A Weekend Visit to Saughton Park

 I'm still lacking energy after having the COVID (though Crafty Green Boyfriend seems to be back up to his normal energy levels). So, we stayed close to home yesterday and visited Saughton Park. The Water of Leith flows through the park.

 

Otters are often seen there, so it's always worth stopping on the bridge for a while to have a look. We didn't see Otters, but we did see the turquoise dash of a Kingfisher as it sped down the river. 

The River Water Crowfoot is mostly past blooming now

And this family of Mallards were enjoying a rest at the water's edge 

Near the entrance to the park, just next to the Water of Leith, the Friends of Saughton Park have recently established a wild orchard, that is planted with fruit trees and wildflowers and looking wonderful at the moment 

The Ox Eye Daisies in and around this wild orchard are beautiful 

 

In fact the whole park is in bloom at the moment. We sat for a while and enjoyed watching the various bumblebees feeding on these ornamental blue thistles, including this white or buff tailed bumblebee

It was lovely to see so many bees here, as there has been a noticeable decline in insect numbers over the past couple of years. We were delighted to see this Meadow Brown Butterfly, feeding here on Ragwort

and I was amused by this hoverfly (Eupeodes sp) which photobombed me as I was examining the underside of the Cat's Ear flower, I didn't notice the hoverfly until I looked at the photo!

The ferns are beautiful at the moment too, particularly these Harts Tongues - the second photo below gives a close up view of the spores on the underside of the fern fronds