haiku

waiting at dusk
for the train to leave -
song thrush sings.

High Tide at North Berwick

We had a wonderful day at North Berwick today, a small seaside town just a short (though slow!) train ride out of Edinburgh. The tide was very high and quite dramatic when we arrived, looking quite spectacular in the winter sunlight. Out at sea there were rafts of eider ducks that appeared and disappeared with the swell of the sea. As the tide went out a bit, wading birds gathered on the small bit of beach - redshanks, oystercatchers, turnstones, sanderlings and dunlin (I have to admit here that my wader id skills aren't perfect so I may be wrong about the dunlin!). Also two male goldeneye ducks were riding the waves like surfers. North Berwick is most famous for its gannets, but they're not around at this time of year, we'll need to wait for summer to see them, when the famous Bass Rock will become white from the sheer number of birds.

Drinking Water

I found this post recently - the video gives a very clear picture of the sheer amount of plastic water bottles we drink our way through and also the never ending cycle of buying and discarding plastic bottles. the video is in Italian, but is very visual and has nice music, so you can feel able to watch it even if you don't understand Italian.

After watching it, I was struck by the thought that in our office at work, no-one drinks bottled water. We don't have a water cooler. We all drink tap water from glasses, or in some cases fill reused bottles up from the tap.....

I recently bought a reusable bottle which I take with me on train journeys etc. Train stations used to be the only place I ever bought bottled water. Now I never do. What about you?

If you want to really think about plastic and how to reduce the amount you use, visit Beth at Fake Plastic Fish.

Thinking Green Thursday

Information Officer Support Blog

Nothing to do with anything crafty, green or poetical but:


This is a new blog I'm co-authoring through my job. I'm a member of the Information Officer Support Group which is a network of people working in information, communications and marketing in central Scotland. The blog is intended as a place to share ideas and resources. We have forthcoming articles planned on how to search the hidden internet and how to evaluate information work. If you're involved in that area of work you may want to follow the blog and join in the discussions: http://iosgblog.wordpress.com/.

haiku

skeleton trees
on the railway embankment -
a cloud of crows




previously published in Blithe Spirit, the journal of the British Haiku Society

Review - Taste of Dreams - Vanora Bennett

Vanora Bennett is a journalist and has worked a lot in Russia. This wonderful book is a travelogue following her obsession with Russia and caviar. Bennett is a generous and gifted writer and this book is a vivid portrayal of a country going through social upheaval. At the same time she outlines the cultural and natural history of caviar and the sturgeon, charting the effects of smuggling and overfishing on the sturgeon's populations in and around the Caspian Sea. Far from being heavy and worthy though the book is marvellously alive and often very funny, and as such is a much more effective tool in awakening people's awareness of the issues. Caviar? No thanks!

Taste of Dreams on Vanora Bennett's website

Fungi

I walked my usual route along the Water of Leith today. The weather was quite mild though dull and slightly damp. Although all the paths are pasable, some require that you walk in the mud at the side to avoid the remaining ice that is surprisingly thick in some places. In most places though the snow and ice have melted and the fungi certainly seem to like that! They gave a distincult autumnal feel to the area.

There was a heron fishing in the river, a pair of goosanders and several dippers (or lots of sightings of one very energetic bird!). The trees were full of long tailed tits, calling softly and fluttering in the branches.