A kingfisher on the canal by Hermiston House Bridge! As I was cycling up the off-ramp I heard a suspicious chirp and turned to see one whizzing past. I saw it (or another one) again as I looked left from the top of the bridge. That is my first canal-based kingfisher spot since around January or February this year. Hopefully this might mean that the overhanging branches have grown out far enough after being trimmed back earlier in the year that spots will become a bit more common again, especially when the leaves start to fall off as autumn progresses (how is it autumn already?).
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
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Posted 7 years ago #
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A zebra spider jumping around my desk like a lunatic.
Posted 7 years ago # -
There was a nice looking spider on my bike lock (which I leave locked to the outdoor rack at work) this morning. I encouraged it to climb onto my finger before relocating it onto the exterior structure of the rack before locking up.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@jdanielp, I know they say it is Autumn but. Think the seasons have all shifted a month. So winter starts about the solstice now in December. The chief actuary at standard life who I had known for a few years once said that was the first thing I had ever said that he agreed with. In my inside voice I said , yes because it is the most boring thing I could think to say.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@gembo that seems plausible... I think I spotted the kingfisher again on the way home at around 6 pm flying up to a perch in one of the trees on the far side of the towpath west of Gogar Station Road Bridge. By the time I stopped and turned around to try and confirm the spot it had gone again or was perhaps just blending in carefully.
Posted 7 years ago # -
It is a joyous thing to spot a kingfisher and even better if two in unison?
Posted 7 years ago # -
The chief actuary at standard life
Which one? Initials will do. One of them once set his own nipples on fire with Sambuca.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Was he wearing PJs?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Squirrel who remembered to do her Green Cross Code before dashing across Whitehouse Loan in front of me this morning.
She must be a member of The Tufty Club!
Posted 7 years ago # -
A good sustained sighting of a kingfisher flying along the canal by the golf course in Ratho. Sighted it emerging from the water, flying a stretch along the canal before disappearing into the long grass.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@ivangrozni, did your heart miss a beat? Mine does when I see a kingfisher.
Posted 7 years ago # -
One of the Kingsknowe rat's many relatives was exploring the tow-path furtively this morning.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The highlight was the family of swallows chattering away under the Cultins Road Bridge on the canal this morning. Less of a highlight was spotting the swans rounding the corner from the Scott Russell Aqueduct (seemingly being chased by a narrowboat, the occupants of which gave me a cheery wave), but only five cygnets being visible. While they must be all but adult size already, I would be very surprised if any of them has left the group already since I haven't spotted them performing any test flights yet :(
Posted 7 years ago # -
@jdanielp I saw the swan family at the eastern side of Ratho at 7 this morning. I think it's the most western location I have seen them. They were still six cygnets last week. Shame if they have lost another one :/
Posted 7 years ago # -
It must be the week for spotting kingfishers. I saw one yesterday morning by the weir at the end of the North Esk in Musselburgh. I got a good look at it this time.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@bill that's surprisingly far west! It's possible that one of the cygnets wasn't keeping up with the group and was to the far side of the narrowboat, but that seems unlikely...
Posted 7 years ago # -
There were definitely only 5 cygnets when I greeted them on Saturday afternoon.
Edit: Not wildlife exactly but did anyone else see the big blue balloon in the sky over West Edinburgh on Saturday?
Posted 7 years ago # -
@jdanielp the five (sigh) cygnets were on a kids-only excursion this morning. One of the parents was a few hundred metres away and heading their way.
Posted 7 years ago # -
If all swans raised three cygnets every year we'd be knee-deep in these overgrown and ill-tempered ghost-ducks. Let's hear it for pike, foxes, otters and mink!
Posted 7 years ago # -
So the canal cygnets are performing test flights, one of which I witnessed this morning as they took off beyond Murrayburn Road Bridge and flew as far as Wester Hailes Road Bridge. One of the parents flew with them while the other was pursuing them along the water with a bit of a grumbling noise as I cycled past it. This gives me hope that the other cygnet might indeed have flown the nest.
As I approached Gogar Station Road Bridge, I spotted a kingfisher take off from somewhere on the pedestrian side of the path, head straight over the canal and up, as if to land on a branch. Unfortunately, the underside of the bridge doesn't have any branches, so it dipped back down to the water, before flying away west along the far bank. I might have had another opportunity to spot it had I been able to see where it alighted and/or if the far bank wasn't in shadow compared to the water.
Posted 7 years ago # -
There are still six cygnets on the loch at Heriot-Watt and I also spotted a couple of buzzards soaring and calling to one another above me near the intersection of The Walk and Herminston Walk.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I cycled in to work after midday today and the swans were mooching around by the lift bridge, but I only counted three cygnets in the group. Perhaps another couple have headed off from the family group or were hidden behind or under one of the jetties? I also spotted a goosander for the first time in a while just beyond Yeaman Place Bridge, and a moorhen made a last minute dash across the towpath in front of me as I was cycling through Wester Hailes.
Posted 7 years ago # -
A trio of deer bouncing their way across the cycle path between Dalkeith and Whitecraig
Posted 7 years ago # -
I cycled in to work after midday today and the swans were mooching around by the lift bridge, but I only counted three cygnets in the group. Perhaps another couple have headed off from the family group
Passed the swan family last night at Wester Hailes and there were only three cygnets then.
Posted 7 years ago # -
overgrown and ill-tempered ghost-ducks
Ha, I can see that though they are impressive when they fly.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Cyclingmollie
I once had five of them fly low over me in V-formation on Craigmillar Park. Car folks couldn't see a thing.
Sky the best place for them though. Almost as creepy as shoes with fingers.
Posted 7 years ago # -
If all swans raised three cygnets every year we'd be knee-deep in these overgrown and ill-tempered ghost-ducks.
Not if we started cooking & eating the excess swans... Her maj could surely change her position on having dibs if the nation was threatened by swan overload?
Almost as creepy as shoes with fingers.
:drums fingers slowly on desk, eyes screen askance:
Posted 7 years ago # -
Brand new fluffy baby moorhens from a late clutch scooting around in the duckweed on Inverleith Pond this Sunday. Probably none of them destined to survive, the poor wee niblets.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@unhurt, one of them will make it and after many trials and tribulations will go on to vibe come King of the moorhens
Posted 7 years ago # -
I want to believe this epic prediction...
Posted 7 years ago #
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