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What do you suppose? We found some Giants toes He tried to cross the river Fell in, and he did shiver! We have been finding shapes around the river today...and trying to make poetry!

On our walk we also noticed that the smaller birds have started to get more vocal and territorial so we think they have had chicks. These are pictures of a robin and a sparrow, who were not afraid to come and investigate us. We saw some smaller nests in a small patch of woodland really near where we saw them. I’ll investigate this more next week. By Tom Macmillan

When we went on our walk we passed the main trees I have been studying. In the trees I noticed a nest, as we walked passed a crow flew out and started circling above us making a squawking noise. I often see it out our window chasing off other smaller birds and a buzzard from time to time. By Tom Macmillan

When I started today, I was not expecting at any point to be reading about duck genitalia, but here I am. To go back a step - I am extremely lucky that I have a lot of greenspace that I can reach by bike or foot to exercise away from others. Over the last couple of weeks, during these outings I have seen kittiwakes on Arthur’s Seat, a whitethroat at Hunter’s Bog, willow warblers on Blackford Hill, swallows and wheatears in the Pentlands, house martens and a great spotted woodpecker on the Bush Estate, a dipper in Braidburn Valley Park, and a jay in the Hermitage of Braid. I've entered them into iRecord, but none have been on the National Cycle Network, where I am focusing my John Muir Award. So, needing a break from the screen I headed over to the Union Canal (route 75 of the Network). A hen mallard was on a wall making a lot of noise, while three drakes were in the water - and there was some gentle peeping coming from the scrub between them. The peeping was from 6 tiny ducklings, but every time the hen tried to fly to them, the drakes would fly at her and give chase. She was not a happy duck. What was going on? To find out I’ve ended up reading about duck mating and breeding strategies, including this continued pursuing of females by males after nesting, and the evolution of mallard genitalia. But that’s for another blog (or not…). More appealing is learning about the ducklings. These are precocial young (meaning they hatch with feathers, mobility and a degree of feisty independence) and they hatch all at the same time after synchronised incubation – the hen waiting until the last egg is laid before beginning incubation. Because of these things they need to get out the nest quick smart – a nest suddenly full of mobile and vocal young birds being a gift to predators. So they are in the water within a day, and spend 50-60 days with their mother discovering what to eat, learning how to fly, and developing a more austere plumage, until they are able to live independently. I’m going to look forward to watching this progression. But there is also interesting research about a duckling’s capability for abstract thought during this time, so I wonder what they’ll think of me ogling them from the towpath.

With no access to the coast at the moment, I've been trying to find other ways to stay connected to nature. Daily walks in local greenspaces are the highlight of my day - now full of the scents of spring blossom, uplifting birdsong and the fluffy wiggles of ducklings. At home, I nurture veg seedlings on my balcony and follow the antics of our local squirrels who get ever bolder in the quiet streets. I dive into films - like the stunning One Breath around the World, and Chasing the Sublime. Reading, writing, planning for future walks - it all helps. And I try to find small ways in which I can still contribute - such as campaigning and sharing views in the Surfers Against Sewage GenerationSea Blueprint Survey. Why not add your voice to the mix - the data they collect will really help guide their future work. https://www.sas.org.uk/news/the-generation-sea-blueprint-a-new-wave-of-ocean-activism/

We started by pulling a bicycle frame out of the water today. We also picked up some discarded bottles and sweetie wrappers that were lying around. There is a bin next to a couple of benches but it is overflowing with dog poo bags! After removing the bike frame we did sow. Research to find out if we could upcycle it so that could be the next project. We have also started to spread the news about this project to our neighbours through the residents Facebook page.

These photos link to our text on the day we took in unintentional ‘dip’ in the river whilst initially measuring the river. We noticed that the sheep are very brave and come right down to the edge of the water. We were brave that day exploring the other side but we also realised that there is a clean up job to be done here as well as on our side. We don’t want to discourage people to go outside we want to encourage this as would John Muir but we think this shows the need for signs encouraging people to take responsibility and take their rubbish home.