dalmeny, yet again, againy

 

20/03/21

Medium long run with Mary and we are beginning to run out of original routes. Instead of repeating the usual Cramond to Dalmeny and back run, I looked up the map and saw there was a slight change we could take - a left turn 200yards beyond Barnbougle Castle that would make a loop round into S Queensferry and make for a slightly different circuit through Dalmeny. Mary was happy to do this so we drove to Silverknowes and parked up as if to do parkrun! 

Mary's personal support vehicle

grey wagtail

Hello Sally!

more grey wagtail

Although it was all very pretty alongside the Almond and up to the Cramond Brig, there had been zero butterflies. It felt nearly warm enough and when we turned a corner to see a south facing verge crammed with lesser celandine, their yellow faces smiling in the sunshine, I said to Mary that my butterfly radar had just gone into the red and there must surely be something there. Getting closer we spotted a small t-shell and took some photos before it flew off. I had the big camera in my back pack and the compact in my hand. I reckoned the compact would cover it and couldn't be bothered unloading then re-packing the larger camera. This was also the first substantial run with it on my back. It was no problem to carry and I was glad of it later. Also it didn't seem to suffer from being gently shoogled for 15 miles. I have since had it out for twice that distance and it seems to have survived undamaged which bodes well for the "walking camera".

I bet King Tom I could race him round the grounds
but he refused to be budged

new route going left and inland after Barnbougle

this was timely as they are discouraging any further traffic through

nice view of the bridges

path we'd just come along

rhodies are out

superb gatehouse to the estate with interesting topiary

lots of traffic

milk of magnesia

glass eye

So if you can be bothered to carry dozens of cans in to a beauty spot why the hell can't you carry away the empties. The amount of this sort of vandalism and littering going on during lockdown is unbelievable. It reflects very poorly on the bad parenting in the last couple of generations. People have not been strict enough with their offspring and done too much picking up after them. They now must feel they can just leave stuff behind - be it litter or whole campsites in the Pentlands - and someone else will clear it away later. 

Similarly I think bad parenting is responsible for a lot of the crappy interpersonal behaviour going on. A lot of the stuff being protested and complained about by folk who assume the blame is nothing to do with them; quite often women pointing the finger at men. I'd direct them instead towards all parents of offending offspring. If your child stalks and kills a stranger then you probably haven't done a decent job of raising them. I doubt very much it is my fault. Or due to the big bad patriarchy.

And sadly, no amount of vigils and protests is going to change the thinking of the folk inclined to be killers and do violence to women. I imagine all that virtue signalling, confirmation bias and sound of peer group applause feels like something of worth is being achieved. But really, will it make a blind bit of difference to the murderers? A bloke in a van leaned out the window the other day to shout something lurid at a female running pal of mine. She was taken aback given the recent atmosphere and discussions of violence against women. I was surprised she thought it might impact on the low-lifes that lean out vans to abuse females. Clearly there is work to be done. What form it takes is still in debate.

Incidentally the figures (for England and Wales) suggest males are far more likely to get killed by a stranger at night than females and more likely to be murdered by a factor of nearly 3 (males) to 1 (female). So it should really be males who are out protesting about trying to reclaim the night. While numbers of murdered women came down last year the number of murdered males climbed yet again. 

😢

I decided to run with my new bridge camera in my backpack. Up till this point I hadn't wanted to get it out. We came upon these female goosanders sunning themselves and preening their feathers on some rocks midstream. They were at the furthest reach of the compact and the photo above is about the best image I got with the smaller camera. To do a compare and contrast I got out the bridge camera and took the photos below. You can see the difference. While I was doing that a dipper flew upstream and stood on a nearby rock, while I raced to get a couple of images, then it flew off. Again, considerably better than the compact would manage. The image below that (wagtail and goosander pair) is back to the compact. 

further downstream and back to the TZ100

great route though not to be done again till June 20th
(due to lambing and livestock at far end)