handheld

 

18th and 20th March

A couple of trips to the Botanics; partly hoping to meet up with the two great tits and reshoot them coming to my hand in better quality than the mobile footage I'd already shot. Weather a little bit dull, but that's March.

Ken who I bumped into.

Ken was looking at this nuthatch sat on the top of a high tree near the Willow Pond. Now my photo is fairly disgraceful, but it was significant so I am putting it here. I don't often see nuthatches in the Botanics (or anywhere locally) and it stirred up thoughts of going along to Cammo on teh West side of Edinburgh, where they are widespread. I tend to only really visit Cammo in the Winter when I enjoy photographing nuthatches and jays. However the walled garden can be good for butterflies in early Spring. All it took was a nuthatch to remind me of the place and the idea became reality the following day, when the weather disregarded the forecast and was unexpectedly sunny.

Ken and I went up towards the rhododendron copse and pulminaria. Ken pointed out the small holes in the rhodie flowers where bees or birds have been nectar robbing. This is when some creatures cut a small hole into the base of the flower to access nectar rather than by crawling into the flower. This avoids contact with the plants reproduction apparatus and so the mutually beneficial bond is broken. This floral larceny (I kid you not) is performed by bees, small birds and even bats. Ken was hoping to identify if it was insects or blue tits doing this.

obsidentify says this is false morel (100%)
some are harmless, some fatal
(I was not tempted, delicious as it looks 😄 )

Hepatica transsilvanica

common wasp - Vespula vulgaris

hairy-footed flower bee (m) females are diff colour

Drone fly - Eristalis tenax

We were wandering about the area near the Campbells magnolia and towards the rhodie copse looking for butterflies. I think a comma flew by but didn't stop for a photo. Various people stopped for a chat. It was warm and really quite pleasant if a bit short on butterflies to be really great. But then I managed to bump into the great tits again. Not sure if I found them or if they found me. They seem to spend time on the road from the Reg Butler pond to the Camp Mag. And just behind the rhodies there. They were as obliging as the day before and I think it might have been the female leading the charge again while the male held back. In no time both were taking turns and seemed to prefer the peanuts over the sunflower hearts but would take both. And possibly the bread as well. 

I had initially put on the macro lens (OM 90mm) when I saw a robin nearby who looked like a decent candidate. (A handidate?) However I had trouble holding the G9 far enough away from my left hand to get all the bird in when it sat there. So after the initial clip (see video below) I changed lens to the street lens -  the wide angle 12~60 (24~120 ff equiv.) This gave more elbow room. I shot all the clips in 120fps slo-mo. It slows things down (by a factor of 4.8) to about the rate these small birds must operate. In real time you can't see what they are up to as they are far too fast.

So fast I found it hard to anticipate when they were about to fly to my hand from nearby perches. As a result most of the clips start with the bird already on my hand. The final robin clip is sitting on Ken's hand and the final gt tit clips are featuring Mary's hand. It is far easier to film them on someone else than on one's own hand, as it is easier to make sure the clip is in focus and you don't have a bird sat on one of your hands impeding use of it to operate the camera. 

However the joy of having a wee bird sat on your hand voluntarily is off the scale. Mary came along on the Friday trip there. Again no red admirals (got the first small tort of the year) but the birds landing on her hand put a smile on her face for the rest of the day. I had wondered if it was just a one-off miracle that I'd never be able to repeat however it actually wasn't hard to find the great tit pair again, although it meant a bit of standing around before they showed up. I wonder if they will be as friendly into the Summer? I suspect they might disappear when nesting and rearing young.

spawn in the rock garden pond

no sign of frogs/toads

love these weird looking flowers

camp mag!

On Friday we were in the small quiet space next to Campbell's magnolia when Mary gave me a nudge in the ribs. The woman on the bench opposite was eating pre-packaged hard-boiled eggs. (I struggled to take the above shot from the hip and to not draw attention to me doing this.) These convenience foods had recently been flagged up in a facebook comment by pal Stuart H; that they possibly represented the lowpoint of humanity along with flavoured hot cross buns, Trump, Gogglebox, Coldplay and Crocs. (Discuss!)

Myself I am fairly unmoved by those items but have many other (partly irrational) items, subjects and scenarios that I would definitely start a fight on facebook about. I did consider creating a Love/Hate blog where such items are held up for scrutiny. However I think it benefits one's health not to focus on those irritants but instead to aim for the "serenity to accept the things I cannot change". I'm not saying I always manage that, I'm just saying that's what I aim for.

taken before 12.30 😕

Japanese quince

following the progress of this Viburnum latana

best butterfly of the 20th - first small tort of the year

thanks to Colin R who noticed the butterflies on this Pachysandra terminalis

comma on barkchips - never going to be a top notch photo sat here!

peacock

comma

Just the day before the best of the butterflies seemed to be on the South side of the rock garden. (Info from Ken.) Not sure if it was the change of wind direction but today they seemed to have shifted West towards the Wild Orchard. Growing in numbers too with a couple of peacocks and commas out.

An unexpected delight today was this Birch (obsidentify) shieldbug. Mary spotted it on the rhodies which we were frisking for admirals. Due to the white petals my camera jumped to 1/6400 of a second, which was fast enough to freeze the action as it decided to fly off. I hadn't anticipated it taking off and just got lucky. This wasn't even the macro lens but the 400mm. The white petals reflected the light nicely to get a near perfect exposure on the underside and the wings rising for that first downbeat to power it into the air. Luck more than good judgement, but I'll take it!

