During July we are working with the RSPB and lots of volunteers to seek out the swift nests in our patch. These beautiful birds nest in wee holes in our buildings and so we need to be careful when renovating to protect or replace their nest sites. Step one is to be sure where the nests are.

If you would like to get involved with surveying please email katie@grantoncommunitygardeners.org.

Wondering what's so great about swifts anyway? Here's a few delightful facts:

• Swifts fly the whole time they are not nesting - they sleep between wingbeats, drink raindrops and eat tiny flying insects. Most of the year they are flying all around the African continent but come North to nest.

• Swifts fly on average 800km a day but if there's no food to be found nearby they wouldn't think twice about going as far as London, Paris, Madrid or Marakesh to get food for their chicks in Edinburgh.

• Swifts have "screaming parties" around their nest sites - flying low, round and round like F1 racers whilst screaming their wee heads off. They are the fastest birds on earth in level flight.

Come for a relaxed wander along the shoreline to check out some of our local wildflowers. We'll learn to ID some of the plants growing here, spot any pollinators that are around and collect some early seeds (for yourself if you wish and the community garden) if there are any. We'll also cover a bit about the ethics and law of foraging/seed collecting from wild plants.

We'll record the plants that we spot on iNaturalist and add them to our Granton species list. No prior knowledge required! Come along and learn some new species.

The walk will be a slow and gentle saunter along the prom - all wheelchair/pram accessible.

Come and learn about the wonderful world of lichens from Becky Yahr - our local expert. They may be almost permanently overlooked, but these wee lifeforms will blow your minds and change how you think about nature!

Dig out your pencils and come out and play for a weekend celebrating nature and art in our community.

Whether you are a keen artist, or last drew at primary school, all are welcome to come and get stuck in with our art materials and activities. Get arty on Saturday and see the full exhibition of works on Sunday.

Activities include

• Learning plant identification through sketching (workshop at 11am and 1pm)

• Design your own mythical beast of Granton

• Clay creature sculpting

• Ant’s eye view - get up close to tiny worlds

• Get imaginative with our art materials - stay and make for as long as you like

• Add your nature art to our exhibition

• Teas, coffees and snacks by donation

Make art on the day or bring along something you’ve already made to add to our exhibition.

Find us at Granton Hub, Maldevic House, Granton Park Avenue, EH5 1HS (We are wheelchair accessible)

Get arty - Saturday 25th July, 10.30am to 3.30pm

Exhibition of work - Sunday 26th July, 2 to 4pm

Help our friends at Edinburgh Shoreline Project by filling in this short online survey about water quality in the Firth of Forth