A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare

 

Swallows are wonderful birds, one of our most familiar summer migrants (though not as common as they once were). 

In this book, the author aims to follow the approximate route taken by a migrating Barn Swallow from South Africa to South Wales. He travels overland and only rarely sees swallows, so the book is mostly about the experiences of travelling across Africa, interwoven with occasional sightings of swallows, details about their biology and habits and the place of swallows in religion, folklore and literature. The author comments on local customs, political borders and environmental degradation (particularly deforestation). 

He notes that birdwatching as we in the UK know it, is a 'luxury' and not something that people across Africa generally engage in, though he does meet some swallow experts and fans along the way and learns some local names for swallow, including Nyankalema the Zambian name which translates as 'the one that never gets tired'. 

Swallows meet with many perils on their journey, including needing to cross the Sahara, storms, collisions with traffic and predation. Yet every year they return to our shores to delight us. 

"they seemed to delight in chaos, charging zig-zag into space, which was at once empty and full, as though playing chicken with physics."

A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare, published (2009) by Vintage.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare, published (2009) by Vintage.  

Orchids and Hoverflies on Corstorphine Hill

I told Crafty Green Boyfriend about the orchids I'd seen on Corstorphine Hill on my butterfly survey the other day and he was keen to see them for himself and to take some photos. So we took a trip there yesterday and here are some of the photos he took:

 

We went into the Corstorphine Hill Walled Garden and were very pleased with how many hoverflies we saw. After hardly seeing any Babded Hoverflies (Syrphus sp) over the past couple of years, we were delighted to see so many! Click on the photo below to zoom in and see how many hoverflies you can count on the Fox and Cubs flowers. 

We were also happy to see a number of other hoverflies, including this Sericomyia silentis, sometimes known as the Bog Hoverfly

and this Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria sp)

We continued our walk around the hill and saw a number of butterflies, including this Small Skipper

We were also happy to see some rabbits, though we were only able to get these two on camera.  

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I'm happy to have a haiku in  this selection on Haiku Girl Summer.  

 

Orchids and Butterflies

 Today I carried out a butterfly survey on Corstorphine Hill for the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Before I saw my first butterfly, I noticed how beautiful the Common Spotted Orchids were! 

 

Their leaves are very spotted, which is how they get their name 

I was also pleased to see several butterflies during the walk: 4 Red Admrials; 9 Ringlets and 5 Small Skippers. Butterflies are generally in decline so it's good to see these numbers, even though years ago, you would have hoped to see more. 

 

The Small Skipper (see above photo) is a butterfly that has been able to move northwards into Scotland as a result of climate change. 

Seven Spot Ladybirds are having a great year this year (How many ladybirds can you see in the photo below?)

I was also happy to see this field of Lady's Bedstraw: 

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My latest Substack post is now live! The last in my series celebrating The Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild campaign, it focuses on art and nature. You can read it here. 

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I was surprised but very happy to win the Gaelic section of the Scottish Book Trust's most recent 50 Word Short Story Contest. You can read my story (with an English translation) here.  

Lots of Insects for National Insect Week!

This week is National Insect Week, an opportunity to highlight the small creatures that are all around us and far more important than most of us give credit to! 

Insects are well known to be in decline, scientific surveys tell us so and my own experience has shown far fewer insects around than there were even just a few years ago. Today, however, when walking along the Water of Leith for my weekly volunteering session of picking litter and recording wildlife, I was very impressed by all the insects I saw.  

I saw at least six Red Admirals

along with a good number of Speckled Wood Butterflies (who were flying too quickly for my camera). 

I saw lots of hoverflies, mostly Banded Hoverflies (Syrphus sp) 

This pretty insect below is a plant bug Grypocoris stysi, (click on the image for a closer look)

 and the fly below is Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. Several of these flies were fluttering around low in the vegetation and in the muddy ground. (Again click on the image for a closer look). 

I also saw lots of bees, mostly Buff / White Tailed Bumblebees, but also Tree Bumblebees and Common Carders.  

Edinburgh's Canal Festival and a canalside walk

We went along to the Canal Festival on Saturday. We started by walking through Harrison Park, past the Harrison Park branch of the Grove Community Garden. 

We were early for the actual festival so we walked up the canal for a while. 

The Meadow Sweet is in full bloom alongside the towpath

as is the Tufted Vetch  

There were a lot of ladybirds alongside the towpath, and a few hoverflies including this Footballer Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) 

We walked as far as the Water of Leith Visitor Centre, and this pretty Feral Pigeon posed for photos, under the aqueduct where several of these pigeons nest. 

 

Walking up from the river back to the canal, we noticed this lovely clump of Kidney Vetch, alongside the steps.  

