A Seat in the snow

 

10th Feb.

Absolutely cracking day; that rare beast, a day of sun and snow. Lots of folk have been posting pics of how great the Pentlands have been, covered in snow. But they have also been saying how the going underfoot has been kinda tough. Unless you are on skis. There is loads more wildlife happening at a local level so I have been travelling to the best spots on foot and taking photos every time the sun has been shining. I have every intention of enjoying the obligatory pandemic lay-off to the max. And so far it has been pretty good.

Well of course not the deaths from covid or the businesses going bust and people having no work. But that is something that hasn't really touched me directly. Except having no work and no furlough pay due to a glitch in my tax history that is prob my own fault and doesn't need examining here. Anyway, so far I'm avoiding starving, and nobody I'm close to has died. I suppose it helps having a largely healthful and healthy circle of friends. (With a few exceptions.) They (runners) are just more likely to survive this thing.

Tonight on the news they were saying some under 30s were being compensated £4.5k for volunteering to be deliberately given C19 to test for vaccines etc. Now if they thought there was even the tiniest chance of them dying they'd either not be doing such tests, or the 'compensation' would be considerably higher. For £4500 I'd volunteer for the tests if they'd take 58 year olds. And have done with me before the butterfly season kicks off mid-April.

Which makes you think if everyone was fairly healthy and looked after themselves we wouldn't need any lockdowns. Just shielding for those with health issues and older folk. Well apart from the 107 year old who recovered from Covid. She managed fine. I'm not a covid denier but I am pointing the finger of blame at unhealthy folk with poor diets who are the biggest reason the NHS is swamped and we all have to listen to this non-stop yakking on the news every night like the end of the world is in sight. Because too many people spend much more time eating and drinking than looking after themselves we are all doing lockdown. One thing: it's going to be way harder, after covid, to argue that you can be both fat and fit. 

Meanwhile (takes breath and counts) I am enjoying any decent days when the sun shows itself. I had got a tip from butterflying pal Mairi that there were really tame stonechats near Haggis Knowe. So I set out from home ahead of Mary in case she didn't fancy standing in the cold while I searched for a tiny bird in a football pitch sized area of the park.

I was on my second lap of Haggis Knowe when I noticed a small bird fly into a nearby tree. It looked like a stonechat and I was negotiating a route over the snow covered mud-swamp when I noticed a robin in a mud-puddle. I kept my distance and watched, as first a male stonechat joined it, then a female. It was just beside a main path that goes past the back of Haggis Knowe then up the Dasses (or the other side of Hunter's Bog) and dozens of people were walking past. Which has made the 3 birds nearly indifferent to human through traffic.

I took a load of photos, all at the mud puddle, of the three birds. All the while looking at my watch and every 5 minutes taking a look across the playing fields to where coach Mary would be appearing. Slightly later than I reckoned (I was beginning to worry I'd missed her in the excitement!) I saw her distinctive running style enter the park. I ran over to meet her. I must have been bouncing with a waggy tail because she rightly guessed I'd seen the birds. She declined a tour of Haggis Knowe but said she would maybe see them later. 

Mr. Stonechat

Mrs. Stonchat

robin, friend of the Stonechats
(they are vaguely related; robin slightly larger and more aggressive)

We did a quick walk past of St Margaret's Loch with most of the birds gathered up on the shore at the road side. For once the swans didn't look impeccably white with the snow for comparison. As I was hunched down trying to photo some of the ducks and smaller birds, a couple of the swans tried to frisk me for the bread they suspected I was carrying, but they were not particularly in an arm-breaking mood so I escaped intact.

In the past I'd have called this a greylag goose. More recently I have seen very similar beasts labelled white fronted geese and also pink footed geese. So it is probably one of those 3. Unless it is a taiga bean goose. 

here come the heavy squad

I'm just gonna check your pockets sir...

The plan was to run the park boundary. Mainly to avoid the crowds on the Queen's Drive. It was almost immediately great and hoaching with peeping birds. Lots of robins, tits and finches all shouting to each other. It was easy to get caught wandering (no longer running) just gaping up into the leafless trees looking for the source of all the cheeping. Sometimes they were easy to spot, others disappeared as soon as you took a step in their direction. A grey wagtail was messing about in a wet muddy bit (aren't they always?) and I failed to get a decent photo as I pursued it over wet muddy ground.

the colour of tree bark was far more evident against the snow

lichen that

fellow PRCer Lee

just delightful

Rather than descend to Duddingston we turned right and went through Dunsapie car park (no sign of the pair of those stonechats)(or otter) before climbing up the snowy hill. The snow was fresh and powdery so not tricky to negotiate, as it can get after a heavy frost when everything gets icy and treacherous.

met Richard

Alpine glory

Seeing my chance to get some more bird pics I raced ahead of Mary down the Dasses to the muddy puddle that side of Haggis Knowe. The sun was just breaking through the cloud cover and I knew it probably wouldn't last all day. I was on my knees, snowy water creeping into my shoes and running tights when Mary arrived a minute or 2 later. The three charmers were still hanging round their mini-pond. Unda has since taken photos of them getting tiny worms out of the mire, but I couldn't see what they were fishing for. It seemed thankless work and they would occasionally retreat to the crags of Haggis Knowe where there is a tree they sat in and some rock almost exactly the same colour as the stonechats. It made for immeasurably better photo-background than the brown soup of the mud.

Holyrood Palace behind!

Mary and I stood up beside the crags as the stonechats posed and hopped about. Being so unafraid they weren't difficult to get pretty close to, but you had to work fast to get a shot before they hopped off. I saw the male fly up to this branch (above) and held my breath as I s-l-o-w-l-y zoomed in till he filled the frame. I took several shots but this was the best of the day (and might yet be the best of the year) with the cool colours of the blurred background complimenting the rich warm colours of his feathery jacket. Also he was using his tail feathers splayed as a keel in the wind. Thank you kindly Mr Stonechat! Love the tiny red buds just appeared on the twig.

Mrs. S was a little more shy but when settled could be approached slowly.
They seemed to seek out run off from the snow - perhaps to wash muddy feet.

The robin was also fairly tame. I don't think I'd been feeding him on this occasion although I always carry birdfood with me these days. (One bag of seeded bread, another of birdseed and sometimes a third container of mealworms. A sure sign I am a bird photographer first and a runner second!) I slowly approached his perch in this lichen covered shrub until I was less than a meter away. And was blown away by the detail in the photos of overlapping feathers. They only get more fascinating as you get closer and you can see how delicate and insubstantial they are. And yet can survive day after day of frozen weather, sleeping outdoors in snow storms. Both species have a habit of fluffing up their feathers as insulation against the cold, making them look comically plump.

After all of that I ran home delighted. We crossed the park near Holyrood Palce where people had been making snowmen. I'm going to shamelessly nick Mary's fb caption below...

A new variant has been spotted in Holyrood!

top marks to whoever made this - skillz!
Fab run in the snow!