The Nature of Inch Park

Yesterday was the last in my current series of nature walks round Inch Park (the walks will resume in early September, and in a few weeks you'll be able to book on the Edinburgh Council Adult education portal). 

It's a lovely park with a range of different habitats that are worth exploring and contain some interesting wildlife. We've had an interesting few weeks recording the species of plants and animals we've found and looking in detail at things.

Last week (see this post) I had taken the group to the wildflower bed to record the wildflowers and look for bees and hoverflies. For some reason I hadn't taken photos of the wildflower bed in its entirety, so before yesterday's class I spent some time taking photos

I found two Common Red Soldier Beetles on this Creeping Thistle 

When I net up with the group we decided to revisit the Braid Burn where it runs through the park.

 

 

The River Water Crowfoot is beautifully in bloom here at the moment 

While we were walking round the path, Swallows were constantly flying low over the playing fields, sometimes coming very close to us, but always travelling at such speed that photos were impossible! 

The Lime (Linden) trees are currently fully in bloom. The Line tree below stands near one of the entrances and you can smell the beautiful fragrance as soon as you enter the park.

During the walk, I asked the group to stand under one of the other Lime trees in the park and we spent a few minutes admiring the scent and the delicate beauty of the flowers (the photo below is of a lime tree somewhere else in Edinburgh).

We've had a very good few weeks and have made a good start at recording the wealth of wildlife found in Inch Park. I'm looking forward to cintinuing these walks in the Autumn.