Well there's a sign in Lothian Road which says "man eating chicken".
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
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Posted 13 years ago #
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Had a buzzard fly ahead of me for 1&1/2 miles on the longniddry to Haddington cyclepath the other weekend.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"Comatosed* man nibbled by unidentified wildlife" would be nearer the truth
* = I don't want to cast any stones but one presumes that some sort of substance induced the state of unconsciousness.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"
Today, 21:00 on BBC Four
SYNOPSIS
Documentary series which looks at the different birds that live in the UK and at the stories they can tell us about the British people over time. Top of our affections are garden birds, including the nation's favourite, the robin. Yet this relationship is a surprisingly modern one, the result of some of the most dramatic changes in British society in the last 150 years.
"Watch on your computer at http://tvcatchup.com/?chan=13
Posted 13 years ago # -
Also
"
Today, 20:30 on BBC Four SYNOPSIS The wild man of the moors is back. Johnny Kingdom, gravedigger-turned-amateur filmmaker spends a year recording the bird life in and around his home on his beloved Exmoor.Posted 13 years ago # -
Posted 13 years ago #
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Saw a kingfisher on the canal near Hailes Park this morning, and then a cormorant a little further on.
Never seen a kingfisher in Edinburgh before.
Posted 13 years ago # -
10 years ago
"There is thought to be at least 5, possibly up to 10, breeding pairs within Edinburgh at present"
http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/biodiversity/036_Kingfisher.pdf
I suspect there may be more now(?)
Posted 13 years ago # -
not quite in edinburgh butrecently saw a kingfisher from the avon aquaduct, looking down above the weir,I was watching ducks in the river when it flew through the arch ,underneath me, flew towards linlithgow, into the overgrownsection,it was fast ! Never imagined that they would be there !
Posted 13 years ago # -
Lucky lot, seeing kingfishers, never seen one yet... Ch that documentary series about birds and their relationship with man was very interesting.
Posted 13 years ago # -
They are making a comeback
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11673044
Interesting story at the link there. They were killed in their zillions to make hats and the slaughter prompted the formation of the RSPB.
Posted 13 years ago # -
A few Kestrel and Waxwing shots from my recent 7 Hills ride (and a few more Waxwings from the day after when the light was better!)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Awww. They are so cute with their little crests. I love waxwingsonnastick.
On Friday I saw bats on the Innocent, it was just about light enough to see them. Then tonight on the way home I heard a Tawny Owl.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Great shots Anth.
BBC also had this Min which loked at subject of seabirds.
Making Scotland's Landscape - bit about formation of RSPB
Some thought provoking stuff here abut how The Prince of Wales went shooting seabirds in the 1850s on the Bass Rock.
At that time it was fashionable to have 'feathers in one's hat if one was a lady'. Gannet feathers maybe not as fancy as Kingfisher - large though!All changed overnight as it was realised that birds could be hunted to extinction. Only recently have people considered marine life and the shots from the bottom of some sea Lochs around the west show how barren they are. Trawlers have destroyed so much over the years. The drift net fishers knew in th 1890s that this was hapening but an enquiry then failed to back them. Too much money in fish and people thought the supply infinite.
The Marine (Scotland) Act hopes to provide some protection which wil be a benefit for a variety of species feathered and finned.
Marine Scotland ActSome informed people reckon that prawns and shelfish are the last things that may ever be caught off the West Coast if we don't change. Once they've gone then we have a marine desert.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Min, you want Waxwingsonnastick? You got Waxwingsonnastick!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Very depressing stuff Laidback. Especially when it was known about so long ago. In Shackeltons South he describes how Humpback Whale populations were massively depleted in the first year of commercial hunting and never recovered since. Didn't stop the hunting. it is encouraging that species can recover if given the chance though.
On the whole I prefer Anth's link!
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's not much, but schemes like this seem like a good idea:
Posted 13 years ago # -
Min Very depressing stuff Laidback.
That's me through and through ;-)
I need to get out on my bike more!cb It's not much, but schemes like this seem like a good idea:
Lamlash Bay - No Take ZoneYes... I think it was scallop dredgers that divers there noticed first. They prefer something interesting to look at on the sea bed not the gouged tracks of dredgers. So it hasn't come from 'greens' per se. Of course the flipside is that fishing communities need help too and mediation to understand why.
Posted 13 years ago # -
@Laidback - Prof Stewart's programme was depressing but he is so matter of fact and it is the truth, man has wrought such devastation and destruction. Dredging for scallops is a matter of debate in the south of England too, particularly Cornwall, where there are coral reefs and they are being destroyed too. The Prof was on Radio Scotland today (I think) discussing the Neuk of Fife and the impact of fishing there... the fishing villages such as Pittenweem and Anstruther have changed forever with the demise of the fishing.
Posted 13 years ago # -
It was interesting to learn about Gavin Maxwell too from the Prof's programme. When I read about the otter at Braidburn I immediately thought of Midge (I saw the film Ring of Bright Water when I was a nipper)and how he had killed a basking shark to feed the otter only to find that it did not actually like the meat. I had no idea that Maxwell killed basking sharks for a living, the photos were shocking, and thank goodness he stopped when he did.
My next thought was how much I hope the otter does not fall prey to a set of wheels being in such a busy area.
My work colleague told me that she had a rat run over her foot about where the otter has been spotted, and that it was the biggest rat she had ever seen... so I sent her the link to the article. Lucky beggar having an otter run over your foot.
Posted 13 years ago # -
More Waxwings on Coates Crescent today (and apparently in Princes Street Gardens West and Liberton and Brunstfield. Posing even more obligingly for even better pictures than previously!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Liz I had no idea that Maxwell killed basking sharks for a living, the photos were shocking,
Same here. He was good at it too... just shows you.
Liz Lucky beggar having an otter run over your foot (at Braidburn).
And she thought it was a rat...!? Suppose it was moving quickly... and she wouldn't have believed it till you told her!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Erm, it probably was a rat! People tend to exaggerate the size of something when it is unexpected. A flatmate once told me a huge rat had run across the work surface, over the kitchen floor and gone behind the washing machine. Laughed my socks off a couple of days later when a tiny mouse ran across the work surface, over the kitchen floor and behind the washing machine. No way a rat could have fitted down there anyway.
Posted 13 years ago # -
A bird I've not seen before on the canal today. There were two what I think were probably female Goosanders (http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/goosander/index.aspx)
I'm not a bird expert at all, so don't know if they count as a wildlife highlight.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Not an expert either, but I'd put Goosanders on the canal/Craiglockhart as 'occasional visitors'; when we've seen them it has been this time of year.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Goosanders (fresh-water) and mergansers (sea-birds) are present in Scotland all year round and visit England in winter. They obviously prefer it a little cooler, wetter and windier! I would say that this would be a highlight if you have never seen one before, definitely.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Of course, for wildlife specific to Edinburgh, there's always this site (which naturally I found completely randomly, oh yes... erm).
The Goosander page:
http://www.edinburghwildlife.com/Birds/Goosander.html
They're really lovely birds - seem to see a lot more of the females than males (well, I do anyway).
Posted 13 years ago # -
On my non-canal, non-Innocent, wholly road-based commute to work, I'm lucky if I see a seagull, if I see or hear any wildlife whatsoever. :-(
Posted 13 years ago # -
I don't see them on the canal very often. Sometimes see them on the water of Leith. I say if you like something then it is a highlight!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Can I put up just three more Waxwing photos? Please? Honestly, the last!
Posted 13 years ago #
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