3 wrens and a slippery dipper

 

30-03-26.

As usual almost none of the things I went looking for today turned up. However, some others did and it was pretty decent for a Monday. The plan was to catch a tram to Balgreen and check out Saughton Pk and just upstream. This time last year there were speckled woods out and flying. However that was something of a warm dry Spring and here we are wading through a wet, blowy, cold Spring. The tram ride across town was without incident.

Although the sun was out, the clouds were scudding across the sky and if I wasn't wearing gloves and a buff, I was likely carrying them in my backpack and about to put them on. The heavens opened as I reached Saughton Park and I lingered in the greenhouse type building waiting for the quick shower to pass. There were also a couple of other full frame photographers there lurking with intent but I didn't have my camera out at that point and so I wasn't recognised as part of the brotherhood.

Also I am pretty bad at recognising people I have previously spent a while with when we were all pointing our cameras at the wildlife and I wasn't really taking on board facial recognition stuff. Which is to say one might have been Stuart from the waxwings day. I think the other was Craig. I didn't know him but Sachi filled me in later. I bumped into Sachi ten minutes later, who was on the hunt for a kestrel that Craig had been posting pics of. Anyway Craig and Stuart (if that's who they were) were wearing cammo and had full frame gear and massive lenses. Not my tribe, though I'm sure they take great photos. All three of them were partly on the lookout for otters; again although I'd photograph one if I saw it, I am fairly indifferent to their charms. Looks like someone's dog swimming in the water. Low aesthetic tariff. (And, spoiler alert, I didn't see any.)

First up (almost as soon as the sun appeared from behind a wall of dark grey rainclouds) was this very cheerful wren. It hopped up onto a post and gave me a piped rebuke. By the time I lifted my camera it hopped off and onto another perch (photo above) which I was gutted about, because sitting on the post was just perfect. Then to my absolute delight it hopped back onto the post. Most wrens, after giving an alarm call, will duck into the undergrowth and sneak off, never to be seen again. This one was breaking the rules and it was pretty much the highlight of the day, all within the first 20mins of getting off the tram. Should I just get on the next one home, job done?

I shot some video and got this near perfect portrait.The sun lit it immaculately. It was at that point fellow wildlife photographer Sachi came past and we chatted for a bit. She had seen the wren pose beautifully but was probably too far away to get a photo. We chatted about our hopes and current projects. We both agreed hares would make great subjects, but that the bus to the Pentlands was maybe too high a price to pay. Since that discussion I have seen photos she got of a hare in the Pentlands but also that the weather was pretty bad. Myself, I might go if the weather improves, but as yet, no plans.

Sachi

We chatted for a bit more then I went downstream and she continued upstream. I had a time limit in that Mary was working and I had to get home and cook our dinner, and not leave that too late. I wanted to walk all the way home, down the riverside and maybe even take in the Botanics if it was warm and sunny. All the indications were that it wouldn't be.

The old people's home (or sheltered housing) just downstream seems to have closed and is slowly being bulldozed. I'd normally stop and put food out as there are lots of garden birds in that stretch that will quickly come out the trees and bushes for snacks but it was too cold to mooch about in any one place.

Moorhen - they always make a nest on this
midstream pile of rubbish just above the wier.

a pair of goosanders as well

the shoe tree at the skate park, Saughton

snakeshead fritillary

At one of the bridges across the river at Murrayfield there was a heron down below on the water and a female mallard sat on the wall above. I gave her a wide berth so she didn't have to move. She kept one eye on passers-by. It did not seem like a relaxing perch!

groucho heron

still watching

still wading

collared dove

All the way to the Gallery bridge above the Dean Village before any more photos. Nae kingfisher! F sake. I did not rewalk that section as usual, could not be bothered. Plenty other fishers in the sea. I did stop at the bridge to check out the flowers at the bottom of the climb up to the gallery. At this time of the year there is usually a comma hiding in the flowers. Sachi said she saw it/them/one last visit. However temps have fallen since then and we are back to Wintertime again. A sad drunk bee was seen holed up in a half way daff.