We then walked back along the canal to the festival, where we enjoyed browsing the stalls. The festival this year was split into three, some of the stalls are in Harrison Park, some are outside Boroughmuir High School and some are at the city end of the canal, separated by some construction work that's going on alongside the canal. So it wasn't quite the same event as it has been in the past, but still worth popping in and it's always nice to walk along the canal! 

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I enjoyed reading the latest issue of Folk Ku journal from King River Press and am delighted to have two of my haiku included https://kingriverpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/folk-ku-issue-5-water_may-june-2025-pdf-edition.pdf

 

Nature inspired Collage

I've been working on a few collages recently, most of them are still in progress! I've been adding items gradually over several weeks to the collage above, and I think it is now finished, though I may change my mind! It's made up of: a piece of wrapping paper, a cutting of a Wood Warbler from a nature magazine, and a number of stickers and paper ornaments from my stash, mostly acquired from second hand shops. 

Three Nature related Art Exhibitions

 

I found the time today to visit the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh's Dundas Street. The main exhibition featured the beautiful landscapes and floral paintings of Swiss born Pascale Rentsch, now based in East Lothian. You can see the paintings from the exhibition on the gallery's website, but as with most art, they really gain from being viewed in a gallery. She has a wonderful way of capturing light and a slightly abstract approach that conveys the moody Scottish weather and landscapes very well. The exhibition also includes a small display of Rentsch's art tools and materials and a short video of her talking about her practice. There's another slightly longer video on the homepage of her website. 

Downstairs in the Gallery is an exhibition celebrating 20 Years of the St Judes design studio and publisher This features various works from artists associated with St Judes. I particularly liked this collaged bunny and other collages and fabrics from Mark Hearld and the linoprints of Angie Lewin. Alongside this exhibition are other works from artists and crafters not associated with St Judes, including willow sculptures from Lizzie Farey, and ceramics from Katie B Morgan, Terry Shone and Jill Fanshaw Kato. 

The gallery also has a lovely garden at the back, though the photo above is from my last visit to the gallery. You can see more photos of the gallery garden in this post. 

I also popped into Stockbridge Library to see the Painting with Plants exhibition by Julie Galante. This lovely little exhibition is probably not best served by being tucked away at the back of the library with chairs and other library furniture being arranged in front of it, making it difficult to get a really good view of the art. The paintings are lovely, featuring inks made from over 100 species of plants, including foraged plants and food leftovers (such as onion skins). 

All these exhibitions are on until 28 June.  

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Meanwhile, over on Substack, I've posted the third of the series of posts about The Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild campaign. You can read it here.  

Lauriston Farm Agro-ecology Project

Lauriston Farm has been the site for Edinburgh's Agro-ecology Project for a few years now. Their aim is to engage the local community in growing a range of crops and rewilding the area. I've been carrying out butterfly surveys on the farm for the last couple of years. Sadly, there aren't usually that many butterflies to see, as populations of these beautiful insects are declining. However, there are often good numbers of other insects to see in the farm fields, including today this Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

The birdlife on the farm is amazing. For the past couple of weeks, when I've visited, I've been surrounded by House Martins and Swifts, I'm pretty sure every Swift in Edinburgh feeds above the fields here! The presence of these two insect-eating species must be proof that the insect populations are, in general, doing well here. I also regularly see and hear a variety of other birds including: Skylarks; Meadow Pipits; Reed Buntings; Willow Warblers; Chiffchaffs. There are always several Goldfinches, today I saw a parent Goldfinch being followed around by two youngsters. I didn't see any Swallows today, though they are nesting in at least one of the barns on the farm. I've heard a rumour that there are also Sedge Warblers on the farm, but I've yet to see or hear them! 

Riddled with Life by Marlene Zuk

This is a fascinating book about parasites, both those that cause human disease and those that affect animals and plants. The book was published in 2007 and so does not address the COVID-19 pandemic, but does offer warnings about the potential of avian flu to become a pandemic in humans. 

The book discusses the evolution of human disease and interesting topicss such as anti-biotic resistance and some approaches for warding off illness, but my particular interest (especially when writing a review for this blog) was in the parasites that affect non-human organisms. 

Parasites are everywhere and co-evolve with their hosts, often becoming less severe in their effects as time goes on. An interesting case study offered to show this is how myxomatosis declined in effectiveness at reducing the plagues of rabbits that caused havoc in Australia after they were introduced to the continent. At first all the bunnies dies once they were infected but soon 5% of infected rabbits were surviving, and continuing to cause problems for the native flora and fauna as well as for agriculturalists. 

Because disease is everywhere, animals have evolved ways of demonstrating their health to potential partners, this is a possible explanation for such seeming extravagances as the peacock's tail or the nightingale's song. A male who is able to put his energies into creating the most beautiful song or plumage is less likely to be hosting lots of parasites (the author details studies, some of which she was involved in herself, to show the correlations between birds' plumage, songs and other characteristics and parasite loads). Studies have also shown that some birds use aromatic herbs in their nests, to reduce the number of fleas living in the nest materials and that chimpanzees can rid themselves of intestinal parasites by ingesting particular types of leaves.

