An Inexplicable Appearance of Daffodils

I was disappointed to find a whole load of daffodils have appeared in amongst what used to be the most verdant patch of Ramsons in Edinburgh. Someone must have planted them (I suspect it was the Water of Leith Conservation Trust, who really should know better, but who, I know, have been on a mission to plant as many bulbs as possible up and down the river, without, seemingly, caring whether they're being planted in appropriate places or not.) Here's just a few of the inexplicable daffodils, in amongst the Ramsons. 

I'll be writing more about this in my Crafty Green Poet Substack to be sent out to subscribers on Wednesday. 

 

 

Rhododendrons, Cute Cats and a Kingfisher

 We had a trip to the Royal Botanic Gardens on Saturday, hoping to see the first lot of rhododendrons on display and we weren't disappointed! Here's a selection of the various rhododendrons currently in bloom - I love the variety of colours! 

 

We were also delighted to meet this beautiful cat with bright blue eyes

you can really see the eye colour in the photo below
 

we also met another cat hanging out at one of the Botanics' ponds 

At this point, I have to admit that I was more interested in the Kingfisher that  was flying around the pond, occasionally diving into the water. You can just see the splash of kingisher orange and turquoise in the far tree in the photo below - click on the photo to enlarge it 

The Botanics pond is a surprisingly reliable place to see Kingfishers in Edinburgh! 

Edited to add: I should also have mentioned the lovely area covered in Common Liverwort  (Marchantia polymorpha) and mosses! I think the most obvious moss is Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica) but please correct me if you know I'm wrong!

 

In the Dells

The weather has been very changeable today. Once the early morning rain stopped I went out to do a litter-picking, wildlife recording patrol of the Water of Leith. About three quarters of the way through, it started raining / hailing / sleeting! I didn't take many photos as it was also very windy and the wind kept threatening to blow my litter bag away, so I had to keep hold of it all the time, which made photography a bit tricky. I did however, make sure to get this photo of the developing new cones on the larch tree. 

 

I don't think I've ever caught them so early in their development! I blogged about the stages of their later development back in 2014, you can see those photos in this post. 

The Water of Leith features in this week's Crafty Green Poet Substack post, which marks International Day of Action for Rivers (which happens on 14 March).  

A Walk at Musselburgh

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk at Musselburgh, following part of the John Muir Walkway along the Firth of Forth. The weather was lovely and the tide was out when we started the walk 

There were plenty of birds around! The photo below shows a group of Mallards on the beach and a male Goldeneye on the water behind them.  

We were delighted to hear Skylarks singing! This is always one of the most wonderful things about walking this route at this time of year, as Skylarks are much less common than they used to be. One Skylark was singing, as you might expect, high up in the sky, but another (lazy!) Skylark was singing from the ground, which is very unusual (though I have once seen a Skylark singing from a fence post). 

George A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes

 

The author had recently moved to Wales, when she rescued three injured magpie chicks that had fallen from their nest and been abandoned. Only one of these survived, she named him George. 

This is the story of Frieda Hughes' life with George, who for a few short months was a huge presence in her life until he flew away back into the wild. 

The book is a very engaging tale of looking after a mischevious and very intelligent wild magpie who had a 'tangible sense of humour'. Interwoven with this primary narrative are details of Hughes' work at renovating her new home and garden, while suffering from chronic health problems and the breakdown of her relationship.   

George develops a good rapport with the author's three dogs, and we are treated to many scenes of how they would play together, George often hiding dog treats and the dogs finding them. George in fact seems to think he is a dog! 

He also developed a very close relationship with the author herself:

"He was also happy just sitting in my hand as I loved around doing chores: cooking, tidying up, whatever I could do one handed. Sometimes I held him in one hand and painted with the other; and he'd watch my face or my pantbrush as it moved, and seemed captivated. So was I. Of course I realised that everything took twice as long to do with a magpie hanging off me, but I also wanted to make  the most of every minute. His warmy feathered presence was like having an emissary of the natural world grounding me daily."

This ia a very readable account of life with a wild bird, with fascinating insights into the intelligence of magpies.  

George: A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes, published (2023) by Profile Books. 

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Today is World Book Day! To celebrate this fact, yesterday's Crafty Green Poet Substack post was all about books! You can read it here.  

