CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Wildlife highlight of the day

(7221 posts)

  1. Rosie
    Member

    Wood pigeon with a twig in its claws flying to build its nest in next door's big holly tree.

    I thought construction was banned?

    Posted 4 years ago #
  2. Frenchy
    Member

    Essential construction still allowed. Quite likely that the pigeon was working on a new midwifery unit, after all.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  3. Rosie
    Member

    @Frenchy :-)

    Posted 4 years ago #
  4. ejstubbs
    Member

    @gembo: Not forgetting goldfinch - and starlings, which a lot of folks think of as just black but which can be very colourful in the right light.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  5. gembo
    Member

    Yes was commenting to the Iwrats about the goldfinch and its magic nest up stream in the thread.

    Stuckies do have that speckled petrol thing going on indeed

    Posted 4 years ago #
  6. unhurt
    Member

    figuring out how long whale sharks live

    Highlight: "The study indicated that these creatures do actually live an incredibly long time.

    "The absolute longevity of these animals could be very, very old, possibly as much as 100-150 years old," said Dr Meekan."

    (Lowlight: this makes them even more vulnerable to exploitation than supposed)

    Posted 4 years ago #
  7. gembo
    Member

    Wiki only has them at 80 yrs and Basking Sharks at 50 years

    Posted 4 years ago #
  8. unhurt
    Member

    This study only published today: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00188/full

    Posted 4 years ago #
  9. bill
    Member

    First rapeseed blossoms in Ratho. Perhaps seeds that were left from the last year.

    This year's rapeseed plants gained quite a few inches in height in the past couple of weeks.

    Fields that had barely (i think) last year, have rapeseed this year and vice-versa.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  10. jdanielp
    Member

    Kestrels hunting around Holyrood Park yesterday evening. I also heard but did not see an owl as it was getting dark.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  11. ejstubbs
    Member

    Woodpecker drumming in the Easter Craiglockhart Hill LNR yesterday. Also we thought we heard an owl a couple of times - around mid-day? Could have been a cheeky starling!

    Posted 4 years ago #
  12. bill
    Member

    A bumblebee in cheery/plum blossom this morning.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  13. fimm
    Member

    Mr fimm ejected a bumblebee from our flat this morning. Not sure if that counts as a highlight.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  14. wingpig
    Member

    Cormorant cormorating in the sea off Seafield yesterday.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  15. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    'Cormorant' is a corruption of 'corbeau de mer' or sea crow.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  16. wingpig
    Member

    Richard Herring calls apples 'sky potatoes', in reference to their French name.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  17. gembo
    Member

    Their french name pomme de terrestial de Ciel. So earth apples and sky potatoes.

    Google Hold Your Plums Potato for 3mins 30 secs of sheer joy. Pot-ate-toes? or Pan-8-me slippers

    Posted 4 years ago #
  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Se caille pot tes tôt?

    Posted 4 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Oh, j'aime beau!

    Posted 4 years ago #
  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Was on the back step at lunchtime watching a sparrowhawk circling high up and it stooped. Like a peregrine.

    I had the bins on it and everything. It was astonishing.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  21. ejstubbs
    Member

    Pair of buzzards soaring over Colinton Mains as I picked up my click-and-collect order from Tesco.

    (Had to go back shortly afterwards when I got home and discovered that they'd left the security tags on a couple of the bottles of, er...'medicine' that I'd ordered.)

    Posted 4 years ago #
  22. minus six
    Member

    @ejstubbs that'll be you back on the swally, then..

    wreck the hoose juice.. the commotion lotion..

    get stuck in, that's the gemme

    Posted 4 years ago #
  23. gembo
    Member

    Sparrowhawk stoop steep and swift

    Pink Moon tonight altogether now

    It’s a pink moon
    Pink pink pink pink Moon

    Nick Drake sitting next to a big pair of purple shoes on that particular album cover

    Posted 4 years ago #
  24. minus six
    Member

    yeah that's a fantastic moon, with the pale blue sky and avian chorus

    these times are such a strange attractor

    Posted 4 years ago #
  25. Rosie
    Member

    Indeed that is a splendid moon.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  26. gembo
    Member

    Siskins and pheasants have flashes of colour. Pheasants ultra screechy just now. Spotted both on Whang today, also i Think a chiffchaff. Pinkish beige breast and finally the lesser spotted Laidback Dave hope he wasn’t thinking apple pie open

    Posted 4 years ago #
  27. Frenchy
    Member

    My glimpse of it was so short I can't be sure, but I think it was the local sparrowhawk that I spotted hopping over the dyke into Lidl's car park this morning.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  28. ejstubbs
    Member

    @gembo: Pheasants are not a native British bird, though.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheasant

    Though they can be found world over in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Asia.

    Same goes for the Mandarin Duck and the Carolina Wood Duck (and the ruddy Ruddy Duck, though arguably that isn't as colourful).

    Posted 4 years ago #
  29. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Swallows in D&G. Can't be long now.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  30. gembo
    Member

    @ejstubbs

    I decided not to mention peacocks for this reason - introduced from Asia.

    More than 276 types of pheasant in the world.? Not just the one type we have. I had a colleague once who had a poster which was a world map appended with types of pheasant. 276 is just a recollection. I may have gone high

    Posted 4 years ago #

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