The Innocent Railway

 

The Innocent railway that runs below Arthur's Seat is one of Edinburgh's paths that used to be a railway line. We walked along today and in fact, for the first ever time, it felt more like a cyclepath, being totally dominated by cyclists. I'm all for shared use paths, but cyclists really need to be rspectful and considerate of the people walking along the path (and those who push prams or are in wheelchairs). At the same time of course, walkers need to be aware of cyclists. Today too many cyclists were roaring along at top speed, riding two abreast even when passing pedestrians and barely a one used their bell). So our walk didn't feel quite like the pleasant stroll we had anticipated. 

However, we were very happy to see lots of Cinnabar Moth caterpillars on the Ragwort plants

We also saw this Small Skipper Butterfly 

and this Meadow Brown Butterfly 

I'll be including these sightings in my contribution to The Big Butterfly Count, which started yesterday. 

We also saw this strange thing, which we haven't identified as yet, so if anyone can help with that, let me know!