In the Dells

Spring is definitely here! I did my regular volunteering session in the Dells alongside the Water of Leith this morning and took these photos. 

The Scarlet Elf Caps are more hidden away this year than they normally are, in the place where I've found them over the past few years, but I did manage to get this photo

The Hazel Trees are in full bloom just now, with all the catkins out and lots of the tiny red female flowers too, if you look carefully along the branches.  

In the corner of Colinton Cemetery, there's a lovely patch of Winter Aconite and crocuses

This is one of the few places where I regularly notice Winter Aconite, it's a lovely flower  

As well as all the Spring flowers, there were lots of birds around. Among others, I saw Bullfinches; Buzzards, Dippers; a pair of Coal Tits checking out nest sites; and a Nuthatch that looked like it was carrying food to a nest. I also heard Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming and Song Thrushes singing. 

 

Blackford Pond and Hermitage of Braid

 Yesterday we walked round Blackford Pond and then through the Hermitage of Braid. Here are some of our photos. 

There were quite a few birds on Blackford Pond, including Moorhens, Coots, Mallards and Black Headed Gulls.  

 The Hermitage is looking very green just now with the fresh leaves of Ramsons and Few Flowered Leek 

I like the patterns formed by the Turkey Tail fungus on this fallen log. 

and the Hazel Trees are wonderful at the moment, with both the male catkins and the tiny female red flowers out 

 

A Walk at Cramond

 Yesterday we took a bus to Cramond and had a walk along the River Forth. The tide was well out, so we didn't get close views of any of the Oystercatchers, Curlew and other wading birds that were hanging around further out on the mud flats, but the light was beautiful so we managed to get some decent photos.

 

This Carrion Crow posed for us nicely.

 We were delighted to hear a Song Thrush singing a little bit, almost as if he were tuning up for the Spring. 

Snowdrops

 

I love seeing snowdrops, one of the first signs of Spring every year, these are in North Merchiston Cemetery, which, just now, has more of these lovely flowers than I've ever seen before. 

Linlithgow Loch

 Every year we visit Linlithgow Loch at this time of year, hoping to see Great Crested Grebes performing their courtship dance. Saturday was a beautiful day, though very cold, so we made the trip. 

Linlithgow Palace dominates views across the Loch 

The loch is beautiful and a great place for wildlife. We saw about three or four distant Great Crested Grebes, but none seemed in the mood for dancing. However, we were delighted to get very good views of a pair of Slavonian Grebes, rare cousins of the Great Cresteds. Adorable looking birds that we spent a good few minutes watching, though the light wasn't entirely kind for photos, but here they are, in their winter plumage (so lacking their distinctive breeding plumage).  

We were also happy to see several Tufted Ducks, the males in their smartest breeding plumage 

 The Coots were clearly annoyed about something (though this could be part of a courtship display)

and the Grey Herons were generally happy to pose for photos 

We saw lots of friendly Robins too, one of which sang to us. 

**

Edited to add: Grebes also feature in this week's post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack. 
 

Two Books about Dinosaurs

 Dino Gangs: Dr Philip J Currie's New Science of Dinosaurs by Josh Young 

 This is a very engaging introduction to the science (carried out by Dr Philip J Currie and others) behind the claim that dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex, may have hunted in packs. Dinosaur finds from Alberta, Canada, and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia are studied, and insights given into how the paleontologists work, both in the field and in the lab. Predatory dinosaurs are compared to modern day ostriches, Komodo dragons and lions to try and work out how the extinct creatures may have hunted. 

The book was written to accompany a TV series and feels like it was written for teenagers, with lots of repitition to drive home the points. This probably means that it's a particularly good read for people who aren't so scientifically minded, but makes it a less satisfactory (though still interesting) read for those who have a scientific background. 

Dino Gangs by Josh Young, published (2011) by  Harper Collins. 

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The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte  

 

This is a fascinating overview of the development of dinosaurs from the first small examples that appeared so many millions of years ago to the modern feathered varieties we now know as birds. Brusatte is an enthusiastic expert in the field and gives a focussed and interesting overview of the evolution and decline of dinosaurs and the istory of paleontology as a science. He also shares stories from field trips and conferences. I found him an engaging and entertaining writer, though I know some people aren't so keen on his style. 

