CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7221 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
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They are taking over the world
Posted 7 years ago # -
No swifts in the boundless blue over Blackford Hill. Swallows though.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Towpath cat was complemented by a black and white cat on the far bank of the canal at the Watson's boathouse as I passed this morning. I then spotted two roe deer on the far bank just after the Slateford Aqueduct, which was the first time I saw a second one since before Christmas. I'm glad that they are doing ok. Finally, the best was saved to last, which was the first cygnets at the Edinburgh end of the canal that I can remember for years - five, that I counted at least, with their parents at Wester Hailes.
Posted 7 years ago # -
My first spot of duckings on the canal somewhere in Polwarth on Saturday
jdanielp the swan has been sitting or her nest the last couple of times I have been past. Good to hear they have hatched.Posted 7 years ago # -
Swifts here in Musselburgh today.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Swifts?
Posted 7 years ago # -
I would say swifts, yes. They are here?
Posted 7 years ago # -
A deer on the canal towpath shortly after the EICA. It got scared and dashed off up the hill through one of the breaks in the relatively tall wall.
And my first spot of the cygnets of Wester Hailes (I counted four).
Posted 7 years ago # -
"They are here?"
Between Blackford Hill and Braids 7pm yesterday.
Posted 7 years ago # -
On the towpath this morning I saw @jdanielp's deer, ducklings and cygnets. No kingfisher though.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Today went through Hopetoun House grounds. Saw deer, rabbits, grey squirrels, pheasants, two birds yet to identify. One had magpie colours but a lot smaller - saw it flying away from me, another larger one mainly black/dark brown with looked like Orange tipped wings...
Sadly a deer as road kill on the road between Winchburgh and Kirkliston. Crazy deer do seem to becoming more common now.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Greenroofer somebody else spotted the towpath deer before I did, possibly chrisfl back in late autumn/early winter?
Posted 7 years ago # -
A happy looking fox having a scratch and sunning itself in the vegetation on the far bank of the canal between Kingsknowe Railway Bridge and the bridge to Colinton Dell. It had better watch out for Tories.
Posted 7 years ago # -
A screaming trio of swifts yesteday morning over Dorset Place whilst negotiating the canal tow path closure, then three sets of ducklings along the canal and five very small cygnets at Sighthill. Happy days!
Cheers
ColinPosted 7 years ago # -
Not strictly wildlife, but a rather dozy cat wandered into the middle of the Dalry Road, bringing me and the following car to a halt!
Posted 7 years ago # -
I'm pretty sure that I spotted a couple of swifts above the Meadows a little earlier.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Team of four swifts over Minto Street this evening. I hailed them. Welcome back boys!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago # -
Any forest botanists on here? Why do ash trees come into leaf so much later than anything else? Don't they know the swifts are here?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Make that six cygnets on the canal. I had been wondering.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Make that seven cygnets on the canal...
Posted 7 years ago # -
I've been a raptor nut since a sparrowhawk accidentally sat beside me as I was sitting quietly in a tree as a kid. (Who'd ever have thought I was that kind of child?)
They do quite well in towns now - we all see buzzards and kestrels and with a trained eye you will often see sparrowhawks. There is a peregrine presence in Edinburgh too. However, out of town, on land managed for grouse and pheasant shooting the birds that should be there are often absent. This is why;
Basically you can shoot and trap them as part of your job on film and get away with it. I don't know if gamekeepers could also shoot me on film as I pass through their workplaces and get away with it. Maybe.
I'll be writing to my MSPs about this. I'd be delighted if any other CCEers did the same.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Greenroofer somebody else spotted the towpath deer before I did, possibly chrisfl back in late autumn/early winter?
They were back this morning, in the same spot - on the far side of the canal just west of the aqueduct at Slateford. Presumably they must wander the woods next to the canal around Kingsknowe/Redhall. I wonder if they ever cross the bridge over Lanark Road to the WoL walkway?
Posted 7 years ago # -
For midge lovers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39898684Posted 7 years ago # -
@AKen I just saw one on my cycle home last night. I reckon that they most likely came across that bridge by accident but haven't been brave enough to escape back yet. They were seemingly 'stuck' on the towpath side for several months, but have semi-recently managed to make it over to the other side.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Four cygnets on Craiglockhart Pond and a rather stealthy toad on the path through the woods to Morningside. I was relieved to find that my back wheel had avoided it after I took evasive action when it moved at the last moment and I realised what it was... I waited to make sure that it had crossed the path safely before continuing.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Swifts whizzing about high above our Morningside garden this evening.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Yesterday morning, Canada goose standing on bank of the Esk, facing the road watching us cycle by just before we joined the River Esk Path at Musselburgh (Station Road I think) with several goslings running around her feet.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Yesterday afternoon, near Pathhead, a woodpecker.
Posted 7 years ago #
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