Flow - film review

 

Yesterday, we went to see Flow, the Oscar winning animation from Latvian director Gints Zibalodis. It's a beautiful film focusing on an un-named cat who lives in an empty house that was once inhabited by a sculptor, is swept away in a huge flood and ends up navigating the waters on a boat shared with a labrador, a Secretary bird, a Ring-tailed Lemur and a Capybara. The animals are all voiced by real animals (no twee human voiced dialogue here!) and the characterisations are perfect - the labrador is all over enthusiastic tail wagging and the cat is all aloof independence and curiosity. 

There are no human characters in the story and the background is left deliberately obscure, was the cat's original home empty because the sculptor had died of old age or had a pandemic killed the remaining humans? Whatever the reason, the aloof cat needs to learn to co-operate with the other occupants of the boat if they are to survive. 

Flow looks at issues around climate change and disaster preparedness from a unique point of view and offers images of a post-apocalyptic world where life goes on without humans.

From the wonderfully imagined rainforest environment to the fantastical giant cat sculptures, this is a visually stunning film, with a beautiful soundtrack by the director. It's still showing in selected cinemas in Edinburgh and elsewhere, so do check it out if you've not already seen it. 

You can see a trailer here. 

The film's website is here.

Butterfly Survey on Corstorphine Hill

 For a couple of years now I've been carrying out butterfly surveys at two sites in Edinburgh - Lauriston Farm (the site of Edinburgh's Agro-ecology project) and Corstorphine Hill. There are several people involved so I don't survey every week. Yesterday the weather was just about perfect for a Spring butterfly survey when I visted Corstorphine Hill. It's very early in the butterfly season here in Scotland, so there weren't many butterflies, but I was very happy to get this photo of this Peacock butterfly, which was enjoying the sunshine as much as I was. 

I posted a new article on my Substack blog today, all about helping insects, you can read it here. 

The area of Corstorphine Hill where the butterfly survey transect lies offers beautiful views.

 

the survey transect also includes the lovely walled garden on the hill

 There are a lot of trees on the hill, even outside the wooded areas. The Norway Maples are looking beautiful, one of my favourite trees at this time of year

 

The Sycamores also look beautiful with their fresh young leaves 

I'm hoping to finding lots of butterflies this year. Last year was a very disappointing year for butterflies and I saw very few on my surveys. Butterflies are known to be able to bounce back from a bad year, but many species are sadly in long term decline (though some species are increasing).

You Really Don't Need to Go Far to Find Nature....

We live in a street close to the centre of Edinburgh, the front gardens are very small and there are only a few trees. So although nature is around, we don't generally expect to see anything too uncommon. However, when I took out the recycling this morning, I saw this unusual looking insect on the recycling bin

I recognised it immediately as a plume moth, but didn't know what species it would be. So when I got home, I looked up plume moths on Nature Spot and my photo is good enough for me to be fairly certain this is a Beautiful Plume Moth (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla).

 

Easter Craiglockart Hill and Pond

Yesterday we visited Easter Craiglockart Hill and then walked home via Craiglockart Pond and the Union Canal. 

The hill is currently yellow with the blooming gorse

 

The pond is home to a number of waterbirds

including a pair of  Mute Swans, this is the male in the photo below, in his threat posture (he was chasing a couple of last year's cygnets around the pond)

there are also several Tufted Ducks, this is the male in the photo below, if you look carefully, you can see that the feathers on his face aren't just black, but are iridescent, showing blue and purple in certain angles of light

The photo below shows the female Tufted Duck

There are also a number of Mallards on the pond, we enjoyed watching this pair dabbling for food

We enjoyed walking along the canal, but oddly didn't take any photos on  that part of the walk! 

Groundbreakers by Chantal Lyons

 

Groundbreakers was inspired by the author's dissertation into living with wild boar in the Forest of Dean, which lead to an ongoing interest in this native species of the UK, which became extinct in mediaeval times but that has been farmed here since the 1980s and since then has been escaping into the wild. The boar is increasing in population in this country and is thriving across Europe.

This book explores the history of human - boar relationships in the UK, focussing on the Forest of Dean, which is where most of our boars live these days. Historically people hunted boar for food but also respected them as fellow inhabitants of the land. These days the people who live in the areas with Wild Boar populations are having to relearn how to live alongside such a large, now unfamiliar animal. 

The author describes her first encounter with a Wild Boar: "She was smaller and darker than I had expected. Her ears were fluffy and pointed, like those of an elven teddy bear. Her face was grey as if she had plunged it into a long-cold fire. Below ridges so like human eyebrows, her eyes met mine." 

She meets several people who have experience of living alongside boar in this country, some of whom love the boars and some of whom hate them. We're given a decent understanding of both points of view. She also meets people who live alongside boars in other European countries, where they have always been part of the landscape.

The author shows how boar can alter their immediate environment, often to the benefit of other species, for example, when a boar has been digging, insects and earthworms will come to the surface for birds to eat. On the other hand they've been shown to have a detrimental effect on for example adders in Belgium and Hazel Dormice in the UK. 

The book also discusses the need for management of boar, through hunting and potentially reintroducing predators such as lynx. 

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the status of Wild Boar in the UK.

 

Groundbreakers by Chantal Lyons, published (2024) by Bloomsbury. 

Firsts for the Year

 I did my weekly patrol of the Dells along the Water of Leith earlier today. Crafty Green Boyfriend came with me as he does when he has a free day (today he was using up his last annual leave before the end of the holiday year!). Everywhere is looking beautiful and spring-like. The Wood Anemones are in bloom

There's just one (expanding) patch of these lovely flowers in the Dells. Meanwhile there seem to be Lesser Celandines everywhere, which is wonderful

It was great to see several insects including a number of queen bumblebees (mostly Buff Tailed Bumblebees) looking for nests. The firsts of the year, referred to in the post title were our first butterfly of the year - this lovely Peacock

and this Dark Edged Bee-fly, 

this insect mimics bees and lays its eggs in bees nests. You can read more about this fascinating insect in this article in the Guardian newspaper's Invertebrate of the Year coverage. 
 

Weekend Walk in Hermitage of Braid

 On Saturday we started our walk at Edinburgh's Blackford Pond. 

We were hoping to see some toads, but weren't lucky with that. No toads and no frogs. We were though very happy to see that the female Teal, that we saw in February, has now been joined by a male! In the picture below the male Teal is the duck on the left with the lovely red and green head, the female is behind him, all brown except for the dash of teal green in her wing and the bird on the right is a male Tufted Duck.

I wonder if the Teal pair will breed on the pond this year? 

We were also happy to see this clump of Marsh Marigolds at the edge of the pond

After walking round the pond, we continued on to Blackford Hill, which is currently vibrant with blooming gorse

and through to the Hermitage of Braid

where Wood Anemone is in bloom 

and Horse Chestnut trees are about to burst into leaf, their branches full of sticky buds

Always a beautiful route to walk, especially at this time of year.