The science is fascinating enough to keep any interested reader gripped until the last page. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for an unimaginable length of time. I still find it astonishing that my childhood favourite dinosaurs Stegasuarus and Triceratops would never have met because Stegasaurus went extinct millions of years before the first Triceratops appeared.  The book has a bit of a focus on the tyrannosaurs (the best known of these being Tyrannosaurus Rex with its 'pathetic little arms' that are referred to possibly slightly too frequently).

Definitely a good book for anyone interested in dinosaurs.  

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte, published by Picador. 

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I wrote about Dinosaurs and Birds in my latest Crafty Green Substack post, which you can read here.  

The Shepherd and the Bear (film review)

 

This documentary explores the conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears in the midst of a traditional shepherding community in the heights of the French Pyrenees. The film follows Yves, an ageing shepherd who struggles to find a successor, and Cyril, a teenage boy who spends his free time tracking and photographing the bears.

The shepherds are losing sheep to bears, which have been reintroduced into the area, with apparently little support given to the shepherds (they are given no compensation for lost sheep and the bear-scarers and electric fences they are given don't really seem adequate to the job). I love the idea of bears being reintroduced into areas where they used to live, but if I were a shepherd in that area I would expect at the very least compensation for lost sheep and sturdy electric fencing to corral the animals at nightime. The arguments of both the shepherds, the photographer and the conservationists are all sensitively presented and the audience is left with a sense that this is a conflict full of nuance and with no easy answers (well except maybe good compensation and sturdy electric fences). 

The documentary doesn't shy away from showing the bloody side of farming, including dying livestock. On the other hand, it is prevented from becoming too heavy with interludes including a wedding celebration and an extended chase scene involving a feisty rooster. 

The stunning cinematography and immersive storytelling show us a world of tradition, community and humanity’s increasingly fraught relationship with a vanishing natural world. 

Currently screening at The Filmhouse in Edinburgh and probably elsewhere, check your local independent cinema.  

Hazel Catkins

We enjoyed a walk round Saughton Park and along the Water of Leith on Saturday. We didn't take many photos as the weather was very dull. I did manage however to get some photos of Hazel bushes, which not only show the dangling male catkins but also the tiny red female flowers. Look carefully at the twig in the photo below. To the right of the catkins are two tiny red flowers. Can you see them?

 

The Coral Bones by E J Swift

This novel interweaves three stories, set around the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. One follows Judith, a young woman on a sea voyage in the mid-19th century, the second follows Hana a marine biologist in the present day, and the third follows Telma, a representative of an ecological Restoration Committee, two centuries in the future.

Judith's story is the most engaging, partly because it is an old fashioned adventure, partly due to Judith's obvious delight in finding the pristine reefs, but also because to me she felt like the most well rounded of the characters, with the most engaging voice. 

However, the present day and future stories are most valuable for what they say about the state of the coral reefs and how we might begin to save them in the future. There are some excellent descriptions of the life around the reefs: 

'Rafi had included footage of seadragons mating. Telma watched a dance between pairs, mesmerised by the slow gyre of their movement, the ritual undertaking between male and female, an act that had been staged for countless millennia, and then never again. Their baroque bodies turned in the current, each seadragon endeavouring to mirror the subtle actions of their mate.'

There is also a lot of thoughtful consideration of what we risk losing if we lose the coral reefs to climate change. In some cases, these observations from the future are already being witnessed by coral scientists and divers today:

'Imagine a place you know intimately. A home, beloved, each brick and pane and furnishing and dirt or grease mark on the wall, every inch of the architecture infused with memory. Imagine one day you return and find nothing remains but the foundations. The ceiling is gone, the windows have vanished. What was a house is hollow. Even the air feels different. It is not a haunting, there are no ghosts here; the memories have been wiped. There is only absence. You stand, turning on the spot, looking about you. After a while, the doubt creeps in. You begin to disbelieve that this is the place you knew. That you were ever here at all. Such is the transformation, you cannot truly take it in. There must be some mistake.

Gone were the vivid reds and oranges, the yellows and pinks, the umbers and siennas, the gentle sepias, all the infinite hues of coral that make a healthy reef. These colonies were long past bleaching; algae had grown over their bodies,'

I really enjoyed how the novel brings together stories of the reef from different time periods, historical and imagined and leaves us with a sense of hope that it may not be too late for the Great Barrier Reef.

The Coral Bones by E J Swift, published by Jo Fletcher Books, an imprint of Quercus.   

