CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Wildlife highlight of the day

(7223 posts)

  1. Rosie
    Member

    Re the swimming - I know that mammals can swim, if they have to, I just didn't associate rats with voluntary swimming.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    Rosie, that is how they leave the sinking ship

    Posted 3 years ago #
  3. gembo
    Member

    .@Bill, that is a very good factoid. I will pm you another one to avoid Identity theft.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  4. chdot
    Admin

  5. chdot
    Admin

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

    Posted 3 years ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin

    P.S.

    CCE is NOT a depository for cat videos...

    Posted 3 years ago #
  7. gembo
    Member

    Apparently there are at least fifteen words for cat in Polish. I sent the words to a local legend on Strava for The Whang and they are all confirmed as kosher. Also enlightened me that Polish for Jackdaw is Kawka. Also means little coffee Kawa as in Java? And Ka as in wee.

    So I am goin* to start to try to get that many words iin English for cat but I will need help.

    @billbike calls his cat Pushkin

    Which I like.

    Cat, Kitten, Kitty, Kittycat, Moggy, Moggers, Puss, Pussycat, Pussens, Puss.N Boots

    Catullus? Felix, Tabby, Ginger, Tom

    Posted 3 years ago #
  8. gembo
    Member

    Lambikins on the Cockburnhill Road (fields off)

    Posted 3 years ago #
  9. Frenchy
    Member

    Sparrowhawk flew past me at head height whilst I was walking through Moredun Woods this morning. Could have reached out and touched it.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  10. gembo
    Member

    Kid on a trampoline Yieldshields Road near. Carluke. We had gone for the famous Carluke Steak (a jeelie piece)

    Kid as in baby goat.

    100s of baby lambs.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  11. Frenchy
    Member

    Two deer running across the road in front of me at the foot of the climb up towards Crichton. I slowed right down in case any more followed, but none did. Completely killed my momentum, which is definitely why I was slow and tired going up the rest of the hill. Definitely the deer's fault, and not me being unfit and out of practice.

    Also an enormous bird hovering over Heriot. Thought it was a buzzard, then realised it was too big, so figured it might be an eagle. Then realised it was actually a heron struggling to fly in the strong wind.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

  13. gembo
    Member

    Very swallow like bird coming back onto road at Listonshiels this morning

    But they are maybe only at Normandie thus far?

    Posted 3 years ago #
  14. SRD
    Moderator

    Some guy just posted a video to the WoL FB page. Appears to show an otter self-provisioning from the goldfish pond in his back yard. In Drylaw!

    Posted 3 years ago #
  15. fimm
    Member

    Just saw a fox while I was out for a run at lunchtime - crossing the road at the Stewart Terrace / Wardlaw Terrace junction. It came from the railway and disappeared down the road before I could get my camera out.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  16. chdot
    Admin

    “Adders come out of hibernation in spring so the recent milder weather may have caused them to be active.

    “Adders are not aggressive snakes and only tend to use their venom as a last resort, for example if they are stepped on or cornered. If anyone does come across an adder while out walking we’d simply advise them to give the snake plenty of space and leave it alone.”

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/adder-warning-issued-for-scotland-as-snakes-emerge-from-hibernation-3192317

    Posted 3 years ago #
  17. gembo
    Member

    St Patrick drove them out of Ireland and err Spain and Portugal.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  18. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    At Loganlee reservoir on Thursday, a Mallard trying to fly into the wind, all over the place, big loops, gives up. Ten minutes later it's back, flying low, skimming the water's surface. Success.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  19. gembo
    Member

    Ainville farm at the thieves road has wee brown lambs they were in the field with the big clydesdale. It was a bucolic idyll.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  20. nobrakes
    Member

    Came across a female peasant lying feet up in the middle of the road at the top of windydoors hill yesterday. Thought it was dead but it jerked into life when I rode past, so I stopped to see if I could help it. Think it was in shock - it let me sit right next to it and stroke its head. Looked like it was recovering and eventually it decided enough was enough, gave me one sharp peck on the hand and then ran off.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  21. Rosie
    Member

    Goosanders, swans and a very tame heron on the pond in Forthquarter Park, Granton. The heron sits on the path or a fence until someone gets about 2 metres away then flies off in lumbering fashion. There are a lot of people going by and it must have got used to them.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  22. Rosie
    Member

    Goldfinches are evidently nesting in next door's garden.
    They dropped in for a snack this morning and were shortly followed by a pair of bullfinches, which I've never seen on the feeder before. Really pretty birds.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  23. gembo
    Member

    Emu. Currie. (Riccarton Garden Centre) Name of Milo. True.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  24. wingpig
    Member

    One fox on the slope up from Leith Links to the (still unlit) Restalrig Path and another at Lighthouse Park.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  25. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    A swallow in the Pentlands on Tuesday. And a grey heron catching a fish.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  26. Rosie
    Member

    Arriving stupidly early, as is my habit, for an appointment in Ardmillan Terrace I went for a wee stroll and found Merchiston Cemetery - a place I would have commuted past 1000 times and have never noticed. Walked around the graveyard and spotted the albino squirrel.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  27. Frenchy
    Member

    @Rosie - I had to look up where Merchiston cemetery is, despite having been past it past it a similarly countless number of times.

    Dalry cemetery is far more prominent, perhaps because it is a useful pedestrian through route?

    Posted 3 years ago #
  28. Rosie
    Member

    @Frenchy - it's more noticeable on a street that has a lot of footfall. Also, as you say, a through route. Merchiston is really tucked away.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  29. MediumDave
    Member

    Also good place for Bluebells in the season.

    Didn't know there was an albino (or leucistic squirrel in there). I will try and spot that myself one of these days

    Posted 3 years ago #
  30. ejstubbs
    Member

    Earlier this morning I accidentally flushed a sparrowhawk that had just taken a blackbird in our back garden. Mrs Stubbs was gazing out the kitchen window and spotted some feathers at the foot of one of the washing poles. I headed to the back door to see if I could determine the species of victim and as I stepped out I heard a large bird start up from the adjacent border. At first my brain registered it as a wood pigeon but then I got a good view of the barred tail as it disappeared over the tool shed in to a neighbouring garden, and the black prey item it was carrying.

    Not such a highlight for the blackbird, though, I guess...

    Posted 3 years ago #

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