Rosebay Willow-herb

 A common sight at this time of year is Rosebay Willow-herb. 

It's so common, it's easy to overlook how beautiful it is.

Butterflies at Lauriston Farm

I'm continuing to regularly survey butterflies in two sites in Edinburgh. Today, unusually for this year so far, the weather was almost perfect while I was surveying butterflies at Lauriston Farm. I recorded a total of 43 butterflies (which means there will have been a lot more around this hundred acre site.) Not so long ago, we never saw Small Skippers in Scotland, now they are common (they've moved north from England as the climate has been warming) and always nice to see, I saw eight today, including this one:

I also saw eighteen Meadow Browns, ten Large Whites, four Small Whites, two Red Admirals and one Ringlet.

I also saw a couple of impressive black beetles

a Roe Deer and several birds including House Martins and a Buzzard.

I'm doing transect surveys as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (I walk a particular route on a regular basis and record the butterflies I see). At the moment, though, there is a large scale butterfly survey that anyone in the UK can take part in - Big Butterfly Count.

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There are two forthcoming themed weeks to celebrate nature: 

Love Parks Week (26 July -  4 August).

National Marine Week (27 July -11 August) which is longer than a week!

The Dance of Air and Sea by Arnold H Taylor

 

This is a fascinating look at the interactions between ocean currents, winds and living things. Unfortunately, the text is way more scientific than the title leads you to expect. I have a botany degree, which included a good amount of ecology and a module on environmental physics, yet I sometimes found myself having to read some paragraphs a few times to make sure I understood what was really being said. So, this book is definitely not aimed at the interested layperson, which is a shame, as it is a very interesting and important area of study and this book offers lots of valuable insights into how earth systems work and interact.

The book examines various ocean currents and systems such as the Gulf Stream, outlining the routes they take and how they are affected by weather, including temperature and wind. Specific examples are given of how ocean currents and weather between them affect ecosystems, focussing on phytoplankton, the tiny organisms that are the basis of so many food chains. The author also looks at how our changing climate affects 1) the distribution of various species of birds and butterflies - many species are moving northwards as the climate warms - 2) the timing of breeding - many species are now breeding earlier in the year and 3) the stability of ecosystems - where changes in population of one organism that may be directly affected by climate change then affects other species in the wider ecosystem. 

Reference is made to a number of scientific studies, profiling some of the scientists who have made significant contributions to the field. The author examines evidence of historical and pre-historical climatic changes, putting things into the long term perspective, arguing overall that humans are definitely altering the climate by our actions but at the same time pointing out that it is more complicated than we may have been led to believe.

Admittedly, it is difficult to make such a complex topic easy to understand and there's nothing worse than dumbing down important science, but on the other hand a little more accessible explanation might have helped make this book more useful to a more general audience, or a more scientific title might have fitted better with the content. 

The Dance of Air and Sea by Arnold H Taylor, published (2011) by Oxford University Press. 

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I'm delighted to have a haiku included in the Birdsong issue of Haiku Girl Summer.

Hermitage of Braid - Weekend Walk

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk through Edinburgh's Hermitage of Braid, starting at Blackford Pond. 

The Purple Loosestrife around the pond is currently beautifully in bloom 

Walking along from the pond up to Midmar Paddock, we found more Purple Loosestrife, along with Meadowsweet also in full bloom 

We were happy to find a few butterflies in the paddock, including Meadow Browns

Small Skippers

and a Red Admiral 

Walking from the Paddock down to the Braid Burn we saw this lovely moth, which I was able to identify as a Large Yellow Underwing (the poor thing looked a bit the worse for wear so we encouraged it to move away from the path and into the nearby vegetation)

This is a lovely tree-lined walk for most of its length, perfect for a hot, muggy day like it was yesterday. We managed to avoid getting caught in the rain too!

Along the Water of Leith

As regular readers of this blog will know, I volunteer with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust, picking litter and recording wildlife along a stretch of the river most weeks. 

At this part of its route, the river is brown not because of pollution but because of peat in the water, as it runs down from the peaty Pentland Hills, which isn't to say that Edinburgh's rivers don't have pollution problems (see this article in the Edinburgh Inquirer).

The Water of Leith Walkway is a lovely walk, well worth walking the whole 20 or so miles if you're ever in Edinburgh. But remember, start at the upstream end in the Pentlands, so that you're walking mostly downhill, to make the walk easier. The walkway mostly follows the river quite closely, though the river isn't always visible from the path.

This is the time of year when Red Soldier Beetles appear, and this year is no different, though they are fewer than in previous years. However, I did find this group

My latest post on my new Substack blog is all about butterfly surveying, you can read it here. All the posts in my Substack blog are open and can be read by anyone. If you subscribe for free, you'll get each post arriving in your inbox at 7.30am (UK time). Currently, I've not enabled paid subscriptions, but will do eventually, though I don't intend to put up a paywall on posts.

