Water Birds and their Reflections

 Yesterday was the last class in this term of creative writing classes I've been teaching at the Ripple Project. It went very well as it always does and we'll be starting back again in May! Before the class I wandered round Lochend Park as I often do and captured the mallards above and the lesser black backed gull below.

If you live in the Lochend area, you may have noticed an excellent article in the April issue of the Speaker (local newspaper) about Lochend Park, written by Kathleen who has been coming along to my writing class. If you don't live in the area, you can read the Speaker here, but note at the moment it's still the March edition which is on the website. 

Then today, Crafty Green Boyfriend and I walked along the Union Canal through Edinburgh and caught this meeting between a male mallard (in slightly atypical plumage) and a moorhen.

For Weekend Reflections

and Nature Notes

Heritage Trees of Scotland

This beautiful book produced by the Forestry Commission Scotland and the Tree Council introduces the reader to the heritage trees that can be found in Scotland.

Heritage trees are described as 'old trees, wide trees, tall trees, rare trees, 'weird and wonderful' trees and trees with historical and cultural significance.' Scotland has a particularly large number of such trees, as the reader will find!

The book takes us on a tour of Scotland, introducing us to the trees one by one. Each tree is introduced with at least one full colour photo, text describing its appearance, significance and age and details of its location.

The trees include the yew in Colinton, Edinburgh that the writer Robert Louis Stevenson played in when he was young, the birks (birches) of Aberfeldy immortalised by the poet Robert Burns in his poem 'The Birks o' Aberfeldy' and the Corstorphine Sycamore, immortalised in my poem!

I was interested to see how many of these trees are non-natuve, there are several heritage sycamores and several heritage conifers of species introduced from the USA (Including a monster red cedar in Aberfeldy)..

It's a wonderful book, adelight to browse through for anyone interested in trees and the Scottish landscape, and possibly an inspiration for day trips to preciously unexplored parts of the country!

Heritage Trees of Scotland published by The Forestry Commission and Tree Council (follow the link for sample pages)

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more!

winter bird haiku

whirling snow
the brightness of yellowhammers 
in the gorse

Yay Spring, Speedy!

I was delighted to win this beautiful card in a recent giveaway on Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny's blog. A lovely spring gift, so thank you Speedy!


It doesn't yet feel like spring outside though. We had another snowy birdwatching walk this morning but the weather didn't stop us seeing lots of birds on the farmland around Liberton Brae, including yellowhammers and grey partridges.

March Snow in the Pentlands

We took the approach today that if it's unseasonably cold and snowy, rather than try to avoid it we'd go to where lots of snow would be guaranteed and we'd pretend it was the middle of winter. So we went down to Hillend and wandered round some of the lower paths. The snowy landscapes were beautiful:

all the walking certainly warmed us up! We then went into the ski centre cafe, where we enjoyed tea and cakes and a nice view over more snowy hills.

Hopefully it will warm up soon.....

Four Wings and a Prayer - Monarch Butterflies

A few days ago, I watched the TV documentary based on Sue Halpern's book Four Wings and a Prayer. (If you're in the UK, you can still see the programme up until Sunday). The programme follows the migration of the Monarch butterflies from Canada and the USA into Mexico and back again. The migration of these butterflies is one of the most iconic natural spectacles, specially as the monarch is the only insect that migrates like a bird in this way.

The film focussed on the overwintering grounds in Mexico, which are threatened by illegal logging. Along the way, the film crew meet up with a lot of the academic and citizen scientists who have been instrumental in exploring the mysteries of the migration, along with Homero Aridjis, the 'poet laureate of monarch butterflies', who has done a lot to try to get their overwintering forests protected.They also show the celebrations that Mexican people make when the butterflies arrive (co-inciding with the Day of the Dead - traditionally the people living near the wintering grounds believe that the monarchs are the souls of the recently deceased)

Once I had seen the documentary, I wanted to read the book immediately. The book goes into a lot more detail of the science behind the migration and spends more time with individual scientists, including exploring the rivalries and tensions that are probably commonly found in any group of professionals. The book also is a very personal document, Halpern outlines how her own fascination with Monarchs began and how she shares her fascination with her family.It's an engaging, interesting and important book.

The book was written in 2001 and so is out of date. Given that the documentary is based directly on the book, then it too is probably out of date in its focus, despite being itself quite a new production. So both book and documentary focus on the threats to the monarch being such that the migration risks coming to an end, but this is different from the potential extinction of a species (there being populations of Monarch butterflies that aren't involved in the migration to Mexico).

However, more recently it seems that populations of Monarchs across the USA are declining. According to this article on Myrmecos numbers of Monarchs this year have sunk to perilous levels. The article admits that the reasons aren't clear, but probably include loss of areas of milkweed (the monarchs' favoured plant) and pesticide use.

Monarch Watch is campaigning to Bring Back the Monarchs. 

Michelle over at Rambling Woods (home of Nature Notes) blogs about monarch butterflies and how we can help them.

Four Wings and a Prayer by Sue Halpern is published by Weidenfield and Nicholson in the UK, originally published by Random House.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that ake you to other webpages where you can find out more. 

International Day of Forests and Trees

I love forests and woodlands! Every week I walk through the wooded Dells along the Water of Leith and enjoy the richness of the plantlife and the birdlife in the area. I also love seeing the seasons change, which this year is totally fascinating as the weather is so cold for the time of year! It's strange to see the crocuses poking out through the snow and the birds singing when it's so cold!

Forests and trees are vital for wildlife and humans. The UN International Day of Forests and Trees (which I only found out about this morning) aims to highlight this importance and encourage the protection of our forests. They have an uphill battle ahead of them, given that we are losing so much of our forest cover while human population is increasing so rapidly.

You can find out more about The International Day of Forests and Trees by following these links:

International Day of Forests and Trees at the UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe.

International Day of Forests at the UN. 

International Day of Forests at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

If you're in the UK you can find your nearest woodland or forest on the Visit Woods website, which also encourages you to share your photos of your nearest woods (they're currently running a competition, and all photos uploaded to the site count as entries!). 

Also in the UK, the Woodland Trust campaigns to save our woodlands and to investigate and prevent tree diseases (such as ash dieback). They also have a blog Woodland Matters.

I think conservation of the forests starts with appreciating their value, so put on your boots and go walking in the woods this weekend!