Into the future, climate change may make some parasites more dangerous as warmer temperatures make reproduction easier. This has already happened with a roundworm that infects the lungs of musk oxen as their arctic homelands become warmer, meaning that the roundworm that used to be relatively benign is now present in such numbers that it kills significant numbers of the oxen. 

This review just gives a very brief taste of the book, which is fascinating and well worth reading if you're interested in parasites and disease. However, some details are definitely not for the squeamish! 

Riddled with Life by Marlene Zuk, published (2007) by Harcourt Books.  

Along the Water of Leith

 

Today was a lovely day for my regular litter-picking, wildlife recording walk along the Water of Leith in Colinton and Craiglockart Dells. I was very happy to see that Common Spotted Orchids are again in bloom in the buttercup field 

I was even happier to see a good number of bees. There were probably over a hundred (including Buff tailed, White Tailed and Tree Bumblebees) flying round the cotoneaster and comfrey in the orchard area, though I didn't even take my camera out there as I was so engrossed in listening to and watching all the activity. I had better luck with the Tree Bumblebee below 

As I was photographing the bee above, I noticed that some of the leaves of the Beech tree were host to galls. The leaf below particularly so:

 

A quick internet search reveals that these galls are caused by a midge, Mikiola fagi. 

The British Plant Gall Society define a gall as ‘an abnormal growth produced by a plant or other host under the influence of another organism. It involves enlargement and/or proliferation of host cells, and provides both shelter and food or nutrients for the invading organism'.  

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My latest Substack post has just gone live. Focussing on Learning about Wildlife for the 30 Days Wild Challenge from The Wildlife Trusts, you can read it here.  

fledgling haiku

newly fledged blackbirds
in the garden —
shadow of a cat

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originally published on Haiku Girl Summer. 

 

Figgate Park

 

We had a nice walk round Figgate Park at lunchtime today (avoiding the rain!). I was very impressed with the duck feeding station, where, for a £1 donation, you can get a handful of suitable food to give to the ducks and other birds on the Figgate Pond. 

 The Mute Swans were looking very happy today with their cygnets

 

One of the adult swans seemed to be enjoying a spot of yoga at one point 

The Blue Tits were also busy with youngsters - the bird in the foreground below is an adult Blue Tit, with a youngster in the background. The youngster has much softer colouring and a yellow face, rather than the white face of the mature bird.  

We were interested to find this Trembling Wing fly, which was surrounded by aphids. We were quite surprised that there weren't more ladybirds around, as we've seen very good numbers in the past couple of weeks and ladybirds are knwn to eat aphids.  

It was lovely to see the River Water Crowfoot in full bloom in the Figgate Burn 

and plenty of other flowers including Forget Me Nots and Buttercups, looking lovely together 

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 I'm delighted to have three poems in the second volume of North of Oxford's tribute to Russell Streur, former editor of The Camel Saloon and Plum Tree Tavern. 

Pleased to have a poem included in the Ekphrastic Review's selection of responses to a work by Severine Gallardo.  

A few days in and around Perth

 We had a lovely few days away in and around Perth last week. The very changeable weather didn't stop us enjoying a few walks. The highlight was going to the Tay Reedbeds, with the aim of finding Bearded Tits (now also known as Bearded Reedlings). There's a lovely walk from the village of Errol, which takes in the reedbeds and the surrounding area:

 

We were lucky enough to see a couple of Bearded Tits, though we didn't get a close up view! We also saw and heard: Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Sedge Warblers. After a lovely lunch in the cafe in Errol, we had a quick visit to the Cistern Green Wildlife Garden and Community Orchard, which is a lovely greenspace. 

On another day we had a lovely walk up Kinnoul Hill, which we visit every time we're in Perth. The walk is a lovely mix of woodland

scrubby heathland  

and amazing views over the River Tay (the silvery areas near the river are reflections from the polytunnels in fruit farms)

We had a couple of walks along the River Tay, which runs through the centre of Perth

 

 

and visited a couple of local parks

 We were impressed by the wetland area in the main Perth park

where we became surrounded by feral pigeons, even though we weren't feeding them

Some of the pigeons were very pretty 

We were very happy to find a good number of House Martins and Swifts flying around above the river in some places. 

Perth is always a nice place to visit, as well as the lovely walks, it has a good selection of cafes and restaurants and a good museum and art gallery. 

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I'm delighted to have a poem included in the Ekphrastic Review's selection of responses to a work by Severine Gallardo.  

You can read my latest Substack post, the first in a series about 30 Days Wild, here.