The Cat Caretaker of the Cemetery

 I'm continuing my wildlife surveys of Edinburgh's cemeteries and today I went along to Craigmillar Castle Cemetery, probably the city's newest cemetery, having been established in 2009. Because it's so new, large parts of the cemetery are still empty of graves. The views are great too, including this view across to the Pentlands (where you can just about make out the ski slope at Hillend) 

  

and at the other end of the cemetery is this lovely view over to Arthur's Seat

Crafty Green Boyfriend came with me as he had a day off work and has very good insect identification skills which can be very helpful! 

We were greeted by the cemetery caretaker

who promptly ran up a tree and seemed to get stuck 

Thankfully she soon got down again and began to give us a guided tour 

She seems to be a keen entomologist, as she pointed out this speckled wood butterfly but only made a pretence at hunting it (click on the photo for a bigger view)

She was very friendly and helpful, giving advice when needed

and posing nicely for photos  

She entirely ignored the roe deer who strolled across the cemetery until the last minute and even then didn't give chase 

We sincerely hope that this lovely cat wasn't responsible for the tragedy that had happened to the long tailed tits who had built their nest in this tree

You can see from the photo below how intricate the nest is, made from lichens, mosses and bird's feathers.

I hope there is still time for this pair of birds to make another nest and successfully raise a family. 

As well as enjoying the guided tour from our feline companion, we did record some interesting wildlife including this chocolate mining bee.

and these scale insects 

The sunshine did bring out a reasonable number of insects, though there still seem to be far fewer than you would expect for the time of year.  

It's a lovely cemetery - the caretaker is awaiting your visit!