Scottish Waterways Trust: Bee Scene in Edinburgh. Join a volunteer bumblebee survey along the Union Canal to learn more about these fascinating furry creatures and the vital role they play in the environment. Using resources provided by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT), help to assess a stretch of the canal; surveys are carried out once a month between March and October. Bumblebee sightings will contribute to the BBCT’s National Bee Walk database and to the work of the Scottish Canals environmental heritage team, who will be pleased to have up-to-date information on these crucial contributors to the general health of the canal environment. 1-3.30pm, (meet at) Water of Leith Trust Visitor Centre, 24 Lanark Road. For more information please call Alan Forrester on 07768 951740.
Bags of Art – September: cool and creative fun with artists Tessa Asquith-Lamb and Louise Fraser. For ages 4-12. 2-4pm, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ONE, Belford Road. Free: supported by the Friends of the NGS.
Botanics Harvest Festival: the garden’s celebration of the vegetable growing year will include fun activities, gardening advice, information about harvesting, cooking and storing crops, tasters and more. Be inspired by the community garden produce show and discover the delights of growing your own vegetables with the Edible Gardening Project team. 1-4pm, Demonstration Garden and Real Life Science Studio, John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row. Free, no booking required.
Filmhouse Junior: screenings for a younger audience. Today’s film is The Lego Movie (U). 11am, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £4 per person, big or small, and may be purchased from the Filmhouse box office in person, by calling 0131 228 2688 or online here.
Dungeon Fun: Colin Bell and Neil Slorance: to celebrate the launch of the collected edition of their Dungeon Fun comic, Colin and Neil will be visiting the shop to chat and sign copies of the collection. (They also create strips for the Dr Who comic). 2-3pm, Forbidden Planet, 40/41 South Bridge.
Cameo Vintage Sundays: classic films back on the big screen. Today’s film is The Searchers (U) (1956): ‘often cited as the best Western ever made, The Searchers turns Monument Valley into an interior landscape as John Wayne pursues his five-year odyssey, 
a grim quest to kill both the Indian who abducted his niece and the tainted girl herself’. 1pm, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0871 902 5723 or online here.
Garden Sculpture Tours: join Alexander ‘Twig’ Champion for a meditative tour around the Garden’s outdoor sculptures, including the works of John Chamberlain. The tour explores both Chamberlain’s outdoor works, installed as part of the summer exhibition in Inverleith House, and the Garden’s collection of outdoor sculptures, including major works by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Andy Goldsworthy, Barbara Hepworth and Alan Johnston. 2-3pm, meet at Inverleith House reception, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row. Free, all welcome, no booking required.
Edinburgh Interfaith Group Annual Inter Faith Peace Walk: a walk past many of Edinburgh’s places of worship, including Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, St Andrew’s Orthodox Church, Central Mosque, St Mark’s Unitarian Church, St John’s Episcopal Church, Kagyu Samy Dzong Buddhist Centre, St Mary’s RC Cathedral, Baha’I Community, Annandale Street Mosque, Sikh Gurdwara and Hindu Mandir. Join the walk at 1.45pm at Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, 4a Salisbury Road or at 3pm at St John’s Church, Princes Street or at 4.10pm at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, York Place. The walk will end with refreshments at Edinburgh Hindu Mandir, St Andrew Place, Leith at 5.40pm. If you plan to join in, please email info@eifa.org.uk to help the organisers arrange enough refreshments.
Hearing Impaired Tour: Head to Head. Artist Tessa Asquith-Lamb leads a free tour (with portable hearing loops) of this exhibition of portrait sculpture, ancient and modern, from across the National Galleries of Scotland. The exhibition illustrates how sculptors continue to reference the illustrious tradition of the portrait bust, but in various ways also seek to break free from it. 11am-12 noon, Scottish National Gallery (gardens entrance), The Mound. Booking is required: please contact the Information Desk on 0131 624 6560.
Alzheimer Scotland Memory Walk 2015: the walk will take place at Dalkeith Country Park, and there will be a 7km or 3.5km route available. Alzheimer Scotland’s marquee will be offering information displays, crafts, face painting and home baking. Dogs must be kept under close control. 1pm (prompt), Dalkeith Country Park, Dalkeith High Street, Dalkeith. Registration costs £10 (£5 for 12-16 year olds, free for under 12s) and may be made by calling 0300 303 7777, emailing events@alzscot.org or visiting www.memorywalkscotland.org.
Foam, Foil and Form Workshop: explore the materials and techniques used by the artist in these drop-in art workshops inspired by the sculptures of John Chamberlain. Experiment with colour and form by making miniature foam sculptures, sculpt with foil or create through collage – take your work home! For ages 4+ – please note that children must be accompanied by an adult. 2-4pm, Inverleith House (Lower Ground Floor), Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row. Free: no booking required.
Take One Action! Film Festival: ‘connecting people, world-class cinema and creative action for a better world’. Twelve days of screenings and discussions, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, on issues as diverse as environmental activism, LGBT rights in African countries, cycling, the value (or not) of university degrees, the Arab Spring, literacy, the global financial system, food chains and much more. Today’s films are:
(1) Life is Sacred (15+): violence is part of everyday life in Colombia…but the unorthodox presidential candidate Antanas Mockus and his enthusiastic young activist supporters attempt to reverse the vicious cycle with an imaginative and positive election campaign. Can good ideas and an idealistic drive alone change a political culture where violence is rampant? The portrait of an inspiring man and a powerful youth movement, whose stories are relevant far beyond Colombia’s borders. 5.45pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road; Tickets may be purchased from the Filmhouse box office in person, by calling 0131 228 2688 or online; prices vary.
(2) Sunu (12+); Sunu (maize) is a captivating immersion into the hearts and fields of Mexican farmers who refuse to give up indigenous agriculture, despite immense external pressure. This will be an interactive bike-powered screening as part of the Harvest Festival at the Botanics; you are invited to pedal through the film beneath the stars. Please bring warm clothing and waterproofs as rain cover is limited. 7.30pm (doors and bar from 7pm), Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row. Tickets cost £6/£4.50 and may be booked via the TOA website here.
Epic Epoch: travel back in time with Dr When to discover life from the Ice Age to Doomsday – 11,000 to 1,100AD. Follow a treasure trail of enactments, activities and hands-on fun through the Dells to seek out extinct animals, early man, Bronze and Iron Age Camps, and join the battle to claim Edinburgh for the Scottish King. 12 noon-4pm, Water of Leith Visitor Centre, 24 Lanark Road. £10 for a map and Reward Bag for your whole family or group. To avoid a wait, call in advance and reserve a start time: 0131 455 7367 (email admin@waterofleith.org.uk).
Not The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. For over 18s only. 8pm (doors 7.30pm), The Voodoo Rooms, West Register Street. Tickets cost £10 (+ booking fee) in advance from See Tickets here.
St Giles’ At Six: Philomusica of Edinburgh and Gladstone’ Bag – Those Radio Times. A concert of theme music and signature tunes from the golden age of radio, from Music While you Work to The Archers, featuring the lush vocal tones of Lah Dee Dah. Director: Lawrence Dunn. 6pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Free: retiring collection.
