Lovely goldfinches near Roman Camps. And lots of cute ducklings on the canal.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7221 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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A Hoodie Craw at Edinburgh Park! Had to have a good stare at it to be sure I could believe my eyes. This is going to cause me some trouble as I always guage when I am getting closer to (old) home by the fact that the crows have changed colour.
Also saw some Great Crested Grebes but had to go to Linlithgow for that.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"
the grey heron population is now exploding, with experts claiming an increase of more than a third over the past decade, encouraged by cleaner rivers and burns and long periods of mild weather.
"http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Warm-welcome-for-herons-return.6772351.jp
Posted 13 years ago # -
(Yesterday) singing Blackbird -
Posted 13 years ago # -
Two swans and 5 cygnets in canal opposite Harrison park East last night. One hiding on parent's back.
Posted 13 years ago # -
is now exploding
= "has increased"
Posted 13 years ago # -
"= "has increased" "
Journalists don't understand sums.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Albino Squirrel by spytfyre, on Flickr
Albino Squirrel in Harrison Park this morning
Looks like it was still there in the evening and hadn't moved much
Might have been injured when one of the many large branches came down...Posted 13 years ago # -
Spyters, that is SUPERB! Must get down to Harrison Park...
Posted 13 years ago # -
Journalists don't understand sums.
Journalists don't understand
sums.Posted 13 years ago # -
Journalists don't understand sums.
Journalists don't understand
sums.Some journalists don't understand.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"A NEW viewing platform and planting beds have been created around the pond in Lochend Park - just in time for Biodiversity Week."
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Pond-revamp-is-boost-to.6775254.jp
Posted 13 years ago # -
I left early today (combination of insomniac (it seems) cat and needing to get in early to prepare for a meeting) and stopped by Duddingston Loch in the sun en route. T'was a wildlife extravaganza.
But no pictures cos I can't do that at work anymore, and I still can't get my Eye-Fi card to work.
One in particular for chdot. There was a Heron in the sky above me. Then two. Then a third one joined them. AND THEN A FOURTH! Four Herons right above me, fighting (got one pic where they're paired off, both coming to blows) and shouting.
There are Canada Geese goslings about as well, one brood is of about 8, and the parents huddled them up for a morning snooze, and they did all form a huddle. Again got one cracking shot where one has popped his head up and is shouting and it looks like a football team before a big match with the captain shouting orders.
AND there are the tiniest bunnies you could imagine. Another pic, this time with a Jackdaw in the foreground for size comparison. There's not much between them!
Been seeing a LOT of the foxes around us recently as well. There's definitely mange in the pack, sadly.
Entries were sent in to the British Wildlife Photography Awards yesterday.... :P
Posted 13 years ago # -
Apparently Figgate Park was a 'test' of redevloping city parks, with boardwalk put in and a wildflower meadow created and so on. Lochend was next on the list (from a regular councillor email I get) so it's nice to see that's been followed through. Edinburgh is a truly green city and it's great to see that being recognised by the powers that be, putting some time, effort and money into maintaining them.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Here we go...
Four Herons by blackpuddinonnabike, on Flickr
Herons Stepping Outside by blackpuddinonnabike, on Flickr
Gosling Huddle by blackpuddinonnabike, on FlickrPosted 13 years ago # -
Have seen a couple of very cute, very tiny, baby bunnies along the canal this week. Great view of a kestrel hovering over a canalside patch of wasteland in W Hailes this evening. Fantastic sight.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"Ruffled feathers all round as wind leaves birds homeless"
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Ruffled-feathers-all-round-as.6775902.jp
Posted 13 years ago # -
Yes I found a very small magpie (dead) that must have been blown out of its nest on Monday.
Anth-getting four herons all at once in the sky is pretty cool. So long as none of them decided to go to the lavatory whilst over your head..
Posted 13 years ago # -
A cot mattress (Mattress cottii) that has been migrating eastwards along the canal over the past few days. I first spotted it near Wester Hailes in the water. Next day it was sunning itself on the bank near the new community garden we've discussed before. Today it was back in the water near Craiglockhart.
Actually, this post isn't about a piece of floating rubbish. It's about the fact that this morning it was floating down the canal with a family of ducks asleep on it. Mother duck and her several teenage children were all dozing in the sunshine while sitting in a pile aboard this old mattress as it drifted down the canal. It was quite a small mattress, and it was covered in ducks.
The question I pondered as I headed west was how the ducks got on it. It was floating clear of the water, so they must have climbed aboard...but there were five or six of them...imagine getting two people on a lilo...it looked very comfortable.
Such are the distractions of commuting along the canal.
Posted 13 years ago # -
That sounds really cute. Don't suppose you had a camera with you?
Posted 13 years ago # -
Today was the first time in ages I haven't had my camera with me... and I also spotted mother duck and her brood snoozing in comfort on their mattress, and yes, they looked very cute. Sod's law in action!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Chased two rabbits yesterday, at two different locations. First was beside a path in Dundee, it tried to outrun me for about 100 yards before heading left into bushes. The second was beside a field later on, it froze at first, then realising I was bearing down on it, ran before me for a while before heading into a hedge.
Cute wee blighters. Sorry no photo.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I almost used a rabbits bottom as a bike rack on the Roseburn once. It ran out in front of me, then switched direction to run directly in front of my front wheel. Then stopped! I don't know whether it couldn't see me any more and so assumed I was no longer there.
"Today was the first time in ages I haven't had my camera with me"
Aye it's always when you leave your camera behind isn't it? ;-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Impossibly sweet flock of baby Coal Tits (plus parents) bombing around in the garden just now. I had to come in for a bit to get away from the relentless cuteness.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Given I've been on Skye for a week and I'm now on Harris (with wireless broadband!) this perhaps isn't fair, but... White Tailed Eagles; Golden Eagles; Minke Whale; Sea Otter; Hen Harrier; Skylarks; Pipits of many hues; Wheatears galore; Hooded Crows; Gannets; Razorbills; Cormorants; Shags...
And that's with 'iffy' weather (couple if days rained off, ever present wind, probably our worst trip weatherwise in all the time we've been coming); hoping the bike gets more of a workout here (Bones rack dented the boot :( ), and I can add to the list... ;)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Well I'm sure to be able to add even more when we get to Lewis in a few weeks. :-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Saw weasel on the long dalmahoy carting a vole in it's jaws
Anth - post a picture if you have the inclination of that weird blown-in from foreign topsoil plant that is like a triffid and is taking over harris. Name a little like Gonnorhea
Posted 13 years ago # -
Great Spotted Woodpecker whirring through the trees on the Pencaitland Railway path. Also heard a load of Skylarks, there were some in Holyrood Park the other day too.
Posted 13 years ago # -
what appears to be a dead otter, near the river carron, M9 grangemouth....shame ! Means ill have to have a wee camera expidition soon, but dont hold out much hope for pics !
Posted 13 years ago # -
Veritable fields of (I presume) foxgloves alongside the Dalkeith to Musselburgh path
Photo didn't do it justice.
Also yellowhammers that stayed still on a fencepost long enough to tease me into fishing the camera out, before flying off again. And goldfinches.
Posted 13 years ago #
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