CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
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It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
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First wee frog of the season cutting the grass. Only started cutting last week. I hate cutting the grass it makes me feel too middle class and old, though when I was young and working class we still had to cut the grass (with qualcast mower powered by pushing). Also whilst in the garden, crows mobbing a biggish greyish bird of prey, probably buzzard
On Lang whang today a wee dead deer by the side of the road and a wee white futterby
Cuckoo!!!! (heard, not seen)
A woodpecker (greater spotted I assume) on a dead looking tree on the far side of the canal towpath west of Gogar Station Road bridge last night. I only managed to spot it because I had briefly come to a halt. I was quite near to the 'closed' bridge prior to Hermiston House Road bridge, in the vicinity of which radio noises can often be heard drifting from the direction of the horse field. I assume it is left on for the sake of the horses. A little later I spotted six cygnets with parents on Craiglockhart pond.
About ten bats tonight the last two dive bombing me. Lots of bunny wabbits then the big heron taking off from the river at the end as I cycled up the WoL path at dusk
A Borders grey squirrel that I just ate at BiaBistrot in Bruntsfield. Tasty but boney.
" A Borders grey squirrel that I just ate"
For real?
There's a guy goes to the Farmer's Market (once a month I think) who sells squirrel when he can get it. My impressions were pretty much the same as jdamielp. Pretty much use it the same as rabbit.
@Nelly for real! "Eat a grey, save a red". Not sure I would rush to order squirrel again, but it wasn't bad.
Two curlews in flight at top of Lang whang, and nice new silver ram gate posts crosswood hill farm
One and three quarter hours out and 50 mins back free wheeled at accelerating pace from top of Harper rig all the way to kirknewton turn
A hard working mother of 19 on the Esk yesterday...
Untitled by Anthony Robson, on Flickr
Untitled by Anthony Robson, on Flickr
Untitled by Anthony Robson, on Flickr
Untitled by Anthony Robson, on Flickr
Ooh, goosander chicks, wow! I've never seen any in real life. Beautiful. Thanks!
I did see a bunch of a dozen or so (tiny, fluffy) Eider ducklings yesterday though, also in the Esk. And a group of about 75 swans, some of which were doing that balletic mating display where they twine their necks together and move in unison.
they may not all be hers - Goosanders and Mergansers sometimes form 'creches', combining broods so that the adults can go and feed.
That was something I'd considered, but she was entirely on her own. Not another Goosander anywhere in sight, and for a good length of time. And speaking to some local folk around at the same time the suggestion was that there were never any other adults about.
Although it would explain why she wasn't too concerned about three playing about in the water completely unsupervised with all the gulls about.
@cc, those swans were astonishing weren't they? So many of them! Saw the Eider ducklings as well, but never had particularly good light for the shots (and they're nowhere near as cute as the Goosanders!).
@wilmington's cow there must have been an adult male about at some point in the past? I have seen 10-11 ducklings in canal but 19 that is a record
I had to slow down this morning to allow a roe deer to cross in front of me. I then enjoyed seeing a few blue tits flying around the road.
I love it when they close a road to do some patch repairs.
@gembo, certainly there will have been some male 'involvement', but ducks for the most part then kinda leave the females to get on with it (save, it seems, for Eiders).
@WC
eiders are curious, if you go on to the farne islands or maybe inchcolm too, you have to watch you don't stand on them, quite camouflaged when brooding
@sallyhinch - re creches - that's exactly what the Eider ducks appeared to have done - all the ducklings had been herded together into one tight little bundle in the river, closely surrounded by adults. Meanwhile out at sea there were several dozen more Eiders but no ducklings.
@WC *more cute than fluffy wee Eider ducklings* you say? Can it be possible?
Also, those swans - especially astonishing when a group of them rises up and flies together along the river. A magical sight.
The duckling that is scuttling across the water in insanely cute.
He was diving at that moment (though there were plenty scooting), but there were constantly ducklings diving and reappearing all over the palce, which was especially fun to watch when it was all 19 of them on the water!
A Borders grey squirrel that I just ate at BiaBistrot in Bruntsfield. Tasty but boney.
Nice work @jdanielp. I went through a phase of eating the ones out of our suburban Edinburgh garden, although I never carried out my plan to butcher one like a cow (tiny little squirrel chops! cute micro-fillet!).
Our cat has now taken up the task and is often to be seen dragging them about like a leopard with an antelope.
Oh, and I saw my first crested tits and short-toed eagle since last posting.
"short-toed eagle"
Here or elsewhere?
I was on hols in Italy. The great joy of going away is that even the commonplace wildlife just seems so exotic. I wholeheartedly recommend Val d'Orcia
I'd echo amir - where's this short-toed???? (saw them in France once - but nothing on the vultures in south France, and driving over the border into Spain).
The short-toed was in the massif central of France...the crested tits in Rothiemurcus.
Aren't Cresties brilliant? You'd think it would be hard to get cuter than a Blue Tit but they seem to manage.
@Min
I have to admit that I've been looking forlornly around Caledonian pine forest remnants for several decades before finaly spotting this pair last month. The male was feeding the female in a tree just above a path, after I'd lured Madame IWRATS to that wood on the pretext of maybe seeing capercaillie and....cresties.
Saw a wee cock Sparra having a bath in my gutter this morning
Quite big frog cutting the grass, I was cutting the grass it as leaping from the strimmer
A couple of sparrows mating perched on a fence, in next door's garden.
He has a whacking great wooden owl on a pole presumably to scare off birds from his veg/fruit but it doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent.
Geese and goslings grazing by the Esk.
Otter in the Figgate this morning. Sadly he saw me, squeaked, dived, and after that I was just following air bubbles with no photo to show for the efforts.
Wildlife photo exhibition at the Figgy Do later went well, and is now going on a tour of some Edinburgh libraries.
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