@fimm: Most likely candidate would be a wheatear. Some good photos showing the tail colours here: http://shropshirebirder.co.uk/wheatear.html The description and pictures in the Collins Bird Guide are good, if you have access to that. Often seen in upland habitats sitting on fenceposts - the males, at any rate - and sometimes follow you, flitting from post to post, to make sure you leave their territory.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7187 posts)-
Posted 3 months ago #
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@ejstubbs Yes! That's what I saw. Thank you - I'd have never got that on my own.
Posted 3 months ago # -
A sparrow just flew into my living room window. Half a second later a magpie picked it up and flew away. I will assume the magpie is returning the sparrow to the sparrow's nest so that it can recover in peace.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Yes the magpie will do this after removing the sparrow’s loose change, jewelry and eyes
Posted 3 months ago # -
A kingfisher flying along the canal at Kingsknowe last week (I only spotted it because it flew past me).
Posted 3 months ago # -
I spotted a single cygnet with the swans on The Loch at Heriot-Watt today. They certainly nested late this year but that still seems like a low survival rate assuming there was more than one egg of course (impossible to see since they nest on an island).
Posted 2 months ago # -
A sparrowhawk carrying breakfast this morning. First time in a few years I've noticed one.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Badger the other night about 22.45 WoL path ran off
Was scared as Rev. Ollie had a badger on the Harlaw road at similar time of night that took a backie off him
Posted 2 months ago # -
There are currently four buzzards circling over Liberton. Don't often see them within the bypass.
Posted 1 month ago # -
One of those "buzzard close by/eagle far away" birds on Arran. I was cycling round the island. I first thought it was an eagle, then wasn't sure. But I'm rather cautious about saying "eagle". There are definitely eagles in the area.
Posted 1 month ago # -
I wondered if I had spotted one or two kingfishers flying away from me along the canal on Monday evening between Gogar Station Road Bridge and the Scott Russell Aqueduct, but they were too far ahead of me when I noticed them to be sure (although one of them certainly flew like a kingfisher) and then I couldn't spot them again after they landed. However, I definitely spotted one last night just east of the railway bridge at Kingsknowe. I did also spot one kingfisher twice or two separate kingfishers last week on the Lancaster Canal and the Ribble Link down in Preston.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Two or three swifts flying around in our home area yesterday and today. Also spotted some swifts heading out along London Road (us, not the swifts) earlier today. Was beginning to think I wasn't going to see any this year but now my swift desire has been at least partially sated.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Last month ago I mentioned to someone that I hadn't seen a sparrowhawk in several years. I've seen three since then!
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
“It’s not even just about the whole community that they support but a lot of them support really important individual species that are now declining,” she said. “My particular area of interest is pond insects and lots of people will have heard about the tadpole shrimp, which is a species pretty much unchanged since the dinosaurs were around.
“They used to be quite widespread but are now reduced to just 10 ponds that we know about. That’s out of about 500,000 ponds across the UK.”
Studies have shown that ponds can support more biodiversity, including greater numbers of threatened plant and animal species, than larger water bodies, such as rivers and lakes. However, very little information has been gathered on their whereabouts.
“
Posted 2 weeks ago #
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