January 2020 Round-up.

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by friendsofwarristoncemetery in Headstones and monuments, Humour, Views, Work In Progress

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Various days in January 2020. Not very much going on this month but there will be more activity as the year grows.

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News from the cemetery Garden; bulbs are showing.

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The Snowdrops begin.

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A bout of breeziness brought down a huge tree branch across this path. It fell from a tree to the right of the picture, and that sawn edge is from previous work to recreate the path. A couple of hours of sawing through lots of little off-branches and the path is navigable again

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Everything is coming out early again. Here are some snowdrops, daffodil buds and heather. We have crocus shoots and bluebells coming out too, but they’re not ready for their close-ups yet.

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The modern equivalent of “Ten Green Bottles”! Another three were in hands or pockets.

We were asked, via our Facebook page, if we would take photos of a couple of family gravestones. Below are some of the photos we were able to send the inquirer…

Filling in the ‘loch’.

14 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by Warriston Birder in Information, Views, Work In Progress

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The ‘loch’ in question was the nickname for a shallow basin in the carriageway that regularly filled up with water due to rain. The water was always murky as it mixed with soil and had a very muddy bottom. Some of the visiting dogs liked it but the owners weren’t so keen when they saw their pets emerge covered in muddy water! One dog in particular springs to mind – a young golden retriever that had a pristine coat just before it had a brief mud bath in this pond. Afterwards, only the top of its head and top of its back were still blonde but the rest was a dark shade of brown! The dog’s owner was not available for comment.

The pool had been slowly growing in width over the years to the point where people were only just able to pass on one side. We thought it was time to re-establish the carriageway so that visitors could once again use it. A narrow trench was dug to provide a channel along which the water could drain away down the slope. Once almost completely drained, much mud was shovelled out. We had obtained a couple of tons of roof slate which was placed into the basin barrowload by barrowload from its location at the main gate. That task was almost complete when a 3-man crew from The City of Edinburgh Council stepped in to help us finish the job. They carried down the remaining slate on the front shovel of their digger machine then put some recycled road planings, which they had brought in on a truck for this purpose, on top then levelled it off with the mechanical shovel. You can see the results as well as ‘before’ and work in progress shots below. Click on an image to view a larger version. This will open in a new browser tab or window.

The Garden.

12 Tuesday Feb 2019

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11/02/2019 The Garden is coming along quite nicely.

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January 2019 Round-up.

07 Thursday Feb 2019

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Various days in January 2019.

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January 12th…

Section F, now looking more as it ought to. In the older part of the cemetery, this is one of the very few open spaces where birds have room to swoop about to catch insects. We plan to leave the bramble “plantation” in the background and to remove some of the ground ivy in the foreground, then replace that with long grass and wildflowers. We’ve planted shrubs behind that large monument. This will vary the biodiversity, and look more attractive to those coming in by the unofficial entrance at the East Gate. And sooner or later the Council will dispose of our piles of debris!

January 19th…

Section F is looking better and better. A few more brambles cut (aside from those we’re leaving in place), a lot of raking out, and we’re getting there. Behind that large monument to David Ramsay Hay there were so many brambles that we couldn’t get at the Himalayan Balsam! Now we see bulb shoots we’d never been able to see before and we’ve planted some shrubs. But it seems that we missed a stick.

We knew that during the week the Council crew had been in to shift some of our piles of debris and to burn others. It’s a very labour-intensive task, takes ages, and the Council is chronically understaffed. So we were VERY happy to see the difference today!

January 31st…

A new notice has appeared. Excellent H&S advice!

May 30th and 31st 2018.

31 Thursday May 2018

Posted by Warriston Birder in Nature, Views

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Flowers and a small bee, great tit with food for young, great tit posing on a stone, great spotted woodpecker at an interesting angle, caterpillar suspended from an overhanging tree branch by a silken ‘thread’, bluebells, song thrush, various views, blue tit emerging from nest hole, buttercups, dandelion. Click on an image to view a larger version. This opens in a new tab/page.

March 2018 Round-up.

28 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by Warriston Birder in Information, Nature, Video, Views

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Various days in March 2018.

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March 1st…

Snow and more snow.

The same stone photographed over three days; February 26th, February 28th and March 1st….

March 3rd. Brief video of snow/hail in the Secret garden…

March 7th…

March 8th…

March 9th…

March 12th…

March 21st…

Video featuring some of the Warriston cemetery bird life. Segments; a) great spotted woodpecker, b) blue tit, c) robin, d) two blue tits, e) robin.

March 27th…

February 2018 Round-up.

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

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Various days in February 2018.

