bloom too

while the larch flowers continue their steady progress towards becoming cones (a friend and I were wondering last week, when does this flower stop being a flower and become a cone? At the moment, it's still definitely a flower

Another of my favourite trees that is blooming at this time of year is the Norway Maple, this is a fine specimen overlooking the river at Colinton

Some of the blooms in the Dells are almost garish, like this display of clashing colours from the forsythia and flowering currant 

I popped into Colinton Kirkyard and Cemetery while I was walking through Colinton Village. Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather was the church minister here and the writer spent a lot of time here when he was young. There is in fact a Robert Louis Stevenson trail through Colinton Village, which was set up in 2013, you can read about it in this blog post. The cemetery is currently dominated by a beautiful cherry tree in bloom

Just up the road, in a separate area is the kirkyard which is a very pleasant, old graveyard.

The kirkyard has some benches, so you can sit and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, which was what I was doing when I heard the raucous cries of a jay. After a lot of looking (they're surprisingly elusive birds for one so large and colourful) I saw it in one of the trees just the other side of the river from the kirkyard. The first one I've seen along this part of the Water of Leith.

I also heard my first blackcap of the year today, which was lovely. This is one of the warblers that spends the summer in this country (though some now spend the winter here - see this article).

For Nature Notes.