In Search of Otters

 Yesterday, Crafty Green Boyfriend and I went to Dunsapie Loch on Arthur's Seat, largely as we had heard an otter had been seen there recently. 

The otter normally lives around Duddingston Loch 

and must have scrambled up the hill to get to Dunsapie Loch. It may be a youngster checking out a potential new home.

We didn't see the otter, though it was lovely to see the family of mute swans 

When we walked back down the hill we heard the distinctive sound of a raven so we stopped to watch this pair, which look like an adult and juvenile 

A kestrel hovered nearby, while we were interested in the pretty pattern on this snail's shell

The hawthorn shrubs are covered in berries now 

It's certainly starting to feel like Autumn.

Scottish Climate Week

Scotland's Climate Week (14 - 20 September 2020) is an annual event to highlight climate chaos and how we can address it.

The event highlights that, together, we can end Scotland’s contribution to climate change. It encourages organisations to take action to tackle climate change, and share their stories.

Climate Week provides an important opportunity for organisations and communities to showcase and share ideas about how they're tackling climate change. Despite the restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, there’s still lots that can be done to take action and make a difference.

If you are interested in finding out how the organisations you work or volunteer with can become involved, check out the Climate Week Toolkit. This toolkit contains tips on how to market your ideas about reducing your organisation's environmental impact, how to engage employees and stakeholders and plenty of practical ideas for reducing your carbon footprint. 

Personally,  I don't feel the campaign is urgent enough on any level, but at least it gets people involved. 

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In other news, I'm delighted to have a haiku included in the latest Haiku Dialogue from the Haiku Foundation!

Latest Jewellery Projects

 I've made a couple of necklaces recently. The first I made after someone contacted me via my Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop, to say she liked one of my necklaces but could I make her one in black and silver, which I did, sharing progress with her every step of the way. This is the finished product

She then asked me to make a matching pair of earrings, again based on a design in my shop, which I did, again sharing progress with her every step of the way. 

I have to admit that I did have a slight concern that she might not actually buy these items after asking me to make them, but I needn't have worried, she ordered them immediately and left a lovely review in my Etsy shop once she'd bought them. 

I personally really like the black and silver colour scheme so I immediately made another necklace in that combination

and that one has already sold!

The Humans by Matt Haig

 

Professor Andrew Martin has been taken over by an alien, who has been sent to earth to undo the professor's latest mathematical discovery to prevent humans from becoming too advanced. 

The alien comes from a perfect world, where no-one ages or dies and there is no unhappiness or conflict so to start with he is unable to comprehend anything about being human. However during the novel, the alien begins to understand the joys of being alive as a human on earth, while at the same time questioning some of our priorities and our relationships with each other and with nature: 

"The humans are scared of nature, and are greatly reassured when they can prove to themselves that they have mastery over it. This is why lawns exist and why wolves evolved into dogs and why their architecture is based on unnatural shapes."

Will the alien Andrew Martin carry out the task he has been sent to do or will he find peace as a human?

Taking a magical realism rather than SF approach, this is a wonderful novel, by turns hilarious and moving and always insightful and life affirming.

The Humans by Matt Haig published by Canongate.

Tree Following September Update

For Tree Following I'm looking at a horse chestnut tree that grows in North Merchiston Cemetery, in Edinburgh. There are several graves close to the tree, this one, which dates to 1922, is the closest to the tree

 Several small white mushrooms popped up under the tree in August, not sure if they're edible field mushrooms or something inedible, so best left alone. 

There are even more of them now it's September and they're bigger

Conkers have continued to fall from the tree 

and the squirrels have been eating them and leaving a mess behind as they do so 

And Crafty Green Boyfriend photographed the squirrel a couple of days ago, sitting in the sycamore tree next to the horse chestnut, eating horse chestnuts!

September sunshine on Corstorphine Hill

 It's been a beautifully sunny day today. ( I know, in this recent post, I said we shouldn't present sunshine as the only nice weather, but it has been raining a lot recently here in Edinburgh, and just for variety alone, it's nice to get some sunshine!).

We had a lovely walk round Corstorphine Hill, which is feeling very autumnal now, as the flowers are seeding 

The rosebay willow herb has almost entirely seeded and the seeds are floating around the hill 

It's the same for the thistles too

Meanwhile the oak trees are producing acorns 

On some of the oak trees, the acorns have been taken over by gall wasps 

September Butterfly

 Lovely to see this speckled wood butterfly in North Merchiston Cemetery today, enjoying the sunshine between the showers.