a glimpse of sun in a month of dull

 

24th Feb.
Quick! The sun has come out; grab the camera and run to Warriston!

It's about the only running I'm doing at the moment, apart from Saturday Torture, which involves doing a lot of slow miles (about 11) until I grind to a near halt then doing some even slower miles (4 or 5) and then going home. It is not great fun and is putting me off doing any midweek miles. The only reason I don't give up entirely is I'd have to eat and drink less. Or turn into a fat b@stard. But the difference between going for a run and going to photograph wildlife is night and day. It's not fabulous every time I go out hunting birds and butterflies but I never come home aching, wanting to lie down in a darkened room. I've just come in from 16 miles up and down the Water of Leith which is why I am feeling a bit broken. 

So the other day the sun came out and I dashed along to Warriston. Due to the East gate having been repaired I now enter the grounds by Powderhall bridge or the step-over wall along the Tescos cyclepath. This time it was the bridge and so I found myself in the riverside section opposite the now demolished Powderhall B&Q. It seemed to be bustling with birdsong so I put out birdfood on the places the birding couple use. However they are not photographers and their chosen spots are not that great for photos / direction of light. I have instigated a few more spots but suspect the birds prefer a continuity so put out quite a lot of stuff round 3 or 4 headstones and other flat spots. Soon there is a fair amount of traffic. 

The traffic includes a very blue blue tit. There are a couple of bullfinches above in the trees and whenever they sing their one note falling call I whistle it back as best I can. I suspect they know the difference even though it is pitch perfect. I think it probably sounds (at best) like someone from a foreign country talking your language. And possibly more like Manuel than Angela Merkle. Nevertheless 5 minutes later they are perched in the trees right next to the headstone topped with sunflower seeds and after scrutiny both join in the party. (Female first, she seems to be bolder, or more trusting, or more hungry.) A bullfinch day is always a good day. Although they take their time to scrutinse the scene before taking part, when they do, they sit quietly and don't fret, making taking photos so much easier.

her first, him watching

Realising it is hard to top a bullfinch photo, I move on to see if anyone else is about. There is lots of cheeping and peeping about the place as if all the birds are enjoying the sun as much as I am. I am in such a light mood I even say hello to an older dude who is listening to a boogie box and possibly drinking or smoking something like a flippin' teenager. However we exchange pleasantries and I head up to nearer the tunnel. I have been holding out the breaded hand of friendship to a couple of robins who live here.

I spot a wren on the lower branches of a tree and inch into the line of fire. I get one photo and then someone blows a whistle right in my ear hole. I turn round to see a robin sitting about twelve inches from my head. It is one of the pair who live in the tree the wren is sitting on. I think he or she recognised me as the handout guy and got excited so shouted right in my ear. I said hello and got some bread out. The youngster flew in from stage right and beat the other one to it. He then flew down and without landing on my hand hovered and took a small piece of bread. The wren had long ago gone.

right beside my head!

adult above, offspring below (I think)

rare to see 2 robins happy in each others company 
unless related

ringed blue tit
I suspect the same ring numbers as the regular great tit at the secret garden

wren

I think mother nature gave me an extra wren to make up for the one I missed earlier when the robin distracted me. This one was shouting away and hopping about in the failing light, for just long enough to get a few shots before it dived into the undergrowth. I could see some dark grey clouds moving in so ran home before it poured down, although it brightened later. Quite a few goodies in a short time (2hrs?) so I felt well rewarded.

waiting for Spring

 

19th and 22nd Feb

Those gray days of winter just drag slowly on. My least favourite time of the year. Except the best part is just around the corner. Not long to go; we have made it this far and all the signs of Spring - snowdrops, daffodils and birdsong - are abundant. And very welcome. When the sun shines my spirits lift and I dash along to Warriston to say hello to my wee pals. It makes the low cloud and drizzle almost bearable. (Although when I see posts on social media of butterflies in Spain photographed on the same day we had 6hrs of shit weather I really do wonder why I live in this crappy northern outpost of so called civilisation.) Anyway on the 19th the sun was out and so was I.

the woodpigeons wait in the trees until I have left
then descend on the feeding tables and hoover up everything

This robin is the one next door to the secret garden robin. They sing (shout?) at each other from their territories and you would think they were happy neighbours. But if this one should pop over for a chat, the other will fight it tooth and claw until it leaves or one is mortally wounded. 

Nice to see both m and f bullfinches around the secret garden. Even if they were keeping their distance for most of the time. They have a distinct call, a single high note which slides down a tone, to herd each other and say "here is good." It is an easier song to imitate than most and I regularly whistle it to encourage the bullfinches towards my camera. Indications are that it sometimes works though it is difficult to say for sure.

