CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Wildlife highlight of the day

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  1. gembo
    Member

    Hope these otters don't eat the kingfishers.

    They won't just compete with them for the fishes

    Posted 5 years ago #
  2. jdanielp
    Member

    @gembo this has possibly already happened? I would quite like to witness the squeak/whistle standoff between them.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  3. amir
    Member

    Mountain hare on white. Dead by side of road between White Castle and Whiteadder Reservoir. :(

    Posted 5 years ago #
  4. unhurt
    Member

    A shaggy dog story with a happy ending: Estonians rescue wild wolf from ice thinking it was a dog

    Posted 5 years ago #
  5. amir
    Member

    First sighting of bramblings in our garden. Lovely

    Posted 5 years ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin


    Beavers to become protected species in Scotland

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47337724

    Posted 5 years ago #
  7. gembo
    Member

    Meanwhile Natural England has issued licences for slaughter of a large number of geese of all types and indeed some quite rare birds. Curlews, what bother do they ever cause, usually quite solitary. A wren in south Yorks. Seems harsh.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  8. Frenchy
    Member

    Sparrowhawk this morning appeared to fly through a fence with gaps that looked decidedly smaller than a sparrowhawk. It probably actually went just over the top of it, but it really did look like it had resorted to quantum tunnelling as a mode of transport.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  9. amir
    Member

    Quantum wildlife :)

    I heard the first skylark on a commute this year. I have heard them on weekend rides recently, but they are particularly uplifting on the way into work, countering any associated negativity. What a joyous sound.

    Curlews are more soulful and can be encountered during the winter if I deviate along the Musselburgh shore.

    Now the hedgerows and woody bits are alive with the song of blackbirds, robins etc. Why people wear headphones, I don't know.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  10. jdanielp
    Member

    A fox in the front garden of a house just along the road from Greenroofer Towers on Wednesday evening.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    “Sparrowhawk this morning appeared to fly through a fence with gaps that looked decidedly smaller than a sparrowhawk.”

    Somewhere there is a video of a sparrowhawk (or smiliar) threading it’s way through a woodland at high speed.

    I think it was a BBC film and possibly on YouTube, but all sorts of googlesearching hasn’t found it again.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Frenchy

    Both options quite possible. I've seen sparrowhawks fly 'into' up and over walls at high speed.

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Plugin

    Posted 5 years ago #
  13. steveo
    Member

    Well that was the best three minutes of the day.

    I had a grim chuckle at the cloud of feathers on the bird feeder.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  14. gembo
    Member

    @CHdot I think Springwatch recently simulated a wood and tested whether a Sparrowhawk or a Barn Owl would be quicker through the course (a sort of hanging slalom pole simulation). Sparrowhawk triumphed.

    Owls last night hooting like craze

    Three oystercatchers in formation this morning going nuts

    The fattest sparrow I have ever seen, the other day in my neighbours gutter. I can onbly imagine it has become approx. 5 sparrows by now.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  15. jdanielp
    Member

    @IWRATS that video has some excellent opportunities for GIFs.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  16. neddie
    Member

    Also: Use of the ground-effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(aerodynamics)

    Posted 5 years ago #
  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @jdanielp

    I am intrigued. Will study.Can you post GIFs here?

    EDIT: Ah yes. Spotted.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

    Not the precise clip I’ve seen before, but pretty amazing.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @chdot

    There's a goshawk one that is mind-blowing. Shows the bird using its legs to haul itself through a letterbox size hole in full flight. Cannae find it but.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  20. Frenchy
    Member

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Plugin

    This one?

    Posted 5 years ago #
  21. jdanielp
    Member

    Posted 5 years ago #
  22. jdanielp
    Member

    @IWRATS not quite perfect, but you get the idea.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Excellent!

    Posted 5 years ago #
  24. jdanielp
    Member

    A fox on the towpath last night making its way around the blind corner of the newer Slateford Aqueduct just ahead of me, although my light only illuminated it at the last moment so it took me by surprise. It seemed quite unperturbed.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  25. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    A single snow bunting leading me through a deserted Metro station. Ah, hang on. Belay that, just dreaming.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  26. gembo
    Member

    Which Metro Station?

    Posted 5 years ago #
  27. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Ah, now. Not one of the white-tiled arched roof ones, so trench cut. Austerlitz maybe?

    Am now concerned the bunting was a spirit guide.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  28. fimm
    Member

    Grouse, surprisingly unconcerned by our presence, in the Pentalnds. (Yes, I was on a bicycle.)

    Posted 5 years ago #
  29. gembo
    Member

    Four buzzards over the same huge rolling field beyond Burntisland today. Field had been ploughed.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The tawny owl in Inch Park is very, very keen to meet lady tawny owls.

    Posted 5 years ago #

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