Comely Bank cemetery and National Galleries

 I took a short time out to wander round Edinburgh's Comely bank cemetery yesterday. The light was beautiful

and I was delighted to see my first snowdrops of the year - not yet in full bloom!

Today I went to the Women in Revolt exhibition at The Scottish National Galleries Modern 2 and took some photos to take advantage of the light

It's good to see that the gallery now has an allotment area in its grounds, though it's not clear who does the gardening here (are they growing vegetables for use in their cafes or are community groups doing the gardening?)

The is well worth seeing before it closes on 26 January (and in fact I'm going to see it again tomorrow!).  

I posted more photos of the Gallery building over on my Shapeshifting Green blog, you can see them here.

Frosty Weekend Walk

 The temperature has been down as low as minus six in Edinburgh in recent days. It wasn't quite that cold yesterday and we wrapped up warm for our walk round Arthur's Seat. We had excellent views across to the snow covered Pentland Hills (click on the photo below to enlarge the image)

Crafty Green Boyfriend zoomed in with his camera for the photo below

 The frosty grass was beautiful 

and Dunsapie Loch was frozen over 

We didn't see any Ravens on Saturday but this Jackdaw was happy to pose for a photo, with Duddingston Loch in the background

Eavesdropping on Animals by George Bumann

 

 George Bumann has studied animals around the world for over forty years and now leads courses on animals language and intelligence in Yellowstone National Park in the USA. This book is a distillation of what he has learned in his own studies and also from other wildlife researchers. 

The book outlines how the author first learned about nature and then shares incidents from his life, where he has had close contact with animals. He explores the different ways that birds and other animals communicate with each other and gives the reader plenty of advice on how to best spend time in nature, without disturbing the wildlife. More than anything, pay attention to the sounds you hear around you in nature and learn the patterns of sounds you hear in your local area. The book cleverly weaves practical exercises in paying attention into the narrative. 

This is a fascinating book, which gets you thinking about nature and inspires you to get out and pay more attention. My only complaint (and it's not at all a criticism of the book) is that being in the UK, I'm not going to encounter most of the species mentioned here. But the overall encouragement to get out and listen works just as well wherever you are. Plus, sometimes there are direct comparisons to be made, for example I found myself wondering whether ravens in Scotland would use the same call on seeing a Golden Eagle as American eagles do. 

So, this is a must-read if you want to know more about animal communication and how to go about making your own investigations in your local area.

Eavesdropping on Animals by George Bumann, published (2024) by Greystone Books.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you've had a lovely, relaxing holiday break. We've had some lovely walks in our local area. here are photos of some of the highlights.  

We walked into the centre of town on Christmas Day, hoping to be able to walk round Princes Street Gardens, which used to be a Christmas tradition for many people. However, in recent years the gardens have been shut on Christmas Day so that they can be prepared for the Hogmany Party, which this time round had to be cancelled because of high winds.

We had a lovely walk at Musselburgh, starting out walking along the River Esk 

then continuing along the coastal John Muir Walkway to the Boating Pond 

 

and Levenhall Links where we sat in the bird hides for a while. 

We also enjoyed a walk around Corstorphine Hill, where we saw a good selection of fungi including this Scarlet Elf Cap

We also had a good view of the Grevy's Zebras that live in Edinburgh Zoo and can often be seen from the main path around the hill

On Saturday, we visited Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens, with fingers crossed that we might see a Kingfisher at the pond. We did indeed see a Kingfisher, if you look very carefully, you might be able to see it in the bushes on the left hand side of the photo below

The pond was fairly icy and it was amusing to watch the Mallards skating

As ever, there were a lot of Grey Squirrels in the gardens, though only this one allowed photos.

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I've had a haiku published in the latest issue of Shadow Pond Journal, you can read it here (scroll down to read my haiku, but take the time to read all the others too!). 

Thanks to Allyson Whipple, editor of Haiku Girl Summer for nominating one of my haiku for a Touchstone Award. You can read all the nominated haiku here. 

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If you're in the UK, you may want to take part in this year's Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place between 24-26 January. You can do the birdwatch in your own garden or in any greenspace.