Easter Craiglockart Hill and Pond

Yesterday we visited Easter Craiglockart Hill and then walked home via Craiglockart Pond and the Union Canal. 

The hill is currently yellow with the blooming gorse

 

The pond is home to a number of waterbirds

including a pair of  Mute Swans, this is the male in the photo below, in his threat posture (he was chasing a couple of last year's cygnets around the pond)

there are also several Tufted Ducks, this is the male in the photo below, if you look carefully, you can see that the feathers on his face aren't just black, but are iridescent, showing blue and purple in certain angles of light

The photo below shows the female Tufted Duck

There are also a number of Mallards on the pond, we enjoyed watching this pair dabbling for food

We enjoyed walking along the canal, but oddly didn't take any photos on  that part of the walk! 

Groundbreakers by Chantal Lyons

 

Groundbreakers was inspired by the author's dissertation into living with wild boar in the Forest of Dean, which lead to an ongoing interest in this native species of the UK, which became extinct in mediaeval times but that has been farmed here since the 1980s and since then has been escaping into the wild. The boar is increasing in population in this country and is thriving across Europe.

This book explores the history of human - boar relationships in the UK, focussing on the Forest of Dean, which is where most of our boars live these days. Historically people hunted boar for food but also respected them as fellow inhabitants of the land. These days the people who live in the areas with Wild Boar populations are having to relearn how to live alongside such a large, now unfamiliar animal. 

The author describes her first encounter with a Wild Boar: "She was smaller and darker than I had expected. Her ears were fluffy and pointed, like those of an elven teddy bear. Her face was grey as if she had plunged it into a long-cold fire. Below ridges so like human eyebrows, her eyes met mine." 

She meets several people who have experience of living alongside boar in this country, some of whom love the boars and some of whom hate them. We're given a decent understanding of both points of view. She also meets people who live alongside boars in other European countries, where they have always been part of the landscape.

The author shows how boar can alter their immediate environment, often to the benefit of other species, for example, when a boar has been digging, insects and earthworms will come to the surface for birds to eat. On the other hand they've been shown to have a detrimental effect on for example adders in Belgium and Hazel Dormice in the UK. 

The book also discusses the need for management of boar, through hunting and potentially reintroducing predators such as lynx. 

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the status of Wild Boar in the UK.

 

Groundbreakers by Chantal Lyons, published (2024) by Bloomsbury. 

Firsts for the Year

 I did my weekly patrol of the Dells along the Water of Leith earlier today. Crafty Green Boyfriend came with me as he does when he has a free day (today he was using up his last annual leave before the end of the holiday year!). Everywhere is looking beautiful and spring-like. The Wood Anemones are in bloom

There's just one (expanding) patch of these lovely flowers in the Dells. Meanwhile there seem to be Lesser Celandines everywhere, which is wonderful

It was great to see several insects including a number of queen bumblebees (mostly Buff Tailed Bumblebees) looking for nests. The firsts of the year, referred to in the post title were our first butterfly of the year - this lovely Peacock

and this Dark Edged Bee-fly, 

this insect mimics bees and lays its eggs in bees nests. You can read more about this fascinating insect in this article in the Guardian newspaper's Invertebrate of the Year coverage. 
 

Weekend Walk in Hermitage of Braid

 On Saturday we started our walk at Edinburgh's Blackford Pond. 

We were hoping to see some toads, but weren't lucky with that. No toads and no frogs. We were though very happy to see that the female Teal, that we saw in February, has now been joined by a male! In the picture below the male Teal is the duck on the left with the lovely red and green head, the female is behind him, all brown except for the dash of teal green in her wing and the bird on the right is a male Tufted Duck.

I wonder if the Teal pair will breed on the pond this year? 

We were also happy to see this clump of Marsh Marigolds at the edge of the pond

After walking round the pond, we continued on to Blackford Hill, which is currently vibrant with blooming gorse

and through to the Hermitage of Braid

where Wood Anemone is in bloom 

and Horse Chestnut trees are about to burst into leaf, their branches full of sticky buds

Always a beautiful route to walk, especially at this time of year. 

I've Finished Customising my Jacket!

Away back in September last year, I shared that I wanted to customise this black denim jacket: 

 I was getting bored of it and it was looking a little shabby. I had already added in a couple of different buttons a while back, but it was definitely time for a more complete overhaul. So I gathered together some lace and ribbon, most of which were given to me by friends and family, and started designing. I didn't actually start sewing until earlier this year and it's been a slow, but enjoyable process. This is what the jacket looks like now: 

I'm quite happy with how it looks and hope to wear it a fair amount once the weather warms up! 

I've now started my next clothes customisation project, which is less ambitious and should soon be ready. I'll share photos of that once I've finished it.

Turning the Boat for Home by Richard Mabey

 

Subtitled A life writing about nature, this is a collection of essays, originally published in a variety of  newspapers, books and magazines, from one of the UK's best nature writers.There's always the risk with this type of collection of essays that some of them, having been specifically written in response to something in the news or a newly published book, will date quite quickly. That luckily only applies to a couple of these essays. 

I always enjoy Mabey's writing, you can read my reviews of some of his earlier books by following the links below:

Nature Cure by Richard Mabey. 

Fencing Paradise by Richard Mabey. 

Weeds by Richard Mabey. 

Beechcombings - The Narratives of Trees by Richard Mabey.

The essays in Turning the Boat for Home cover a wide range of ecological topics, from the tenacity and adaptability of urban nature through the importance of preserving blanket bogs to foraging, the joys of birwatching (and listening!) and thoughts about tree planting. The quote below is taken from an article marking the tercentenary of the birth of the landscape designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who popularised the planting of trees for ornamental and landscape effect;

"Planting amenity trees seems so self evidently a force for good that it's hard for us to understand what a novel practice it was before the eighteenth century. Why bother when trees appeared so magnanimously of their own accord? Now, addicted to the practice as a ritual of atonement, we've become blinkered to the fact that it's yet another expression of human power over nature. That trees have perfectly adequate, fine tuned reproduction systems of their own seems to have vanished from popular understanding."

Other items include an article on the unexpected nature trail alongside one of the UK's major motorways, an appreciation of the life of 18th century British naturalist Gilbert White, and an introduction he wrote to the book The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, which I reviewed (very briefly) back in 2008, here. 

Mabey shares his wide ranging knowledge generously and in beautiful prose. His writing is always worth reading and this is a good collection to pick up and enjoy. 

Turning the Boat for Home by Richard Mabey, published (2021) by Vintage.

Handmade Greetings Cards

 I like making greetings cards, using a range of materials mostly sourced from second hand shops. The designs in the photo below are all for Easter (I like to prepare early!). The ribbon and rabbit faces are all self-stick while I needed to glue the butterflies on. All the materials were from second hand shops.