meh 004 (the WoL-ling)

 

22-10-25 More disgruntlement, or maybe just another crack of the disappointment whip and largely the same no-shows, while Mary and I walked down the Water of Leith talking about upcoming holidays and going off to a place in the sun full of butterflies and lunchtime beers. Although the weather was good for once. And the reflections of blue sky and buildings in the WoL were exquisite. Would have made a perfect backdrop for the absent and rather selfish kingfisher. Which today will be known as the f'kingfisher. Do I even need to say he didn't turn up?

We got off the tram at Murrayfield and walked to Roseburn to join the WoL. On the corner where Roseburn Place meets Roseburn Crescent there is a large holly tree full of birds: finches, starlings, sparrows, pigeons and collared doves. For ages I didn't see the bird feeders piled high in the centre of the tree. There is always squawking aplenty. Today a gang of starlings all singing and regarding us with beady eyes. Difficult to get decent photos; the dark plumage against the dark leaves. But fun and games.

goldfinch

As I said above, the water was looking fabulous and it was hard not to enjoy the riverside wander even in the absence of target species. At least the dipper near the large bridge, Coltbridge Viaduct, is a regular and can be relied upon to pose and feed in the shallows there. I shot video as it often comes out better than stills in such high contrast light.

dippers

wildlife wanderers

Our path crossed with Sachi, a friend whom I'd met in Warriston recently. She is superkeen at wildlife spotting up and down the WoL, capturing kingfishers, foxes, otters and recording all the flowers along the way with a Sony bridge camera (same one Alan uses) for lightness. Hugh also turned up. Word was the kingfisher tends to appear around 1.30pm near the gallery bridge. However Mary and I were out for a walk and not for hanging about at the mercy of a naughty wee f'kingfisher who might never show. We said our goodbyes and headed downstream.

I checked the gallery side of the river for commas
but only found these pretty cyclamen

grey wagtail near Dean Village

The camera didn't come out again till Warriston. Mary had already bailed and headed home leaving me to do a round of the cemetery to quench my photo addiction. I'm not sure it entirely worked and I was reduced to chatting to the squirrels and crows yet again. This one in the riverside area was watching what I was up to but quite wary. I put some nuts and seeds on a flat stone while he watched and then I retreated. It took a while but he eventually investigated. As the Winter bites harder they become less wary and more grateful for handouts.

common jellyspot fungus, Dacrymyces stillatus
and harlequin ladybird

place was full of harlequins on all size of gravestone...

major and...

small

curlew in the Goldenacre playing fields next door

Right I'm off home for some late lunch soup and toast. Mary has been making some excellent soups lately and you don't need much in a plate to dip your bread or toast in. Makes Winter all a bit more bearable.

Looked over the Warriston overpass/tunnel on way home
to get a wave from this chap, perhaps the one I fed earlier

7.5miles in 4hrs39

meh 003

 

20-10-25 If today had been just a shade better it might have been heresy to label it 'meh'. A feeling it had the potential to make the grade. When a flash of blue along at Powderhall signalled the kingfisher was about I thought my luck was in. However he kept himself well hidden in the leafy overhanging branches and although I could get some partials he was defo not for playing ball. He caught a fish (maybe 2) before flying off downstream at great pace and very likely not worth a long wait for his return. He won't get away with that in 3 weeks when the trees are bare.

The botanics were lovely but I had to hunt high and low to find even so much as a hoverfly. The flowers near the Queen Mother's garden are usually good for a few. I ignored the wasps who have had a great year and are the most plentiful insect around anywhere I look. Esp fruiting ivy. I have mostly stopped taking their photos.

a few fungi lurking

a lonely hoverfly at the Demonstration Garden

Somewhere between the Rhododendron Copse and the Azalea Lawn I came across squirrels and birds enjoying some seeds where they had been left on a bench. There were a couple of squirrels and I tempted a female nearer by throwing peanuts. Most botanics squirrels will grab the peanuts out of your hand but this one was a little timid. 

zoom (167mm)

I changed the lens hurriedly from zoom to macro and held the camera at squirrel eyeline, kneeling on damp grass and using the flip-out screen to frame the shot, opening the aperture as wide as possible to shorten the depth of field and blur the background.

macro (90mm)

I kept the macro lens on and looked about for insects and bugs to photo. There was some ivy near the East gate on the way out but mostly just wasps and blow flies and very few hovers. I hoped Warriston would produce the goods that the Botanics had failed to.

kestrel

When I arrived I saw Alan and we had a long chat about what we'd been up to. He has an enthusiasm for astrophotography, taking pics of the night sky, and has a Dwarf3; a tripod mounted camera that takes photos of stars and galaxies that you'd be hard pushed to see with all but a pro-quality telescope. I nearly bought one off the internet immediately when I saw his results. Then I realised that that game is best played with a warm car at night. I don't have a driving licence and I'm not that keen on dragging myself out the house and getting away from the city light pollution after dark when the option is glass of red and tv or hike up the pentlands on a cold dark night when it might easily cloud over at any point. If Mary is unlucky I might get her one for her birthday! 

While all this chatting was going on a kestrel flew by. We said adios and headed in different directions. I went along the lower path in front of the crypts and saw the kestrel high in the trees (above photo.) Of course I still had the macro lens on, so retreated a few paces to crouch and remove my back-pack, get the camera bag out, swap the macro for the zoom to point it up the tree. By now the kestrel had flown off. I set off in slow pursuit. I didn't see where it landed but as I headed East it flew out from another tree and I saw roughly where it flew to. We repeated the process a few times until it landed on an obelisk and I got a couple of distant pics, here greatly cropped. It flew off again and I gave up.

Alan in hawk-watch mode

While I was messing about with the crows the kestrel returned to the tree at the West end of the crypts but was on the wrong side and into the sun, so wasn't much use again. Alan and I regrouped and as we chatted Alan noticed a woodpecker at the top of a tree, and another a further away. Neither made a good photo and we called it a day and went home.

woodpecker

a second woodpecker

On the way home through St Mark's I fed the limping stock dove again. It is still limping but otherwise seems well. It is prepared to come closer than any crows who watch from a safer distance, seething that this smaller bird gets as many peanuts as it can hold while they go hungry on the sidelines. When I leave they scour the area for peanuts the dove might have missed,  but do not bully limpy which I am surprised about.

6.48miles in 3hrs40