Seeking Shade in the Dells

As regular readers of this blog know, I volunteer for the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. I patrol the Colinton Dell area of the river every week, picking litter and recording wildlife. It's a beautiful place, I love watching how it changes through the seasons.

I took this photo on Tuesday. It looks like summer!

For those of you who were disappointed that I had to cancel my guided walk of Colinton Dell, which had been scheduled to happen on Monday 27 May, you may be interested to know about a guided tour of the Dell on Sunday 26 May (tomorrow!), run by the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. Booking is essential for this one!

For Shadow Shot Sunday

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

This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun

This novel is inspired by the experiences of a youg soldier who was imprisoned for taking part in a failed coup to oust King Hassan II of Morocco. With sixty others he was imprisoned in a secret prison in the desert and remained there for nearly twenty years.

The novel is harrowing in its details of illness, deprivation and the hardships of prison life.

What leapt out to me though was the relationship the prisoners had with nature. Sometimes this was negative as in when their cells were infested with cockroaches and scorpions. Sometimes though nature became a symbol of hope and a connection with the outside world. Particularly in the form of birds, such as the striolated bunting that the narrator named Tebebt:

For a while I had confused it with the chaffinch because their songs are so much alike. At the time however, I amused myself by trying to guess its name in French and the colour of its plumage. This bird alighted in the hole that served as the air vent for the cell and sang for a good fifteen minutes. Naturally I fed him some bread crumbs moistened with water. After eating, he sang again then flew away. He must have had his nest in a tree nearby. When he returned he landed on the main vent and sang; acting as a lookout , he changed his tune whenever he observed any movement outside the prison, so the arrival of the guards was always announced by Tebebt.

I can still remember his different songs, which I soon learned to distinguish. One day when he twittered in a quick staccato manner, I didn't realise what that rhythm meant....Tebebt was welcoming the rain! We'd had no way of knowing what the sky was like, but thanks to this bunting, we were getting a weather report!

Tebebt had become my companion, my friend. When he landed on the edge of the air vent, I fancied that I spied the sparkle in his eyes, and in spite of the darkness, Iwould talk to him in a low voice.


This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun published by Penguin

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

A Sunny Day in Liberton and the Braids

I had to go all over town today doing various things and luckily passed close enough to Liberton to pop over to the fields for a wee wander.

At least five skylarks were singing above the fields, while I just caught sight of a grey partridge's head above the plants. Several small tortoiseshell butterflies and one peacock butterfly were basking on the path.

The hedges in the photo below were full of blackcaps singing. In the background you can see Arthur's Seat, quite yellow with all the gorse that's currently in bloom up there.

I carried on up the hill to Braid Hills Community Woods. 

This is an attractive wooded bridle path alongside the Braid Hills golf course. As the path is mostly used by horses, it tends to be quite muddy and you've always got to keep an eye out for horse riders! Today, several willow warblers were singing in these trees, but there was no sign of the yellowhammers that I've seen here recently.

For Nature Notes

As ever, click on the photos to get a bigger view and red text contaains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

Amazing Amber - the exhibition

While my parents were visiting this weekend, we went to the Amazing Amber exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. It's a fascinating exhibition which packs a huge amount into a small space.

On display were examples of all sorts of amber from around the world, some in their natural form and others which had been made into jewellery and other decorative items. Personally I'm not a huge fan of amber jewellery, though I'm intrigued by amber itself.

Most interesting were the pieces of amber with insects and plants embedded in them. Most astonishing to me, was the plant fruiting body that had been preserved at the moment of bursting and releasing its seeds!

If you're in Edinburgh over the summer, it's worth checking out this exhibition!

Amazing Amber is on at the National Museum of Scotland until 8 September

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

Upcycled Purse for Cloth napkins

I'm always disappointed when I go to a cafe or restaurant and they offer paper napkins, rather than fabric. I often try to go without a napkin at all, but sometimes it's essential to use one (specially when eating something like fajitas or spaghetti!).

I've sometimes thought about carrying a cloth napkin round with me and was pleased to find one in the stash of crafting supplies a friend recently gave me. I didn't want to carry a napkin loose in my handbag though, so I made this little bag for it. It was very easy to make. it fastens with press-studs, the button is only for decoration.

You may recognise the fabric - I used a length of it to decorate this upcycled gift bag. I'll be making a couple of beaded versions of this bag too and may put one in the Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop!

I know of course that in many restaurants and cafes unused paper napkins just end up in the bin anyway and there's also the issue of the amount of water and electricity used in washing and ironing cloth napkins......

Geese and goslings

Today we went took my parents to Figgate Park for the first time. We had a lovely time and enjoyed seeing all the birds, including this Canada Goose on its nest.

Then we hopped on a bus into Musselburgh for lunch, where we also enjoyed watching the birds along the River Esk. There were lots of swallows, house martins and swifts (and the occasional sand martin) flying low above the river and also higher up, all hunting flies. There were also these adorable goslings.

**
My guided walk of Colinton Dell on Monday 27 May has now been CANCELLED. Apologies to anyone who was hoping to come along.

**  

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

Windowsill garden update

Our windowsill garden is doing well. the mixed salad leaves and coriander are doing better than ever on our living room windowsill. Our tomatoes are doing well as well, most of them are on the spare room windowsill, but one is on the living room windowsill. Creating nice shadows on the wall!

For Shadow Shot Sunday, early I know, but my parents are visiting this weekend and I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to do!