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Prompted by a bird walk coming up on my local path in Edinburgh, I let some local volunteers know that myself and my colleague, Hannah, would be heading out for a litterpick. It was lovely to be joined by a couple of them after a long time of not getting together because of fluctuating Covid restrictions. We talked hillwalks, wildlife, wassailing, being a TV extra and more, while collecting 12 bags of litter from route 1 over a couple of hours. Hannah and I went back out a few days later to finish off some bits we didn't get to, and picked up another 3 bags' worth, while also having some work chat that otherwise would have had to be online. It's so good to be getting outside more to volunteer and work...it brings good health to us and the routes!

Our third bird ID walk was in Bowling, where a huge infrastructure project has just been completed to create a new traffic-free connection on route 7 by transforming a 124-year old bridge which has sat derelict since the Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Railway closed in 1960. The new link is inspired by New York’s Highline and gives good views of the Clyde, as well as the Forth & Clyde canal before joining the original route to head through woodland going towards Milton. This mix of habitats gave us 30 species in all – cormorants, mute swans and goldeneye on the canal, oystercatchers and heron in the harbour, and nuthatches, wrens, finches and tits in the woodland. But we weren’t expecting the peregrine falcon that flew overhead as we were on the Bowline – most of us wouldn’t have been able to identify it from the ground, but our walk leader Scott spotted the barrel chest, pointed wings and dark moustache. It’s the fastest creature on the planet, so a speedy spot is needed, and it was one that made everyone's day.

Our bird ID walks are not only great fun and introducing new people to the National Cycle Network and to bird characteristics and calls, but they have given me another opportunity to ‘share’ for my Award…via the medium of wool! This magpie is off to Kinross with the bird expert who leads our walks. But knitting birds does make you pay attention to the finer details – how high on the head is the beak, how big should the eyes be, what are their feet like? - so I reckon I’m ‘exploring’ too!

"I don’t think we’ll see much here." These were the words of one of the local volunteers who litterpicks on route 7 at Paisley Canal, as he joined our bird ID walk last week. But he was delighted to be proved wrong as we totted up 22 species including displaying goldcrests and lesser redpolls.

All the leaves have gone but some new buds are forming on our garden flowers

We all looked at different areas in our woods to draw plans of what we could see. It was quite hard because the wood has a lot of trees and we couldn't draw them all!

I went outside and it rained last night so I checked the grass it was wet and dewy and I thought it looked nice