Many honkbills at Aberlady. Brent honkbills. Greylag honkbills. Pink-footed honkbills.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7166 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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finches very busy breakfasting in my garden this morning. Maybe on some special 1st October Finch Delicacy.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Aqua-rat zooming upstream in the WoL at Stockbridge. They go surprisingly fast - underwater their wee legs must be a blur.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Posted 5 years ago #
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Pipistrelle a-fluttering and a fox a-foraging on the way home from the shops yesterday.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Still swallows, maybe 1000 geese above Petinain south Lanarkshire, big buzzard, wee kestrel and mad sparrowhawk smashed across the road in front of us outside thankerton, battered into the hedge, much squawking.
Many dead pheasant in one large murdered party. One des partridge
Two dead foxes.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Rumbling along the path at the back of Mortonhall campsite a lady comes the other way. Just as we pass a goldfinch streaks through a beam of sunlight between us. We smile and say hello, both recognising the moment.
Try that in your automobile.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Two bats seen at different points along the NEPN this morning as I rode to work in the dark. First time seeing any on my route in 12 years - but then again it was incredibly mild and the air was full of flying insects as a result this morning. (Don't think I can ever recall having to keep my mouth shut before sunrise and at this time of year!)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Also saw a different kind of 'wildlife' just after 6am - three teens asleep at the side of the path close to where it passes under Newhaven Road. Two sleeping sitting up with their backs to the wall, with the third lying stretched out on the grass by their feet.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Another two bats this time from the towpath - one above canal after boroughmuir and second further west near turn for WoL toonight. Quite Batty this weather
Posted 5 years ago # -
A sudden uptick in thin, confiding, slightly careworn robins. I wonder if the Scandinavian contingent have arrived for the winter? The ones that follow you when you dig the garden.
Sparrowhawks are partial migrants (present year round, but not the same birds in summer and winter) and the winter lot which will have followed the songbirds across the north sea should be more visible as they scout out new hunting grounds in their spiraling prospecting flight.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Owly noises in The Hermitage of Braid as it was getting dark last night and some bats. There was also a strange, flickering light emanating from the burn. We decided that it was probably one of those candle effect LED lights that had been launched into the water at some point upstream.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@jdanielp
I have an EBC front light somewhere which I recovered from the bed of the Braid Burn in flashing mode at Nether Liberton Lane. Thought I was seeing fairies.
Nowhere near a cycleable path. Suspect some kind of prank/art installation.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@IWRATS I've seen underwater illumination in the canal on a number of occasions, usually soon after the clocks have changed in the autumn, but have yet to make any effort to try and retrieve such a light. I feel guilty about having lost a front light to the canal several years ago. It was switched off when it fell off under a bridge. By the time I heard the telltale bounce and a splash, it was too late.
Posted 5 years ago # -
some kind of prank/art installation.
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that
Regards
The DoctorPosted 5 years ago # -
@steveo
Given the number of pranks/art installations I've been involved in myself I can't rule it out.
Anyway, my hallucinations are mostly auditory.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Hows the water wheel installation coming?
Posted 5 years ago # -
@steveo
Alas the Boy did not come this summer due to complications so the project is on hold.
Tell no-one but the dynamo hub on a pringled wheel that @wingpig gifted me has the cones done up way too tight.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Ah thats a shame.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Indian Eagle Owl joining the larger Eurasian Eagle Owl. At the Shacks on non-windy days.
Bramble is the name of the smaller one.
Posted 5 years ago # -
A buzzard took flight ahead of me as I climbed Hermiston House Road, drifted overhead and then proceeded to dance in the wind above the adjoining field.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Forgot to mention my first spot of the season of two goosanders (gembo would say mergansers, let's call the whole thing off) on the canal by Boroughmuir High School Plaza yesterday morning.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@jdanielp alright already, they are goosander though of course in the Latin Mergus Merganser
Interesting birds where both male and female have the spectacular plumage major
Posted 5 years ago # -
Two murmurations of honkbills within a few minutes of each other. Looks like they're parking up for a feed after an overnight flight.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Sitting in my study enjoying a leisurely cup of tea this morning at about 07:30, I saw a fine-looking dog fox stroll into the garden and start having a sniff around. Seconds later a second one - just as handsome but noticeably bigger - wandered in. They approached each other warily and, after a brief bit of sniffing, launched in to an almighty rammy.
The commotion appeared to attract the attention of the local magpies and jackdaws, which flapped around in the rowan making noises which I chose to interpret as the corvid equivalent of: "Go on, 'it him Barry!", "Leave 'im Wayne, 'e's not wurf it!", "Shut it you slaag!!" and similar such street argot.
Fearing potential dire consequences for one or both of the protagonists, I quietly slipped out the back door and crept towards where I'd last seen them. I noticed a rustling from within a clump of ornamental grass under the buddleia. As I approached a little closer a vulpine face peered out with what I like to think was a rather sheepish "sorry about the racket...I'll just be on my way" look, and the owner then disappeared over the fence in to the garden of the neighbours to our rear.
I could hear something chuntering about in the next adjacent garden which I assumed was the defeated party making good his escape in that direction.
All in all, rather more exciting than what goes on during my usual Sunday morning brew!
Posted 5 years ago # -
Five or six hundred more geese in two skeins just passing overhead.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Well, highlighted -
Posted 5 years ago # -
My highlight was stopping for a few minutes waiting for Mr & Mrs WesterHailes-Swan and their two large teenagers to move off the path and onto the water. One adult remained behind to beady-eye us as we gingerly crept past.
Posted 5 years ago # -
A fox skittering around Bruntsfield Links last night. I'd initially assumed that it was a dog playing while out on a walk, but when it crossed the path just ahead of me (I was on foot) it became apparent that it was actually a fox. It would run a short distance, stop to take a look around and then run off again in a slightly different direction.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I caught a glimpse of The Heriot-Watt Stoat vanishing into the foliage by The Loch just now as I headed for my lunch.
Posted 5 years ago #
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