Butterflies on Corstorphine Hill

 I'm doing a butterfly survey most weeks at the moment. Today I was on Corstorphine Hill, starting in the Walled Garden and walking through the meadow areas of the hill. The first thing that I saw was a Common Buzzard flying into the trees with a kill (it looked like a rat or a baby rabbit, I was too far away to see), then I heard the clamour of young in the nest as they were fed! Buzzards are common birds, but I've never seen them bringing a kill to the nest before. The photo below shows the trees where the nest is sited, but the buzzards can't be seen in the photo.

Common Spotted Orchids are in bloom at the moment, there are more this year on the hill than I've ever seen before.

The Common Line (Linden) trees are still in bloom, slightly fading now but still smelling wonderful

Some of the leaves were host to galls (probably caused by the gall mite Eriophytes tiliae)

I saw a reasonable number of butterflies, particularly Small Skippers

and Meadow Browns 

and a couple of Ringlets

I also saw this parasitic wasp, with a very long ovipositor for injecting its eggs into whatever insect it parasitisizes - click on the photo to enlarge it and get a good look at the ovipositor

In the Flower Meadows

 As long term readers of this blog will know, I regularly go out along Edinburgh's Water of Leith collecting litter and recording the wildlife I see as a volunteer for the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. Today I managed to get out and back before the rain started. The wildflower meadows along the river walkway are beautiful at this time of year. One of the meadows is more or less entirely natural, though managed to prevent invasive species from encroaching. At this time of year this meadow is full of flowers, mostly buttercups and Common Spotted Orchids

I'll zoom in so you get a better view of the orchids 

The meadow is very marshy, so I don't walk in there to get closer to the flowers, also it's nice to feel there are areas where nature can just get on with its own thing without people barging in, even if it is with the benign intention of taking photos. There are Roe Deer in this area and some years the mother deer will leave their fawns in this meadow, while the mother goes to feed somewhere else. 

The other meadow that is looking particularly lovely at the moment has been managed and sown with wildflower seeds in ground near to the old Bogs Mill. 

This meadow contains a wide variety of species, including Cowslips and Meadowsweet. At this time of year, my favourite is the Meadow Cranesbill 

While I was taking the photo above, I heard a noisy bird flying around. I looked up to see a Jay, then was astonished as over the next ten minutes four or even five Jays flew around in the trees by the meadow. Jays are not uncommon, but I've found them to be incredibly elusive and have had very few close sightings of them and have never seen a group together like this. No photos, unfortunately, as they were moving around too much and hiding in the leaves of the trees.

Butterfly Survey at Lauriston Farm

 This summer, I'm continuing to regularly survey butterflies at Lauriston Farm, the site of Edinburgh's Agro-ecology project and this year also at Corstorphine Hill. 

Today I surveyed at Lauriston Farm, where the generally sunny weather ensured clear views all around, to the Firth of Forth, Cramond Island and the coast of Fife to the north 

Lauriston Castle to the south (behind the trees in the castle grounds in the photo below)

and the Muirhouse housing scheme to the west (one of the tower blocks is visible behind the trees in the photo below)

I didn't see many butterflies, unfortunately, which seems to be normal for this year. I did see several Ringlets, which didn't stop for their photos, this photo is from a previous sighting. 

If you're in the UK and love butterflies, please consider taking part in the Big Butterfly Count, which takes place from 12 July to 4 August. This UK-wide survey aims to help assess the health of our environment simply by counting the number and type of butterflies (and some day-flying moths) that we see.

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A week on Wednesday, I'll be posting a more in depth post about the butterfly survey on my new Crafty Green Poet Substack blog (this Wednesday's post will be about the environmental implications of the recent UK General Election).

Ladybirds in Saughton Park

 We had a lovely walk round Saughton Park yesterday. 

We were pleased to see these Two-Spot Ladybirds ensuring the next generation 

It was also reassuring to see that they had good supplies of food, lots of black aphids!

Have you Voted Yet?

 If you're in the UK, you will know that today is polling day for the General Election. 

Remember to vote, and remember that you need photo ID to vote. You can find out what type of photo ID is acceptable here.

