frog; March

 

6th March. This could have been a pleasant day out had expectations not been through the roof. Consequently it was an awful and depressing day out, and I spent most of it with a large serving of background annoyance and growing gloom. The destination was Pressmennan Wood and due to the failure of the mission I nearly called this report Pressmennan Woodn't.

juv swan putting out the rubbish

kinda summed up the day

So nothing really bad actually happened, it was just that the dish of the day (and everything else) was somewhat absent. Also during the day Ken texted me that a second butterfly had turned up at the Botanics which would have been my destination had I not been off on this adventure.

A couple of days previously Jimmy R had gone to Balloch to photograph Mandarin ducks. The drakes are spectacular and so flashy in their appearance they put kingfishers to shame. Google them. They have been high on my wishlist since I first became aware of these extraordinary imports. I asked had he really gone all the way to Loch Lomond to see them and suggested that anywhere requiring 2 trains was too far for myself. He suggested it was possible I could run there. 😁

This conversation was interrupted by Mark B who flagged up that a dozen mandarins had been recently spotted on Pressmennan Lake. (Only one train and a bike ride away.) There had been no photos on Lothian Birdwatch (that might have been a warning) but there was a sunny day fast approaching and maybe I could fix that. The tantalising proposition of a dozen mandarins on a long narrow stretch of water got me pumping up tyres and booking train tickets to Dunbar. I packed sandwiches the night before as I'd opted for the 09.39 getting me into Dunbar for 10am. Trainline now does reservations for bikes which is better, although the whole concept of bikes on trains is one embraced with huge reluctance by nearly every train company in this crappy country. The amount of room alloted for bikes is pathetic and the hooks to hang them vertically in tiny cupboards (by their front wheels!!!) between carriages do not allow for wheels with fatter mtb tyres or deeper rims. Or wider handlebars. They have not been designed by anyone who has ever seen more than one type of bike which seems remiss. I spent the 20min journey with half an eye on my bike waiting for it to fall from where it was tentatively balanced. 

there were several extremely timid little grebes

I was pleased to have exited the train without incident, with bike intact, and just seven short miles between me and those sweet mandarins! I set off in high spirits heading out past Belhaven Bay before crossing the A1 at Thistly Cross Roundabout. Onto the B6370 to Stenton where one takes the left fork up the hill to Pressmennan. I really hoped the headwind was the reason I was going slowly although there was a steady climb as well. But I was rarely in double figures and it felt arduous. Average speed 6.8mph although probably includes a bit of walking into the woods and padlocking my bike before I switched over the gps to walking mode for the duck-hunt.

I had had a Plan B which was rather than return to Dunbar after I'd photo-ed the mandarins, to then cycle to East Linton and go up the riverside trails to Haddington then across the cyclepath to Longniddry and either get the train back or cycle back into town. Given the howling headwind I binned this plan and thought I'd more than likely just skoot back to Dunbar with the wind on my back. I had booked a specific train (the 3.05pm) and although my ticket pretended to be a cheap day anytime, the trains passing through Dunbar can be either LNER or Scotrail which incur different prices so there can be difficulties. Best to stick to what was reserved in the first place. Since it took me 50minutes or more to get to Pressmennan I allowed myself 40-ish for the return journey since it would be downhill and wind assisted. That's if I managed to last the duration at the lake. I had approx 3hrs20 to kill. (Tricky to know beforehand how long to give oneself to find a bird and photograph it then return to the station, but I reckoned if it hadn't happened in three hours it wouldn't be happening no matter how long I persevered.)

more nervous ducks; I got the feeling the lake 

was a venue for those afflicted by anxiety disorders

goldeneyes: f, 2 above; m directly above.

quaint if superfluous lake-side additions

When I heard there were mandarins at Pressmennan I was pleased. It is a body of water I am familiar with and I've actually swum there on a previous occasion. I even skinny dipped as I was out cycling, didn't have any swim kit and could not resist the tempatation of a refreshing cool dip. I have been walks there on a few occasions although it has never had an abundance of notable wildlife. Maybe that would change today? Well unfortunately not. Within a few hundred yards of the West end of the lake (there are around 9 lakes in Scotland,) I bumped into a bloke with a Nikon and a huge long lens. I approached him and enquired about mandarin sightings. He was aggressively interactive letting me know I'd need a bigger camera than the one I was carrying. I was pleased to let him know my lens was the equivalent of 800mm while his yard long impediment was only 600mm. "It's all about the detail though" says he and to an extent he was right, even though he was a bit of a see-you-next-Tuesday. He also insisted on telling me he was 72 although I didn't recall asking, and that gallingly he had taken a shot of a mandarin earlier but they were scared off (probably by his presence) and hadn't returned. I got the feeling he had seen no more than one or two, not a dozen. 

