Bird ring from a racing pigeon

Last week I found some feathers and a bird ring on the plot. My theory is that a pigeon was eating brassicas, and got itself eaten by a fox.

A friend at work let me know about EURING, who coordinate bird ringing throughout Europe and provide this clearing house for ring recoveries, so I reported it. I had a nice email back saying the bird came from Bonnyrigg and that the owner will be informed.

In other news, I was at the RBGE library today (revising for tomorrow’s exam, rather than displacement activity like this). Noticed a couple of societies:

• Botanical society of Scotland includes the 2006-2010 BSS field project of community woodlands, and published the Flora of Edinburgh and the Lothians. £32 per year
• Edinburgh natural history society

Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) and friends

Monday 23 June, went out with the Friends of the Hermitage of Braid (fohb.org) for my first attempt at balsam bashing. I’d heard of the invasive nature of the plant but wasn’t prepared for its ecology, so spent an uncomfortable evening on the side of a hill. Himalayan balsam lives with robust friends: nettles, brambles, roses. Harry Henniker pointed out that he’s never had to weed a nettle patch before…

From a botanical point of view, it’s superb: a fleshy plant, succulent and attractive to animals, that gets in among tough plants that the animals steer clear of. It’s also shallow rooting, suitable for other inaccessible places with minimal soil cover. The seed pods explode when touched and spread a thousand seeds over a wide area; and it likes hillsides so the seeds can travel even further. The SNH report (see earlier posts) says it’s the tallest annual in Britain.

Cleared a large patch, but noticed lots more. Am wondering how viable the seeds are and how long can they remain dormant in the soil. Apparently the Ranger has many groups working in the area although it’s got to be a big job… The SNH report shows that it’s all along the 5 rivers surveyed for the report.

There are good points, though! The Hermitage of Braid is lovely and the sun was out until 9pm when we finished. Even though we were on the North side of a hill there were great views over to the Braid Hills.

One of the group had previously found Hound’s Tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) in the vicinty. Looks like comfrey and it turns out that the plant is a member of Boraginaceae. However, looking through Phillips’ Wild flowers of Britain, I also see that forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.) are in this family, so I’ll have to look a little closer than the obvious. (I also think some scrophulariaceae leaves and habit look more like comfrey than forget-me-nots.)

Phillips reckons it’s fairly common in central and South West England, becoming rare elsewhere. Smith et al.’s Plant life of Edinburgh and the Lothians records more genuses in the family than Phillips and notes that C. officinale is rare in the Midlothian vice-county having only been recorded in Polton (near Lasswade). Its habitat is also listed as coastal scrub, dunes and meadows which surprises me seeing as it was growing on the side of a hill.

• pic from floralimages
• Boraginaceae from bioimages.org.uk
• Flora of Northern Ireland
• USDA site

Accomplished…

Feeling very accomplished today. Been out with the Lothian Conservation Volunteers on Wester Craiglockhart Hill, and made 3 lbs of rhubarb and ginger jam.

Wester Craiglockhart Hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), sitting 5 km from Edinburgh City Centre. It’s also about 1 mile from my flat, so I was very happy to help LCV do some gorse bashing.

The site was designated a SSSI due to its two grassland habitats, one acid one calcareous, which together have to a 133 plant species counted on the hill.

The latest SNH report is that the condition is unfavourable so it’s a good job that LCV did the day’s work; and we made quite a difference: pulling up invasive rosebay willowherb, cutting down oat grass, and cutting back gorse on the grassland and on the access path to the summit.

Gorse grows new spines at the end of the branches, and the old spines dry out and fall off. Hacking away the spine mulch, which can be up to 5cm deep under the oldest bushes, reveals a relatively barren habitat from a botanical point of view. Although I saw several species of invertebrates living there with a cursory inspection, I doubt whether these are specific to gorse mulch. Gorse is also a legume, so it’ll fix nitrogen and improve the soil and, may facilitate the arrival of other species to out-compete the wild flowers.

In other news, Rhubarb and Ginger jam takes ages to boil and reach the setting point. I’m actually quite worried about how much energy it takes to preserve food; this took the best part of an hour on the hob, and I’ve only got 3lb of jam. Putting energy considerations aside, I’ll let you know how the jam tastes…

Easter Craiglockhart and some other links

Lovely walk up Easter Craiglockhart Hill yesterday. It’s a local nature reserve (why a local nature reserve?) and very diverse and interesting, too. Marsh, open water, mature woodland with 250 year old beeches, and grassland are all nestled in 15 Ha of Craiglockhart Woods. Knowledgable and friendly guide led the group round.

