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. 

Walking the Grounds of Drumlanrig Castle

 Our first trip while we were in Dumfries and Galloway was to Drumlanrig Castle, where we walked round the beautiful wooded castle grounds. 

The castle itself is a lovely building and has House Martins and Swallows nesting in it, many of which were flying around the castle and car park when we were there. 

 

Drumlanrig Castle and car park 

Swallows

There are some lovely pools around the estate,

which attract a good number of Dragonflies and Damselflies, including Large Red Damselflies 

and Common Blue Damselflies 

Thee's also a lovely stream that flows through the estate

All in all it's a lovely place for a walk and one we have visited many times.