We had a lovely walk round Edinburgh's Arthur's Seat today, here are some of my photos.

 

The Edinburgh Inquirer today has a very interesting article about the human impact on Arthur's Seat over the centuries. You can read it here. 

 

 I had a flurry of making collages over the winter break. Here are some of my favourites, all made with vintage papers and the occasional extra item - there's a postage stamp in one of them for example. They're all posted into a book that I'm gradually filling with collages, so some of the photos may not perfectly show the finished collage, but you get the idea! 

For the first one here, I was wanting to give an impression of how motoring was seen in the 1930s, which is very different to the way that I (as a non-driver) see it in the current day.  

  The collage below brings together some ideas for Spring fashion, there seemed to be a strange fashion for tweed for Spring in the 1930s, to me it seems far too heavy a fabric for Spring. 

And finally, this is my favourite! The wee bit of text says 'it is human nature to put things off' and the pictures come from a variety of sources including a postage stamp (though again two portraits from the same 1930s magazine - it's proving to be a great collage resource!)

 

 

 

 

 Subtitled A Woman's Journey into the Night, this is a fascinating and beautifully written book, looking at various aspects of the night, from late night theatre and nightclubs to women's safety, from prostitution to insomnia. There isn't as much about nature as I had hoped there would be, but just enough to justify me reviewing the book on this blog (where my policy is that I only review books that have some connection with nature or environmental issues). 

The author rediscovered her local park during nocturnal walks during the COVID lockdown and discovers how meeting up after dark in parks became a preferred method of socialising for some people she knew. The nature writer Melissa Harrison is quoted as saying that she feels no danger in walking across fields in darkness and that the "satisfaction of an unmediated relationship with the natural world outweighs any potential risks." Towards the end of the book, the author describes her experience on a nightingale walk, visiting a nature reserve specifically in the hope of hearing this iconic noctural songster, and eventually she does: 

"Two nightingales are serenading. The sound is full-throated, effortlessly exquisite, with melodies that are long and lustrous, but then followed by eccentrically jagged harmonies." 

This is a fascinating book about all aspects of night-time, just don't expect to read much about noctural wildlife!

Wolf Moon by Arifa Akbar, published (2025) by Sceptre.  

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My latest Substack post, all about Scottish Gaelic, Nature and Poetry is now up! You can read it here.  

 

We went for a walk along Edinburgh's Water of Leith on Saturday, possibly a foolish decision, as the section of the walkway we chose (Roseburn to Dean Village) was very icy... (normal winter weather has at last arrived!). We enjoyed watching this beautiful female Goosander as she swam around the river.

Later, we met this very friendly Pied Wagtail 

 I drew this portrait as a Christmas gift for Milly (aka Dusty) the wonderfully friendly tuxedo cat who looks after our local free library. 

 And below is the cat himself, for comparison

 

 

Alex Spencer is one of the many talented writers who comes along to my writing classes. She recently set up a story subscription at the Pale Grey Press, where you can sign up to receive one of her stories in booklet form every month. I love this idea, it's really nice to see a printed paper subscription in these times of online everything. The wee books are simply designed and beautifully produced and Alex's stories are always excellent and often quite dark. 

In Feed, Rea finds she can't escape from the strange bakery she has inherited, held there against her will by some supernatural power, destined to forever make bread. 

In Beneath, a moving poem about grief, a young woman loses herself at her lover's grave.

"Where he lay, a few wildflowers have been trampled during the funeral, diaises and cornflowers mostly. She knelt to gather them, the sight of them trodden into the ground too much to bear., but her frozen fingers refused to close around the broken stalks". 

In the atmospheric story Father Callum (which you can read here), a priest faces his greatest fear.  

A subscription will bring you an excellent, memorable story every month. 

You can subscribe to Alex's monthly story at the Pale Grey Press here. There are two levels of subscription - £7.00 a month gives you a story every month with occasional extras; £15.00 a month brings you a story every month with a gift of something from the Oak and Ember Gallery, co-owned by Alex Spencer and Danii Watson. 

You can visit Oak and Ember Gallery here.