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