woven coasters

I made these coasters from remnants of a very thick wool which was quick but fiddly to work with - fiddly because it's too thick to fit into a needle so I had to weave entirely by hand. I like the finished look with the different colours of the much thinner weft thread.

Meadows Wildflower Project

I first noticed the Meadows wildflower project in the Meadows area of Edinburgh a while ago, but it's looking very bright and colourful today so I took these photos!

The wildflower project is managed by Greening Our Street, an environmental group run by residents of Lauriston Street and Lauriston Gardens. 

 It would be lovely to see such wildflower meadows covering much larger areas!

for Nature Notes. 

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

Earrings

When I attended a jewellery making workshop recently, I found it particularly tricky to make earrings, so I've been practising over the past week or so. Here are three pairs I made the other day.

All the beads and charms are from my stash except for the pink stars. When I bought my jewellery making kit after the workshop, there were three of these stars in different colours in the bag of beads that came with the kit. So I then bought a string of these stars in five colours, I think they're perfect for earrings. Each star has a slightly different pattern on it. 

The blue earrings with the dolphins are for me, the pink ones are for a friend and the love-heart ones are now in the Craftygreenpoet Etsy shop.

Once upon a Forest

Once upon a Forest is a stunningly beautiful film which follows retired professor of botany Francis Halle on a voyage of exploration through the forest. Filmed in Peru and Gabon, the film mixes stunning cinematography with animations inspired by Halle's drawings to explore the evolution and ecology of the forests. In only 78 minutes the viewer is given a comprehensive survey of how forests can regenerate, how plants and butterflies co-evolve and how large animals such as elephants can be both menace (by eating the leaves) and helpmates (by eating and distributing the fruits and seeds) to trees. We are also shown amazing footage of ants cutting and carrying leaves and milking aphids for honeydew. The cameras capture the various animals that drink the nectar of flowers, including a monkey that quite frankly looks mildly drunk!

Stunning film, if you love plants and forests and are concerned about their future, watch it if you can! If you have children, take them too, as this is a brilliant introduction to forest ecology.

Once upon a Forest showing at the Edinburgh Filmhouse until Thrsday 7 August. 

Arthur's Seat in the mist

It was very misty today, interspersed with lots of rain. Arthur's Seat more or less disappeared.

We enjoyed our walk though. The vipers bugloss looks brighter than ever in the mist

and the parent birds are still busily bringing up their young, who are mostly adolescent by now 

mute swans

carrion crows (though possibly a touch of hooded crow in this family too, judging from the grey in the adult's neck)

cafetiere cosy

We had great plans today to go birdwatching at Aberlady Bay, but due to difficulties with bus timetables, not to mention a late start to the day, we never got there and ended up spending the day in Edinburgh, browsing second hand shops and discovering new coffee shops. So it seems appropriate today to share my latest weaving project. I used up several small oddments of wool to make this cosy for my cafetiere.

I don't drink much coffee (I'm more of a tea drinker) and generally use decaffinated instant coffee. However I'm hoping this colourful cafetiere cosy will encourage me to start using shade grown coffee, which is the most environmentally friendly type of coffee, as it grows in amongst other plants and offers habitats for birds.

Colinton Dell

Very mixed weather today for our walk round Colinton Dell!

These harebells looked wonderful in the rain

the yew berries are at their best too (though they're poisonous to humans so don't be tempted to pick them!)

the hornbeam chandeliers are still very green at the moment and so difficult to see

the larch cones on the tree I'm studying for Tree Following haven't changed much since last week

and the wildflower meadow behind the larch tree is in full bloom

and we saw a red legged shield bug