Equally this out-of-focus shot of a Syrphus hoverfly is fairly awful but it was the only one I photographed today so it made the grade.

short clip of a hairy-footed flower bee

I experimented with the macro 90mm lens as technically that should be better for capturing small insects like the flower bees. However you have to get so much closer to them which is tricky where they are in the Botanics. (They discourage trampling across flowerbeds!) And the hairy-footers buzz about so quickly it makes keeping them in the frame really tricky. The above footage was shot with the 400mm and again quite fortunate to get a short clip agreeably in focus, showing it nectaring.

so this is the second attempt to video the great tits
using the proper camera rather than mobile phone

Thanks to Ken and Mary for lending a hand!

just great!

 

Most of the time life chugs along doing what you expect. However, every now and then, something extraordinary happens. If you are very lucky. 😃

saw this lorry and was amused by a self-proclaiming Pikey

unless his jacket is covering the S of Spikey?

17-03-26. I have been trying to get into the habit of taking a regular constitutional. I felt it was helping with my back problems; the 'sciatica' that started around the 11th of Feb and is still ongoing 39days later! Though much improved. (Almost painkiller free these days!) Also, pretty much the worst thing for my back is sitting in front of the computer. Walking (up to a max of about 8miles) eases off the ache that has been plaguing my lower back and right leg, and also burns a few calories while I haven't been running.

stock dove at St Mark's

Mid-March and I was heading along nearly daily to the Botanics and/or Warriston; or to do a spot of water-railing with Dan. Having seen my first butterfly of the year at the beginning of the month I was now chomping at the bit for more and the Botanics was as likely a venue as anywhere. In previous years, red admirals have appeared at a couple of flowering rhododendrons and I was hoping to catch a repetition of this for this year's first RA. So far, no joy. In fact nobody, as far as I am aware, has posted an admiral this year on East Scottish Butterflies. It is the last of the over-wintering four species to show itself. 

house sparrows in the hedge at Warriston Rd
are a constant cheeping and peeping

just into the East gate at Botanics and this heron
 was fishing the stream that runs down to the Willow Pond

as per usual I check all the butterfly hotspots in the rock garden
Drone fly - Eristalis tenax

LTT

no butts

honey bee

high tree surgery

hairy-footed flower bees on the pulminaria (lungwort)

showing hairy legs and feet

bullfinch (f)

cute little feet out back

deep pan fungus
Birch polypore

While messing about taking pics of the hairy-footed bees I noticed a robin perching close to where I was and paying close attention. I held out some seeds and it came over and sat on my hand like we had been practising this for days. I had the long lens on and couldn't get a photo, just enjoying the experience without bothering to record it. (Most unlike me!) It was as pleasing as ever when a normally timid creature puts its trust in you.

Then I went back to taking photos of the bees, hoping a butterfly would turn up. I was walking between several rhodies while this was going on, checking out each (and the flowers between each) for butterflies. I also remembered to check out the Campbell's magnolia which is around the corner from the cafe. It was just beginning to open those large pink buds and explode into bloom. If you want to see it get round now as it will be past its best and dropping flowers from now on in. Lots of beautiful magnolia trees all flowering across the Botanics.

Campbell's magnolia

at this point just the topmost buds wide open

lower buds just beginning to open

against a grey sky

While I was between the magnolia tree and pulmonaria I noticed a couple of great tits sat in a rhodie leaning out into my path as if trying to get my attention. I'm not sure what made me hold out a hand with sunflower hearts on, perhaps they were practising telepathy. Anyway after a tentative flight towards my hand the female and then the male made several flights to my hand and sat happily for several seconds choosing a seed before flying off into the undergrowth with it. And my heart! 

I was blown away. I had heard great tits were potential candidates for this, second in line to robins who are the boldest of the garden birds and least scared of humans. But this was the first time I'd ever had one fly to my hand and sit there comfortably choosing the best looking snack. After a couple of seeds I hastily got out my iPhone and shot some video, as I didn't want to take the time to change lenses on the good camera. The great tits continued their game and although they disappeared for a few moments they reappeared in the small enclosed area beside Campbell's magnolia and we resumed the game. 

I can only imagine someone has been coaxing them towards this behaviour as they lacked the usual reserve all birds have with people. I couldn't believe my luck. What I also couldn't believe was that folk all around were mooching past not noticing this very unlikely event was going on right next to them. I mean I wasn't expecting applause, but people are so caught up in their own business and their phones, that they missed what was happening right next to them. Nobody said HOLY FUCK! You have a wild bird sitting on your hand!

Except me. My brain was shouting that very loudly, and I was nearly passing out every time one landed on me: little cold claws gently grasping fingertips in a trans-species greeting, I was high for days. (I was very pleased when, without telling her what I'd video-ed I showed Mary the clips, and she made involuntary squeaking noises! A proper appreciation of the magnitude of the event.)

great!

Somewhat after the fact I learned you can differentiate between great tit sexes by looking at the black bib that runs down their chests. Broad and solid = male. Dotted or narrower = female. I think the female led the charge.

Having got out the phone to video the great tits I felt I might as well record the robin who had possibly been watching me flirting with the GTs. Would I be forgiven? Well yes. He/she came across and sat for longer on my hand than either great tit as if to prove a point. There seemed to be a couple of robins around, one with a slightly odd beak tip. Nice to have an identifying feature so I can keep track of who's who. It didn't seem to be affecting eating.

handy robin

Although there was still no sign of the admirals, I felt the day had been far more extraordinary than I could have hoped. Great tits landing on my hand kinda trumped a butterfly that sooner or later will appear as they did last year and will do next year. The great tit thing was nearly unique and I am still thrilled when I see the videos. It occured to me sometime later that the phone video while workman-like (and even in slo-mo!) could be greatly improved upon with the good camera wearing the wide-angle street lens. That perhaps I should return and see if I can duplicate the miracle in a better quality format. It didn't take long to find out. (Watch this space!) Meanwhile I floated home on cloud nine.

dunnock

perennial Powderhall sparrows

goosander (f)