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman

 

The fact that this review is written in the style of the novel, more or less, the novel being almost 1000 pages long with no full stops except in the interludes, the fact that nonetheless, it is very readable, engrossing, even in parts, very funny, the fact that the narrator spends much of the novel in her kitchen making pies, cherry pies, apple pies, but never lemon meringue pies, while worrying about climate change, gun control, the mountain lion travelling around the area, her family, particularly her rebellious eco-activist daughter Stacy, but perhaps Stacy is less of a problem than the narrator thinks, perhaps she, Stacy, not the narrator, will in fact prove to be a heroine, heroin, illegal drugs, school shootings, the strange guy who delivers the chicken feed, who perhaps people should pay more attention to, perhaps they should be worried about him, more than about the mountain lion, lioness, the fact that the interludes in the novel, which unlike the rest of the book, do have full stops, are about the mountain lioness and her travels, looking for her cubs, the fact that nothing much happens in this novel, the fact that this, combined with the very length, almost 1000 pages, might put some people off reading this stream of conscious novel, the fact that many people dismiss this as a prank book, fake experimental literature, fake news, Trumpism, stream of consciousness, the fact that no-one really thinks in this style, the fact that maybe some people do think like this, the fact that at least give it a try and start off reading it, and maybe, perhaps, you might enjoy it

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman published (2019) by Galley Beggar Press.

An Unexpected Guest

 Soon after we came home from our break in Dumfries, we had a visitor who soon made herself at home

We have no idea who she belongs to, no-one in our building has claimed her, and we've taken her to the vet who found that she hasn't been microchipped (probably because she's so young, the vet estimates she's only three months old). We're going to produce some posters and distribute them in the local area, hoping that the real owner can claim her. 

So, watch this space. Meanwhile, the next post on my Substack blog will look at the environmental impact of cats and dogs. It will be published at 8.15 on Wednesday morning.

Wood of Cree

Wood of Cree is a lovely RSPB reserve, close enough to Dumfries for us to visit on many of our holidays in the area. The main part of the reserve is made up of beautiful woodland with a small stream running through it

The trees themselves are mostly relatively young as the whole woodland was clear felled during the First World War, but the woodland has since regenerated, so it qualifies as ancient woodland. There is a wealth of plant life here, including Blechnum ferns (Blechnum spicant)

 

 and other interesting things such as this Scrambled Egg slime-mould (Fuligo septica)

Outside the main woodland, there is an upland area that is currently scrubland and near the car park for the reserve there is a lovely lochan (small loch) which apparently is a favourite spot for otters, though we've never seen any here

Information notices around the reserve give details of wildlife that can be found here, including pine martens. We didn't see or hear any of the Wood Warblers or Pied Flycatchers that the reserve is renowned for, neither did we see any Red Squirrels. Nor did we see any Pine Martens but did find this poo (next to a 50p piece for scale), which we think may be from a pine marten - if you can confirm our thought, let me know in the comments.

You can read more about our holiday in Dumfries and Galloway by following these links: 

Enjoying Wildlife in Dumfries and Galloway (on my Substack blog)

and on this blog 

Wildlife at Caerlaverock.

Walking the Grounds at Drumlanrig Castle. 

Grey Heron on the River Nith.

Wildlife at Caerlaverock WWT Reserve

One of our favourite places to visit in Dumfries and Galloway is the WWT Caerlaverock Reserve. 

The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust has reserves across the UK, all of which are best known as centres for migratory wildfowl, such as geese and swans, but all are havens for a wide range of wildlife. 

Caerlaverock is a vast area of wetland habitats, along with wildflower meadows and wildlife gardens, all dotted with bird hides and observation towers giving visitors great views across the reserve. 

 

Caerlaverock is most popular in winter, when the migrating geese and swans visit, but it is just as wonderful in summer, when the dragonflies and damselflies are seen in abundance across the reserve. In 2013, we were lucky enough to visit during what must have been a mass emergence of dragonflies, as they were everywhere in vast numbers (see this post). This year, there weren't such huge numbers, but still we were impressed by what we saw, including this mating pair of Common Blue Damselflies 

The wildlife garden area has several specially made homes for solitary bees, which are well-used - how many bees can you see in the photo below? 

We saw a lot of Latticed Heath Moths around the reserve 

The reserve is full of birds, of course. We saw plenty of Swallows, some of which were nesting in some of the bird hides and round the observation towers, so we got very good views

We also saw a family of Linnets with the parents diligently feeding their chicks, several Stonechats, two families of Mute Swans, three Teal (teal are more usually winter ducks, so it was slightly unexpected to see them), Lapwings, and had our best ever views of Sedge Warblers (though sadly the photos didn't turn out well enough to share!), we also saw Reed Warbler, Reed Buntings, Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows (both species of sparrow together at a feeding station, which is unusual in my experience), Pied Wagtails 

 Although we didn't see Song Thrushes, we know they are around as we found this anvil where the thrushes smash snail shells before eating the contents

We spent all day on the reserve and could easily have spent longer there, but had to leave when it closed.