A couple of storms ago a large limb of one of the O Section trees came off and toppled some stones on the way down. Which makes you appreciate the power and weight of these trees. The council guys sawed up the branches but have yet to remove them. Or put the stones back up.

Last year I theorised the crypts would be full of overwintering butterflies which would appear (from the dark vents on sunlit walls) on the first warm days of late Winter / early Spring. And visit the nearest flowers below. (Snowdrops, crocus, daffodils.) Nature almost completely ignored this rather intelligent hypothesis and gave me no indication I was even close. So I'll keep an eye on those flowering plants near the crypts this Spring but not hold my breath. The theory is still good. It's just the butterflies need to get up to speed!

Someone had taken apart this pigeon. (Killed and partially plucked.) Sparrowhawk defo prime suspect and I wished I had been witness to it at the time. A couple of crows were hopping about nearby thinking about tidying up some of the remains.

dwarf iris reticulata

early daffs/narcissus

crocus

croak us

There were yards of snowdrops all around the cemetery. To get a decent photo of them I found it best to get the camera down low and right in among them. I was glad of the flip out (and angle) screen which lets you see the shot without having to lie on the dirt. I now take 99% of all my photos while having an eye to the evf (electronic viewfinder). I used to use the screen on the back of my compacts almost exclusively but found I can tune the evf to compensate for my failing eyesight meaning I can see the image far more sharply through the evf. It makes shots off the screen slightly more hit and miss but when the subject is snowdrops and they aren't flying about the place, it is not too hard to frame a shot on the screen.

I am spending more time down at the riverside area than I used to. And less at the secret garden. The birds there are used to human company and handouts. And there are more wrens and LTTs flying (and  also woodpeckers and an occasional tawny owl) about nearby. And several squirrels, which, if you are quiet will climb down trees and consume sunflower seeds by the pound. 

christopher wren

I was speaking with another bird watcher and she said she felt there were fewer wrens about this year. I realised maybe this was the case. Last year there were loads. There were a couple up near the East Gate alongside a robin and dunnocks that hung out there in the undergrowth. Haven't seen anything in that area this season. And the wrens do seem to be thinner on the ground. I wonder if the gardening / maintenance, which has thinned out a lot of the undergrowth in that area, has contributed to this and the birds have moved on. It has made wren hunting slightly more tricky and I always pursue them when I hear their calls - usually an alarm call because a human (me) has been spotted nearby. 

Long tailed tits are never easy to get a decent shot of. They tend not to stand still but are constantly moving from perch to perch. Often putting branches between themselves and the lens. On the upside they will call to each other as they flit through an area. Which gives me the heads up they are passing by. You've got to be quick or lucky.

this song thrush did a good job of avoiding getting it's pic taken
by staying up high and behind a criss-cross of branches

female blackbird near the tunnel

There seems to be a larger number of orange billed blackbirds in Warriston than in general. I thought it was just the males, so it was interesting to see this female near the tunnel. I've seen her a couple of times and she recognises me and enjoys the seeds I'll put out, flying down close to where I am before the crows can sweep up the majority.

Like the one below which doesn't wait to see where I am putting food out but lands near me and hops comically along behind (near the tunnel area) in an amusing manner (don't mind me I was just coming this way and nothing to with that bag of seeds or bread you have in your back pack - you do have it with you, I'm asking for a friend, anyway I'm also going this way so just a coincidence.) It is so gallous and pretend-innocent I do wonder if it would ever take food from my hand. I suspect not - their intelligence seems to preclude any interaction within a very carefully measured 6 feet. It does make me smile though, and because of that I often give in and toss some bread or seeds. An ongoing project maybe.

Also near the tunnel area I was v excited to spot this goldcrest. Another fast mover and hard to photo. It disappeared quickly into the foliage. I have seen one in this area several times and mostly failed to get photos. I think there might be a coniferous tree nearby that it / they hang out in and so occasionally stray onto the ground or lower branches of nearby trees and shrubs. Weirdly I think I saw 2 or 3 today but this was the best photo by quite some distance.

problem solver

This squirrel was just great. I think she was a she. But I'm not positive. She was up a tree and looking so cute I put out some sunflower seeds while she watched me. The nearest stone had a big flat top surface but was quite a jump (maybe 6 or 7 feet)(which I hoped to film) from the tree and no overhanging branches. The stone was too slippy to climb; she tried several times, and too tall to jump up from below. I videoed 5 mins of her walking about underneath trying to work the problem out, then climbing the tree to the nearest point to jump, but not risking quite a large jump onto a potentially slippy headstone. She wandered back and forth then seemed to give up. All the time she was aware of me - I had walked a distance back to give her plenty space to work out the problem, but was near enough to film it on full zoom. (About 30~40 yards.) Her final solution impressed me mightily. 