I continued walking the lakeside trail. The 72 year old was sat on a bench while working up the strength to hump his camera back to the carpark. Nearer the halfway point of the lake and I bumped into another bird enthusiast. Seen any mandarin ducks says he and we exchanged disappointments. (Dabchicks, goldeneyes, greylags, swans, mallards. No mandarins.) He hadn't seen any either although had heard the same rumour of 12 mandarins of unspecified gender. He did report hearing a green woodpecker yaffling in the woods, but had not seen it. This is another bird very high on my wishlist (never seen or heard one) and I immediately dropped any interest in brightly coloured but absent ducks and took up the challenge of hunting a light green bird making hyena-like noises. (Worth a look here at this superb video of one.) Nothing better to do. Actually changing species-target only happened 5 minutes later when I heard the distinctive laughing/taunting call. It was the first time I've knowingly heard a green woodpecker. The guy with binoculars said they used to reside on Corstorphine Hill but had vanished. They are fairly rare and very elusive in the Lothians so I hoped I'd get lucky. Might even be a better outcome than just fancy dress duckies. 

When I heard the distinctive call of the woodpecker (first time ever) I was thrilled and set off across country in a direct line towards it. There are 3½ paths running parallel to the water. The lowest runs (partly) alongside the lake, next is about 80 yards south and quite a bit higher. The final path goes nearly vertically up from the car park and is quite a height above the other two as it heads for the top of the hill. They all run fairly parallel. I hiked from the lowest one up to the second. The bird calls were still towards the car park and further up the hill. It would have been much more convenient if the bird had stayed near the main paths but it seemed to be travelling away from me. I wondered if it could see me. Undoubtedly more than I could see it, although I caught a couple of glimpses of a light coloured bird about the right size, a long way away in the distant tree tops. I slowly clambered over fallen trunks (post storm Eowyn) but a lot of the ground wasn't too bad so I was able to keep a fairly direct line towards the bird calls which would happen every few minutes. I spent about 45 minutes chasing an invisible target before the yaffling stopped and I gave up. I was back near the car park by then so did a second trawl of the lake to see if the mandarins had returned. (They had not.)

(f) goldeneye steaming across the lake

(m) goldeneye

seven geese a-swimming

reduced to photographing lichen

greylags at the far (East) end

As I got to the far end of the lake all the birds gathered there took to the water and fucked off. I have never felt quite so scorned. Bad enough there were no mandarins but being shunned thus when I was only going to offer snacks and modelling contracts at decent rates (not just peanuts) was all too depressing. The one thing that cheered me up considerably - in fact the highlight of the day other than hearing my first green woodpecker - was a large frog. It was making its way across the grass to the lake. They do this on the first warm day of the year to spawn with others of their ilk. It was so big I saw it yards away hopping enthusiastically. I intercepted it and got enough decent photos. It would sit for a while unperturbed by my proximity then hop a bit nearer the water, before resting for another short while.

greylags being total pussies

I ate my sandwich while the geese and ducks remained at a ridiculously safe distance away. I was going to leave some food for them to return to but felt they did not deserve it for being such scaredy cats. Fuck you, you cowardly chickens. The path back to my bike climbed up before returning lakeside. From there I could see the goldeneyes and mallards through the trees. I took a few distant shots because there was nothing else to do. More as a reminder of what wildlife there had been than to get decent shots. At one point something large flew between the camera and the ducks. I thought it had been a pigeon as there were a few about the place. However when I eventually looked at the shot at home I laughed as it had been a pheasant and strangely it had timed it perfectly to appear in the frame without head or tail being lopped off. I couldn't have timed it better had I seen it approaching.

pheasant photobomber

The lake has some very pretty views although I couldn't be bothered swapping lenses to get better scenery shots. My experience was defo tainted by the lack of mandarins and my inability to track down the woodpecker. I also realised it was after 2pm and I needed to get back to my bike, pack all my camera kit into the panniers, and get cycling back to Dunbar pronto. If I missed my reserved train that would be the icing on the shit-cake. There was no way I'd enjoy cycling back to Edinburgh in the horrendous headwind. I'd only get home at midnight.

I forgot to change my gps from walk mode back to cycle mode until I was half a mile down the road. From that point it only took 30mins to get to the station averaging 12.6mph and I wasn't particularly pushing it. Which tells the story of the wind direction and the gradient. In the station as I sat on the train I saw a sign with a quote from John Muir, as below...

While I know what he meant, on this occasion he could not have been more wrong.

3hrs of wild goose chase
nice spot, but it could be some time before I return