cute birds

 

22nd May

The second half of May was very poor for warm weather and sunshine. With the 7 Hills Race on the horizon we felt a bit of hills and roads around town was in order. Exiting Holyrood at the Commie Pool we bumped into Nicola who was returning from a much longer and tougher 9 or more Hills of Edinburgh training run. Because seven is clearly not enough. We didn't even manage seven. 

trees looking nice

lovely to see Nicola who bounced down the roads, legs muddy, full of good cheer!

Over at Blackford pond there was surprisingly little to take pics of. Just some cygnets over the other side. I had seen loads of duckling and gosling photos on social media and have been looking forward to bumping into some. Don't know where all the chicks at Blackford were hiding. And there was a lack at Duddingston the other day too. Must be a creche somewhere.

ugly ducklings? surely not!

Arthur from Blackford

Looking over to Arthur's Seat from Blackford Hill I could see the barriers on the top road. I noticed a suggestion they were to be removed this coming week, not before time. There are a number of wildflowers there, bordering the road that are very good for attracting northern brown argus, small coppers and wall butterflies. I just hope all the rocks they have pulled down from above haven't totally destroyed the butterfly eggs and larvae and also the flowers. Time will tell whether this has been a useful safety exercise or just another episode of over-zealous H&S vandalism.

We dropped down to the Braid Burn where I hoped to see dippers but only a grey wagtail hopped about the stream. The river was looking very pretty in the dappled sunlight streaming through the trees but we didn't stop to take photos and I failed to capture the finer qualities of the place. Quite a few dog walkers and families about.

If you have dropped a riding crop on the Braids golf course

we left it where we found it!

Can't think why I didn't take more photos between the Braids and Craiglockhart. Here is Nick and I belting down the steps off Craiglockhart. My thoughts at this point, after switching on my camera, were that one of my camera warranties had recently run out. It didn't say which on the postal notification - just said Panasonic Lumix which could have been any of 3 cameras. I'm hoping it was the TZ200 which never made it back from the warranty repair shop - they eventually sent me the cash instead - anyway it occurred to me that I should be more careful with the TZ100 since it may no longer be under warranty.

Mary enjoys a traditional stop at the post office at Craiglockhart.

We opted to run back along the canal even though there are no hills and we had only done about 3 of the 7. I was hoping for more cute ducklings and there were a few, but the light had deteriorated again and I got lots of pics of slightly blurry mallard chicks most of which I will spare you.

not a cute duckling

While we were standing around taking photos and throwing sunflower seeds at the duckies Mary (eagle eyed as ever) spotted the above insect and I took some photos. It was just under an inch long, maybe 22mm, not including antennae and I was not at all certain what sort of butterfly it was! Okay it is not a butterfly, but what is it? Clue: anglers may be more used to seeing this flying creature - I was more familiar with it in its earlier stage of life. Answer at the bottom of the page.

more fluffy mallard chicks

along to the canal basin then home through town

not the 7 Hills!

What is it quiz!?
Answer: I believe this is a caddisfly. I see them more in the larval stage, a favourite snack of the dippers who (after finding them on riverbeds under rocks) grip one end of their rocky outer covering (with which they disguise themselves) in their beaks, and shake it till the larva comes out and then they eat it. It is all done so quickly it is almost impossible to comprehend. The adult caddisfly does not have mouth parts so cannot bite or eat plants so is relatively harmless. They are quite moth like and I thought this was a moth until I googled long thin moths. First time I have seen the adult version, to my knowledge.