Woodland biodiversity - expanding our horizons (PDF)

Other publications:

Growing Nature – The Role of Horticulture in Supporting Biodiversity authored by Ken Thomson of the BUGS project inter alia. Expect a post on this soon…

Survey of Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam on five major Lothian rivers. River Almond, River Esk, River North Esk, River South Esk, River Tyne. Not heartening…

Development of a forest habitat network strategy in west lothian confirms that remnant patches of ancient woodland in West Lothian still contain dispersal-limited core woodland species, and promotes planting of woodland close to ancient sites. One (of three) Core Ancient Woodland Areas is around Hopetoun. How does that mesh with the NCN (map on p29)?

Guided walk in Craiglockhart Woods, Saturday 24 May

Craiglockhart Woods were designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2005, and incorporate a wide range of habitats including grassland, marsh and a pond. As well as seeing the woods in their spring-time best, there will also be a chance to learn about local history.

Flier for Craiglockhart Woods walk

Images of Easter Craiglockhart Hill on the Craiglockhart Community Council pages

Local Nature Reserve page

Craiglockhart Woods Group pages

Lothian Conservation Volunteers go meadow raking on 1 June 2008

April showers

After a sunny day spent looking after the daughter, I headed off to the allotment at 6:50. Cue big fat raindrops; I got soaked before getting halfway there, so headed home. What makes it worse is that we went down the plot today, and saw that the weeds are growing big and fast. Add to the need to get my beds in order, and I really can’t waste an evening…

Mostly paper folding…

Yesterday, the RBGE practical horticulture course covered propagation by seed. Didn’t seem to warrant a whole day, and we were away by 3:30. Saw demonstrations of how to sow seed in trays, cleaned seed from a lucky dip (bad news is that I go viburnum, but did get some Iris from another student), planted out some peas in the student beds. Best thing learned: how to make a seed envelope. Neither of these seed envelopes is the one I learned.

Which reminds me: Went to the NVA/RBGE spirit show on Friday night and learned to fold a chrysanthemum. Highly recommended — it’s on until the start of March.

Last bit of paper folding: a newspaper planter for seeds that grow tall, like beans.

Where did they come from?

I dunno … you go out, have a couple of drinks on a Friday night and don’t remember doing anything strange on the way home. Then on Saturday morning something bizarre: perhaps you put your glasses in the freezer, perhaps you find a half-eaten bag of chips. In my case: there are daffodils in my garden. Where did they come from?

Bramble trampolines and a bit of coppicing

Out with LCV (The Lothians Conservation Volunteers) on Sunday to do some vegetation management on the North Edinburgh Cycle routes near 5 ways junction. As well as getting the exercise and social interactions, I’ve also got one eye on leading a similar activity on the part of the NCN I’m liaison ranger for.

First part of the day was spent coppicing buddleja with Tony on the wildflower meadow; looks to me like it’s the same as pruning back hard :) Dragged the cut wood back to the hopper and snedded and cut up the wood. As the other volunteers brought bags of brambles and felled sycamore from the other work area, I trampled the material down. It’s quite disconcerting bouncing up and down on top of a pile of brambles and woody material, several feet off the ground; but also quite fun. It’s tiring too.

Finished disposing of Tony’s and my waste right at lunchtime. On balance, it’s relatively quick to cut down stuff and it takes much longer to tidy up.

After lunch I started to cut back brambles, but was asked to continue doing the waste management. Nice to be asked, and nice to be visible to the public. A lot of people came up and thanked us for the work we were doing; would have been nice to hand out some leaflets.

A bit disappointed that the waste from the day was going to Powderhall Waste Transfer Station and then into landfill. The waste looked mostly green, although I did hear that brambles don’t compost well and basically start to root again when in a compost pile. They’re obviously very successful as plants, not so nice to live next to. The idea of making habitat piles was floated, but in an urban setting, they’re more likely to get destroyed by dogs than provide a decent habitat.

Seems tony is the new tree nursery manager — would be nice to learn more about this.

Other outcomes: learned how to distinguish ash and sycamore when they don’t have leaves on.

New season

Here’s to my regular reader!

Was down the plot today; first time this year. Made a decision about two new beds. Tidied up the East side of the plot between the sheds. Cycled away quickly when dark clouds scudded across the already-low sun.