**

Meanwhile, I've posted a wee piece about World Wetlands Day (which was on Monday) on my Crafty Green Poet Substack. You can read it here.  

 

 

 

Witch Hazel and other early signs of Spring

 On Saturday we had a lovely walk around Corstorphine Hill. We started at the Walled Garden, where we were delighted to find two Witch Hazel bushes in full bloom. The flowers on the two bushes were slightly different in colour, one being more orange and the other being more yellow. Both were beautiful and I was pleased to get some decent photos

 

It was also lovely to find these snowdrops growing in the Walled Garden

 We also enjoyed walking around the wider area of the hill

 

Polar Corona by Caroline Gill

 

Polar Corona by Caroline Gill, a winner of the Hedgehong Poetry Prize, is a crown (corona) of seven interlinked sonnets about Antarctic exploration and penguins. The last line of each sonnet becomes the first line of the next sonnet and the last line of the final sonnet is also the first line of the first sonnet, connecting the whole sequence together and underlining the interconnectedness of life at the Antarctic. 

The sonnets display not only well crafted rhthm and rhymes (often half-rhyme) but also occasional effective alliteration:

a wilderness of wind upon a chart,
a sea of storms to keep the watch alert,
a yard of graves to mark the men who died.  

from Crown.  

The sonnets about the penguins are particularly appealing. Often I can imagine them being spoken by David Attenborough over documentary footage: 

The youngsters need to eat to fill out fast;
they peck and jostle for each scrap of food.
Survival instincts may resemble greed,
but soon the time will come to quit the nest.  

from Birth 

The sonnets here were inspired by a poetry course / residency at the Scott Polar Research Institute and Polar Museum in Cambridge, England. The result is a beautifully produced book containing well crafted poetry that shines a light on the southern-most part of our world. 

** 

Polar Corona by Caroline Gill, published (2025) by Hedgehog Poetry Press  

 To order a signed or unsigned print copy please contact Caroline.

 Further details and purchase of eBook only: Hedgehog Press. 

**

Meanwhile my latest post has just gone live on my Substack! You can read it here.  

 

First signs of Spring in Figgate Park

We had a lovely walk round Edinburgh's Figgate Park on Saturday. The weather was dreich - dull and damp - and not really ideal for photos! 

We were delighted to see catkins on the Hazel trees, these are the male catkins, the tiny red female flowers haven't emerged yet. I took several photos, but only the one below really worked out. 

I also enjoyed watching the patterns of the willow branches where they overhang the loch

**

I'm delighted that one of my poems has been published by The Ekphrastic Review amongst the responses to the multi-media work 'We Are All Eve' by Monica Marks.  

What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe

 

This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in fish, whether you've kept them as pets, eaten them or wondered at them swimming in our waterways. It's full of interesting science, which is complemented by anecodotes, which, the author notes "carry little credibility with scientists, but ... provide insights into what animals may be capable of that science has yet to explore and they can inspire deeper reflection on the human-animal relationship". This mix of science of anecdote worked really well for me, and gave a more well-rounded overview than would have been possible relying purely on science, vital  though that is.

We're told about the evolution and ecology of fish, taken through how they perceive the world and given insights into their social lives from how they travel in groups to their parenting styles. I learned a lot about fish that I hadn't previously known, including how they can use the reflections on the water surface to see things out of their direct line of sight and that they can produce an 'alarm chemical' to alert other fish to danger, they can even use tools and engage in social play. 

My favourite part of the book was the in-depth exploration of the complex relationships between cleaner fish and their clients. Cleaner fish hang around reefs waiting for larger fish (and other animals) to come by and then pick off the mites and other parasites from the larger animals' bodies. 

The author takes a strong moral position on the value of fish as thinking, sentient beings, opposing industrial fishing operations and sport fishing alike. I was very impressed too by how he also outlines his ethical misgivings about some of the scientific experiments he cites to back up his arguments. 

This is an excellent, engrossing read. 

What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe, published (2016) by OneWorld Publications.  

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I posted a new piece on my Crafty Green Poet Substack today, you can read it here.  

Arthur's Seat

 We had a lovely walk round Edinburgh's Arthur's Seat today, here are some of my photos.

 

The Edinburgh Inquirer today has a very interesting article about the human impact on Arthur's Seat over the centuries. You can read it here.