Another hundred yards downstream and I saw the first dipper of the day. That is always a boost. It was fishing on the river at that section where the wall is 14 feet above the river. It was aware I was stood watching but continued with its fishing, returning every now and then to a hole under the nearside wall I was standing at. I'm guessing no eggs yet as the female (the other dipper, gender unknown) flew out, and with a bit of peeping flew far downstream. The male(?), after a bit, followed. 

Although it was dark and gloomy along this section the camera coped admirably. I cranked the ISO up to 4000 giving 1/320 to 1/800 shutterspeed, enough to freeze the dipper if it wasn't moving too fast. Some of the video clips I shot in slo-mo were much better than I thought they'd be and the results are posted below.

wren number 2 was alongside the dipper
between the gallery bridge and Dean Village

This was another dipper, one of a pair building a nest under a balcony that overhangs the WoL downstream from Pizza Express. (If Pizza Express is still at the crossing of Saunders St. / HamiltonPlace which it probably isn't.) Dan (the water rail man) had told me there was a pair of dippers there and they would sit in the middle of the stream on the stone (as above) before flying upwards into their nest. I had been to look before but seen nothing. This time looked to be another dud but I came across another camera wielding wildlifer and he (John Martin, not with a Y) said there'd been a dipper just there recently. We got talking about wildlife and cameras. He was new to the latter and had a Nikon (apsc, I suspect) with interchangeable lenses. As we talked a dipper appeared and sat on the midstream stone as predicted. It seemed oblivious of onlookers and I got really quite close to the river taking photos of it just metres away. It even flew over to the bank on which I was standing and I got the photos below. Before it flew up to the nest and disappeared.

not a neat and tidy nest builder
more like a turf off the rugby pitch jammed in place

dipper video
one near the gallery Gormley, other at stockbridge

While we were waiting on the dipper returning (it didn't) a couple of grey wagtails appeared. Dan reckoned those have a nest just downstream on the other side of the bank. Again, they seemed very comfortable around humans although if you approached them, they flew off at a certain distance.

After a good long chinwag with JM in the Solid Air, we said goodbye and I headed home. 

two wagtails in the same frame

both look nearly identical

more fritillaries

the third and final wren of the day at Powderhall
where the water rail used to hang out

When I got to Logie Green Rd I had a look for the water rail. No sign. I think it has been a week or two since it was last seen there. Fingers crossed it is just in secretive breeding mode and will appear in another 3 or 4 weeks with fluffy chicks, although I have my doubts.

Dan was there. He reported a kingfisher, the kingfisher, was there earlier and also a comma butterfly. I was more annoyed to have missed the comma than the kingfisher. Dan specifically mentioned the butterfly to wind me up and was largely successful! While we were chatting about this and that, a small brown object swam across the river. By the time I had lifted my camera, it had disappeared into the low ivy on the other side of the river. I almost wondered if I made it up. A brown torpedo looking a lot like a floating turd (large in size) powering itself across the 20 feet of the Water of Leith! Five minutes later a male mallard was edging up the opposite bank when it suddenly shot out into the middle of the river with this brown turd-pedo chasing it. Whaaaaat? 

goosander (f)

This time Dan saw it as well and we came to the conclusion it must be a mink as nothing else we knew would take on a full-sized mallard. And yet I was not convinced. The American mink I've seen are more like small black otters and this was definitely brown and smaller and yet with the sort of aggression that mink are known for. Again it happened so quickly; the creature swam quickly back to the ivy and disappeared, that there were no photos. Dan didn't even get his bins raised. 

goosander (m) yawning
look at those teeth!

The identity of the mystery hooligan was perhaps revealed when I googled "Do stoats swim?" The answer came back a conclusive - Yes, stoats are strong swimmers and proficient divers, often compared to "mini otters" as they hunt for fish and amphibians in water. They are capable of swimming across rivers and large bodies of water. And the accompanying video of one swimming across a river linked here looked exactly like the turd-pedo I saw in the WoL. And they are aggressive (psycho) enough to attack a duck on a river. Which is good news as mink are considerably larger and worse for all wildlife above and below the waterline. And more likely to kill things like water rails and their young. 

Still annoyed I missed a photo.
Then I looked at my watch and it was heading towards 5pm and I'd need to get home pronto and cook dinner. Not a bad day out, all things considered! Goodbye, the end!

6.5miles in 4hrs15