She climbed the tree next to the previous one and jumped onto the gravestone next to it (photo above), much closer than the gravestone with the food on top. She then gave me a long steady look to make sure I could see that this stone was far more suitable for her needs. And my seeds. I walked over slowly and she hopped off into the tree while I presented her reward on top of the circular stone plinth. I retreated and she returned to eat the seeds. Top problem solving using lateral thinking and low risk strategy!

orange billed blackbird

22nd Feb

The weather was less good today for my short fix of cemetery fun. In fact I had to wrap the camera in a poly bag while some sleety snow fell as I put out bird food. It didn't seem to discourage the usual suspects; chaffinches, coal tits, great tits and robins.

The East Gate has been repaired (barring entrance) so I had to enter by the bridge at Powderhall. I was speaking to someone who knew of the council plans for the place and was able to tell me that they are going to open the East Gate to allow pedestrian access to the place. First they have to put some sort of barrier to stop vehicular access. Now a kinder resolution might have been to leave the replacing of the vertical pole (which allowed access) until the gate was dug out (and unwelded) and made to work again. But someone decided to replace the pole and discontinue access from there until that work gets done. It will make far more people unhappy than happy. In fact the only people happy the gate is now unusable are those who wish fewer people and their dogs visit the place. It is quite a long walk round to either the official entrance (off Warrender Gardens) or the wall step-over unofficial entrance towards Tescos at Canonmills.

Also more dogwalkers will now be passing the lady who lives at the entrance gatehouse. Who does not get on at all with dogwalkers. And I believe was wrestling on the ground with one recently before the police were called and she was in such a state had to be taken off to hospital. And herself not a young woman. I have never met the woman only heard gossip and none of it good. And all of it to do with interactions with dogwalkers. So the East Gate being inaccessible is not a good thing.

So I was down at the riverside trying to photo a chaffinch when I heard a familiar whistle. No, not a bullfinch, but a Mary. I eventually turned around to see herself in running gear heading towards Inverleith Park to run on the tarmac round the outside (the mud being too muddy.) We waved and took photos of each other. Which shows the difference between the large zoom on my large camera and the small zoom on her Canon compact. 

Mary close-up

distant bigfoot in the trees

coal tit

blue tit

thrush

treecreeper

2 orange billed male blackbirds

I have no idea what these 2 were up to. Maybe brothers from last year who haven't sorted out their own territories. Or maybe one was hassling the other about who was king of the castle. They were quite far away but I got the feeling there was a rivalry going on of some sorts. There are blackbirds without the distinctive orange livery in Warriston (both m and f) but I favour these ones for their brighter colours. 

bullfinch (f)

LTT waving hello

riverside blackbird often comes over 

to see how many seeds have fallen to the ground

ooh, better than most of my long-tailed shots!
no branches obscuring bits and it is sitting still!

a goldfinch
relatively rare shot as they mostly stay high in treetops locally

bullfinch (m) staying out of reach

say what you see...
something about time flies and our days are cut short? So bleak!

There are a couple of robins live in this clump of sticks round this tree trunk. (Near the tunnel) They both enjoy a sandwich and only one of them (the offspring I think) will take it from my hand, though not every time and it is still quite wary. The other knows if I take his picture I will probably put some wages on the nearest stone where he can enjoy a leisurely lunch without all that hovering business. Doesn't he look splendid?...

Back in the secret garden and this dunnock is watching out for the mad robin. But hopping about in the undergrowth finding scattered seeds and relatively rare this year so until I have better, this is one of the few dunnock photos I've taken this season. 

blue tit

coal tit

bullfinch

East Gate showing replacement rail stopping access

early daffs

With fewer wrens about there are fewer wren photos 

and this was about the best I could do on this occasion. 

riverside squirrel with black claws

didn't notice at the time but this one looks like a young one

And what the hell is that? Well it was an LTT scratching the back of its head with its right leg and looking a bit spazzy while doing it. Seconds later it was back to normal, although these little balls of fluff are often so formless and (having such small beaks) can look quite unlike themselves.

neckless variety

possibly the same female near the tunnel
she appeared as I threw down some seeds for 2 robins

The weather had deteriorated and the light was all but gone. Before the rain and sleet came rattling down I retreated via the Tescos wall exit and walked home through St Marks. On the way I looked out for finches in the trees there and saw this handsome male but the light was crappy. Nice to get home and a hot cup of tea after several hours in baltic weather standing still.