best part of the day: tramsphobic

03-09-26 My feelings for the Edinburgh trams have flip-flopped between hate and love. I hated the bad management of all the initial work and vowed never to use them because they were the largest financial fiasco in the history of Edinburgh Council. And all for a vanity project as we have an excellent bus service.

I felt they shouldn't do any further route extensions until the first bill was fully paid off or they start making a profit which they have failed to do in 8 years. (Although to be fair they are well used and often really busy.) The initial work, in the unlikely event anyone has forgotten, was hugely overbudget and over time by an incredible amount. It should have been enough to have drawn a line under the whole sorry episode. A modern day Edinburgh's Disgrace.

However I have since caved and started using them and enjoy trips to the Airport, Balgreen or Newhaven slightly ahead of catching the bus. Although I use bus services in and out of town considerably more as they have far more destinations.

That said, I am disappointed to hear the next phase - heading South from Princes Street to the RIE is likely to go ahead (and this, long before any outstanding tram bills are paid off.) This won't come as a surprise as they have just spent 8 years shoring up the North Bridge to take the added weight of the trams. At least they have shelved destroying the Roseburn cyclepath by turning it into a tram line heading West, although they'll probably do that subsequently.

I expect all traffic on roads between Princes St and the RIE to be massively inconvenienced for the next 10 years while things run hugely overbudget, in the most profound expression of once bitten, twice bitten, three times bitten and still not shy. Yes, I enjoy riding on a tram but not THAT much and we already have an excellent bus service that will be really inconvenienced for the next 10 years before being pushed into second place by an unnecessary, unprofitable and overpriced vanity project. Hey ho.

We recently had a good example of how inflexible the Trams are, compared to buses. The fire on Princes Street (which looked to the casual observer (and everyone else), like an insurance job) meant no traffic along Princes Street. The buses rerouted to George Street and Queens Street. While this was inconvenient it was many times better than the trams which only operated between the Airport and Princes St meaning no trams between Princes Street and Newhaven for 7 weeks while the transport dept. sat on their hands.

dead tram being passed by active bus

And then, after the trams eventually got going again (and we caught one heading to Balgreen to walk the WoL) there was another incident. We were in York Place when the driver announced (after we had been sat still for 5mins) that there was a fault on the line and we would be going no further. Not a big problem for Mary and I but considerable consternation for those heading to the Airport to catch flights. One gent, very upset, saying kidnapping was illegal (we were not allowed off because it was not at an official stop) and he'd be calling the police.

This eventually encouraged the driver to open the front door and march us all off and to the nearest traffic island where we stood around cursing the tram problem while others no doubt flagged down taxis to get them to the airport in time. I think there was a problem with the overhead cable on Leith Walk where several hours later (on my way home) I saw a tram that was reversing off the Southbound line onto the Northbound and hi-viz people were up cherry pickers making repairs. I hope nobody missed a flight / holiday as a result.

dead tram being disembarked

Okay in order to be fair to the positives of the trams: I do think the service from Leith Walk to the airport is excellent. Inevitably I am carrying 2 heavy bags whenever we go to the airport and we have very much appreciated that (very nearly door-to-door) service. Last time we came back from abroad it was 3am and the trams weren't running. A bus took us to the East End and M & I walked down Leith Walk, each carrying a fuckton of luggage. Which almost certainly contributed to Mary's swollen knees which have plagued her since that episode in June.

Anyway, we found ourselves at the East End and wondering whether we should travel onwards to continue the original plan to walk portions of the Water of Leith or not. Mary suggested we head down through Stockbridge to the Botanics and I couldn't think why not. I had been hoping to see a female kestrel that seemed to be photographer-friendly around Balgreen but I knew that targetted specific wildlife rarely fulfilled the promise, and since we were late setting off there wan't long before we should be heading home. Botanics it was.

The first butterflies seen were several painted ladies and admirals at the cafe buddleia. Nothing out of the ordinary but at this time of year it is a treat to see any butterflies. So it was better than we had anticipated. Although far from earth moving.

a three-fer featuring a very old and worn RA

While at the cafe we had a coffee and cake stop
which was possibly the highlight of the Botanics

Garden cross spider

speckled wood

Wild angelica?

handsome frog in the demonstration garden

seasonal pumpkins

snail

moorhen at the Chinese Hillside pond

juvenile moorhen
note the entirely different beak, eye and plumage

large white

I felt I hadn't quite had my fill or taken sufficient photos to quell my addiction for the day so went to Warriston while Mary headed home for lunch. I saw some more butterflies-on-buddleia on the way and also realised that I was probably time-wasting as it just wasn't sunny enough to justify a stroll round the cemetery.

botanics vs warriston

eyed ladybird on gravestone

Potentilla nepalensis

Japanese anemone

I was about to head home having visited the usual spots and taken zero photos other than a few pretty flowers, and was walking along the top of the crypts when I saw a female kestrel sat atop one of the taller obelisks, directly in front of the crypts. This happens about once every year or 2 and while a regular occurance is sufficiently rare to feel noteworthy. I moved into position slowly with maximum ninja, in order not to disturb the lovely raptor. She was aware of my presence and I am pleased to report did not immediately fly off. I felt very honoured, and moved along the new wooden fence that stops blind people throwing themselves off the top of the crypts inadvertently.

I got to the closest point between us and took a million* photos and then some video. The bird was not particularly active so it didn't make for the most compelling material but it was the highest tariff subject for today and justified the extra mile past the cemetery. Also just a thrilling creature to observe.

(*Just checked and I only took 119 photos and 3 slo-mo videos, from several points along the crypts which I think is more than sufficient without total overkill!) I was moving back and forth to test out different backgrounds. Also I was amused when I remembered that the original target for today was a female kestrel. (Males have a more blue/grey head colouring.) It is unlikely that this would be the same one that haunts Balgreen, but nice to get photos of any kestrel relatively close up. I have cropped the photos a little. The light wasn't ideal but they are not bad in quality, a little soft, and wouldn't allow any further zoom in. But okay, and I returned home a bit more chipper.

I missed the flight from one gravestone to another. (I was distracted by seeing another couple walking nearby and was going to point out the bird, however they seemed caught up in their own business, and when I turned back, the kestrel was leaving the perch to fly over to another nearby stone.)

I should have had the camera trained on it the entire time and caught the open wings and take off moments. Oh well. It landed not a million miles away but when I walked slowly in that direction it flew off into the leafy trees and disappeared. I had a quick scout round then threw in the towel. Time for home.

I noticed this pellet on the new fence above the crypts. I reckoned it was a crow pellet. The corvids collect inedible material in their crops and cough them up. Had it had more mouse bones and insects I might have thought it was an owl pellet but the stones and assorted inedibles seem more corvid-like.

not enough light for decent crow photos

on the new fence

I was about to put the camera away when I noticed the gatehouse pigeons were messing about near the entrance. They will come closer for a small bribe but move constantly so are not the easiest to photo in poor light. I am not sure if they are feral or domesticated or a bit of both. I like their bronze and white plumage and (being quite greedy!) they are not difficult to engage with.