On Fire

Our primal memories shimmer
with the red of the first fire,
our pride in making heat and light.

We sheltered it and worshipped it,
built our homes around the hearth,
carried it with us to new lands.

But awe became obsession
as we sought out hotter fire
and better tools for making heat and light.

Now endless burning forests
fill the air with clouds of smoke
and the cries of dying animals

hang in the orange skies.

 

Previously published in Green Ink Poetry Pyres edition. 

Giraffes Around Town

 If you're in Edinburgh, you may have noticed the sudden appearance of brightly coloured giraffes in various locations around the city! These are part of Giraffe Around Town, a fundraising initiative for Edinburgh Zoo. There are 40 of these amazing sculptures in Edinburgh, here are the ones I've seen so far. 

If you're in Edinburgh, have you seen any of these giraffes?

Revisiting Rosebank cemetery

I'm continuing my work of surveying the wildlife in the 43 cemeteries owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council. I'm currently making further surveys of some of the cemeteries that are the most interesting for wildlife. 

Today I revisited Rosebank cemetery, opposite Pilrig Park.  You can tell from the photo below that it hasn't rained for a while, the grass is very brown!

 

It was lovely to be greeted by a flock of house martins, swifts and a couple of swallows that were flying around above the cemetery for most of my visit. 

I remember from previous visits, that this cemetery has a lot of Harlequin ladybirds (these are a non-native species, that is possibly taking over from our native ladybird species, this certainly seems to be the case in Rosebank cemetery). Harlequins come in a range of patterns, below a succinea Harlequin is chasing a spectabilis Harlequin

There were several Red Legged Shield Bugs around the cemetery

 

The most interesting insect find of the day though was this lovely cranefly, which I'm sure is Nephrotoma flavipalpis.

I was fascinated by this fly that was enjoying the Michaelmas Daisies, but all I know about it is that it definitely isn't a hoverfly! If you have any clues as to its identity please let me know in the comments!

 

Given all the insects in the cemetery, it was no surprise to find this funnel web spiderweb 

The roses are beautiful in the cemetery, though difficult to photograph this morning as it was very windy. 

Revisiting Grange Cemetery

 I'm continuing my work of surveying the wildlife in the 43 cemeteries owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council. I'm currently making further surveys of some of the cemeteries that are the most interesting for wildlife. Today I revisited Grange Cemetery, which in wildlife terms is most notable for having a Tree trail, outlining the most interesting trees on the site. You can find out more about the trees on the Grange Association website. 

There is a lovely wildflower bed at the main entrance to the cemetery 

which is made up of cornflowers, marigolds, poppies, Ox Eye Daisies and just a few Corncockles

Several bumble bees and solitary bees were enjoying the flowers, I caught this Red Tailed Bumblebee on some nearby thistles

and in the same patch of thistles I saw this pretty Trembling Wing Fly, so called because it's wings really do tremble all the time

Recently, Twitter seems to have been full of photos of Humming Bird Hawk Moths on Red Valerian, and there's a lot of Red Valerian in Grange Cemetery but no Humming Bird Hawk Moths! 

It was incredibly hot this morning and the sun was shining relentlessly, so I was glad of the occasional breeze and the shade of all those wonderful trees

Especially the Limes (Lindens), which are still in flower and smell wonderful at the moment 

There are some very pretty roses in the cemetery and I couldn't resist taking some photos of them as well

Summer in Figgate Park

For a couple of days the weather has been glorious, beautiful sunshine and not too hot. Perfect summer weather (we've not had much perfect summer weather this year so far). Yesterday we caught a bus along to Figgate Park for a walk. 

For the first time this year we were able to enjoy a full range of insects! Insects are in decline across the UK (across the world in fact) and so far this Spring and Summer, it has been mostly cloudy while I've been out, which the insects don't like. 

But yesterday, we saw butterflies, hoverflies, bees and bugs. But it wasn't just the weather that brought them out, but the wonderful arrays of flowers that have been planted or allowed to bloom wild in parts of Figgate Park. Here are a few photos of the planted wildflower beds (these have been planted with native and non-native flowers that are good for pollinators)

The insects we saw included a Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

one of these little back hoverflies, which neither of us have had a good look at before (Pipiza noctiluca)

and a closer look

We were also delighted to see a couple of butterflies, including this Comma

and this Green Veined White 

We found this very impressive Zebra Jumping Spider 

and this lovely Stock Dove 

As you can see from the photo above, Figgate Pond is currently full of pond weed. This family of Mallards seemed to be enjoying eating it 

When we walked round to the other side of the pond, we realised there were actually 6 ducklings!

Tree Following July Update

For Tree Following this year, I've chosen a magnificent old cherry tree in North Merchiston Cemetery in Edinburgh. Crafty Green Boyfriend and I started walking round this cemetery (and the nearby Dalry Cemetery) every day for our #DailyExercise during the first UK lockdown last year. And we're still doing the same walk regularly, though not quite as often. These photos are from early June

A lot of other plants grow around the tree

including this lovely Wood Avens (Herb Bennet) which was just coming to the end of its flowering season in early June 

and the photos below were taken in late June 

For the first time I noticed that there's a young cherry tree in the shade of the old one!

Also under the tree there's a lot of Broad Leaved Willowherb, many of the plants have cuckoo spit on them

Cuckoo spit is secreted by the nymphs of sap-sucking bugs known as froghoppers. Each blob of cuckoo spit contains an insect nymph of about 5mm long. Usually the nymph doesn't damage the plant, though it can sometimes distort the plant's growth.

For Tree Following.

Gulls

Gulls dive-bomb each other,
squabble over perching rights
on chimney pots,
throw back their heads
in raucous chorus,
rip rubbish sacks to shreds,
steal chicks from nests
and eat them on the roofs

then launch into the sky
to soar on thermals,
sharp white wings
against the blue.

 

**

previously published in Beach Hut.

 

The Lesser Black Backed Gulls around where we live are getting close to fledging. The adults often fly about making lots of noise at this time of year. 

**

Avian flu is currently decimating populations of seabirds across the UK, including important seabird colonies in Shetland and along the east coast of Scotland and England. To donate to help  to address this tragedy, please visit the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) website.