at the cemetery

 

Three wanders around Warriston on the 13th, 14th and 18th November. Lots of pics of magpies (and crows and squirrels) because if there’s only lemons then make photos of mainly lemons.

The orange ladybirds are getting into Winter huddles.

The magpies are dangerously commonplace and ubiquitous. However when they spread their wings and flash their tails they can look dramatic and interesting. Which leads to burst mode and a computer full of magpies alighting and leaving gravestones. With judicial editing, just the dramatic shots should end up here. Only I fear a few humdrum shots might slip through the editing net during the process. Such is life.

I think the squirrel is saying

“I’m pretty sure I saw a dozen peanuts land just here”

The squirrels are becoming more friendly. I spent a few days returning to Warriston to try to coax my way into the affections of the robins. Normally this far into the bad weather season I can show a robin a fist of birdfood and they will land hand-wise for a snack. The special feeling of a bird gripping your fingertips cannot be overrated and yet all the Warriston robins have been looking at my begloved food with complete scorn and contempt. Meanwhile the squirrels are edging closer. (Nothing like the shameless behaviour of the Botanics squirrels who will turn away peanuts that don’t come up to snuff and will inspect offered food with an appropriate Stockbridge snootiness.)

honkers

being judged

wren in riverside area

On the way home the early afternoon twilight caught my attention and I hung back to change lenses and record the fading light. By the time I got back to Leith Walk it seemed more like night than day even though it was probably not even 4pm. While this is something of a novelty I also find it grinds me down a bit and I have to dust off the sad lamp which stays on most days indoors and outshines the watery sun. My home planet must have had more sunshine than is available here.

middle of the afternoon night

next visit

Still no headway being made with those robins. They sit close by and seem to say “just leave that stuff there and I’ll have a look a little bit later.” But if you leave it there the crows swoop in and scoff it. The crows watch everything from high in trees and enjoy a top-of-the-pecking-order status.

special

I always check out the stream that runs through the tunnel before heading to the WoL. Many birds will bathe there as it is moving, clean water and suitably shallow. Once one bird gets in and splashes, others get the message and often join them. Irrespective of species. I presume this was the case with this treecreeper. I have never seen a treecreeper doing anything other than hopping woodpecker-like up a tree looking for insects. I was delighted to see this one having a splash. Only got a couple of photos before it remembered its nature and flew off to crampon up some barkilicious treetrunk.

female bullfinch

From late November the bullfinches show up. Where they have been hiding I have no idea but suddenly their melancholic calls can be heard in the trees. They are social birds and collect in small groups. Their call is about the easiest to mimic in the graveyard and will often bring them over to gather in a stray. I don’t know how long it takes them to realise they are not hearing another finch but a considerably larger and in no way similar creature. Once they are near the stream they will often have a quick splash about, maybe thinking I know I came over here for something, maybe it was a wash. And some kind person has put sunflower hearts all along the stream-side! (Thing about that - it can attract undesirables! Fingers crossed!)

end of season wasp

more magpies in motion

the one with a partial left-ear-ectomy

was getting really bold and would run right up to me

Peggy!

doesn’t give a shit! 😆

next visit

riverside robins still giving me the brush off

ahh just you wait till it gets properly cold

do the shake and vac

I was delighted to see the grey wagtail, a regular at the tunnel stream every year around now. The same one that lost his tail a year or 2 ago (and grew it back over 6 weeks). And gets a wife and kids in Springtime into Summer and then returns to his bachelor ways about now. Paddling in the shallows and never that interested in human treats. The light is pretty crappy around the tunnel to try to catch someone as continuously bobby as himself, but I love to see his yellow waistcoat get more yellow every year.

frost on sunday

looks like lefty again

this time below the crypts, rather than above

Pleased to see Stock Doves above the tunnel on the way home. People feed the crows and small birds with handfuls of birdseed where the cyclepath goes over the tunnel and a few birds join in - like the 2 or 3 stock doves that live in a tall tree within 80 yards. They do look similar to pigeons but have dark black eyes and black marks towards the end of their wings. And lack the white wing-bars of the larger wood pigeons. They are a bit more standoffish than feral pigeons and I always try to encourage them with a few handfuls of sunflower seeds. They have been enjoying the handouts near the tunnel area and are up to speed with the idea of human interaction.