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February 2nd…

The first daffodils begin to appear…

Next – A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. They were having great fun chasing each other across a few sections…

February 3rd…

Who knew that flowers could read? Despite all the cold and wind and rain and snow and hard frost, this plant took heart from the words behind…

February 5th…

Treecreeper. They like a change from trees now and then…

February 6th…

Great Spotted Woodpecker…

February 9th…

Snowdrops. Robin. Mr Duncan. Buzzards. Bullfinch…

February 11th…

This and that, here and there…

Goldcrest…

February 12th…

City of Edinburgh Council notice board. Installed today…

February 15th…

The local prison has a scheme whereby donated garden tools are reconditioned and then given to voluntary groups. We received such a batch today! Here they are – wrapped, unwrapped and two little ‘uns in use…

February 16th…

February 17th…

This area is supposed to be a triangular “clearing” between sections. We’ve cleared it before, but the weeds they keep a-growing. So, weeds cut down again and this mass of snowdrops can be enjoyed in their full glory…

This urn was intriguing, had to be rolled around. Unfortunately, not in the best light! It’s part of the gravestone which commemorates the first burial at Warriston. The neighbouring stone had a detail begging to be cleared too. And they also have some snowdrops! Lots of snowdrops around, which is lovely to see…

February 18th…

February 20th…

A beautiful morning today, with that angled February sunshine coming through the bare deciduous trees to light up the gravestones. When we started four-and-a-half years ago, you couldn’t see through this section. Some ivy has grown back, but it’s nowhere near as bad…

February 21st…

February 23rd…

February 26th…

February 28th…

January 2018 round-up.

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by Warriston Birder in Headstones and monuments, Information, Nature, Views

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Various days in January 2018.

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January 1st…

This caught our eye in passing. Had to clear it a bit! Aside from a slur on Scotia’s Darling Seat, it’s an unusual choice of Biblical quotation – not to mention those serpents emerging from the bosses. It’s Hebrews Ch.13 V.14 (and I rather like V.16 also). Didn’t find the cross’s base, so we don’t know who was commemorated. Yet…

Started as a lovely day! Rained later, though.

Today there was formed a sub-group entitled “The Rebellious Bored”. And off we went grave-hunting. Here’s the evidence. Yes, there really is an upright stone in there! And now some will understand why we call this area “The Jungle”..

January 3rd…

This blue tit is house-hunting already. It checked out this gap in the stonework, disappearing inside twice as I watched.

The visiting bird-ringer wrote…

I thought, as we’re in the new year now, I’d give everyone a round up of the bird Ringing activities in the cemetery for 2017.
So since July I’ve ringed almost 80 birds at Warriston, the majority of which have been long-tailed tits with massive flocks passing through the area. The highlight being a couple of redwing, a winter visitor, which have been identified as the Scandinavian race or subspecies rather than the Icelandic/Greenland.
Hopefully these birds start turning up in far away lands and give us some valuable information on migration and distributions.
I also do some moth sampling and came across a phyllonorycter messaniella (a leaf mining moth) larvae on the resident holm oak (Pictured below). Which was an interesting find for me.
It’s been great to speak to those who’ve shown an interest and thank you for co-operating and being helpful by avoiding the mist nets when they’ve been set up as I do try to keep away from all the main paths and stick to quiet periods of the day.

Bold robin.

January 5th…

For those interested, three more recently identified brick maker marks to add to the five previously posted. The bricks were used for various outbuildings and walls in the head gardener’s cottage area. *Winchburgh* – Winchburgh Brick Works, Winchburgh, West Lothian. *NCB P-Grange* –
Prestongrange Brick, Tile and Fireclay Works, Prestonpans, East Lothian. *Vogrie* – Vogrie Brick and Tile Works, Newlandrif, Gorebridge, Midlothian.

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January 6th…

After a couple of days of rain, we had a light sunny day. What this photograph can’t show, though, is the raw and chilly easterly breeze! Still, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the conditions on the North American continent.

Some bulbs, impatient for Spring. Aren’t we all!

January 8th…

January 11th…

A good day for birding. Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker.

January 13th…

Here they come…

January 16th…

16/01/2018. Between light snowfalls.

January 17th…

January 18th…

January 19th…

January 29th…

December 2017 round-up.

03 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by Warriston Birder in Headstones and monuments, Information, Nature, Revelations, Views

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We’ve undertaken a joint project with the Council’s Trees & Woodland Officer. Up in the north-east corner there’s a bank which had a load of diseased ash trees (plus too many sycamores and the usual ivy, brambles, nettles, and some convolvulus). Nearby residents had expressed concern. We’ve removed a lot of the undesirable growth – more to go still! Some elm saplings, plus a birch and a hazel have been left in place, plus this mass of mature ivy up a tree trunk.We received 120 shrubs and hedge plants from The Woodland Trust and we’ve been planting them beside the fence. About 80 in, so about 40 to go yet. The second photograph shows some of the clear tubes protecting the new plants. The residents are now receiving more light and warmth into the south-facing rooms and into their drying green. They’re happy! (See the two photos below.)