little brown jobs

 

27th Feb. Headed to Warriston with the new camera. Weather was a bit mixed with nice patches and less nice patches. Still dressing with lots of layers and a warm jacket, gloves and a hat. It is not weather for skulking in graveyards. And yet I think I did about 4 hrs today! The power of a new toy rather than an excellent range of birds which all presented themselves in front of the new camera. Although....

Having a great zoom range and excellent low light abilities I thought now would be the time to get pics of those tricky wrens. So spent quite a long time in stealth mode moving very slowly when I heard wren peeps. However to the uneducated, (me), wrens sound very similar to robins and also dunnocks. For once I was in the place before 10am and I think that helped. I suspect the wrens are most vocal and extrovert earlier in the day. The trouble I have with them is they are small and not coloured in to stand out. Kind of camo-brown. I have stood with one practically blowing its whistle in my ear and been unable to see it for looking at it. Then it flies off the branch that is practically parting my hair. I get a brief look at its flight-path but it lands low and hops into the brambles. Sometimes I wait for it to reappear but it is better to go for a wander and come back in 8 minutes or more when it has flown back up to a perch and is selling its wares again. I am not a big fan of the wrens with their disproportionately large heads and dislike of the camera, but I am determined to get a decent photo of them because they are there. Or not, more often.

I was very pleased to see this double header either side of this gravestone. I took pics from a distance because I knew if I approached and the wren saw me it would disappear. I was less pleased the robin is more in focus. I knew I could get to a few feet of the stone and the robin would be saying yup, no idea why that brown job is such a fearty. And that's exactly how it panned out. At least with the new camera I have a better chance of a record shot from 40 yards away. But I want a ten yard shot that isn't on full zoom. I feel I am getting to know the enemy each time we go into battle and will soon recognise his song and already I know of several favourite perches. The branches that stick out from the ivy tree, (2nd photo down) the missing urn headstone and a couple of other places. It's only a matter of time.

the robins were also in full voice today

The above photo was SO near. I was maybe 10~12 yards away and scurrying to zoom in and not make a peep. The next shot would have nailed it but the little wren's instincts kicked in and without even looking I think he felt my presence. The next shot was an empty stone. I should maybe turn off the little bleep my camera makes when it focuses. I have been using cameras properly for nearly 40 years now and to have one that didn't make a noise when it takes a photo seems a bit weird. But maybe an idea for shooting flighty birds. I was disappointed the controls only seem to allow noise on or off and not degrees of volume. (As far as I am aware.)

dunnock

I am not an experienced bird enthusiast, in fact I wouldn't even call myself a birder; this is just a fill-in until the butterflies come back. Which does make me think I maybe enjoy the process of taking photos and making pictures for a blog (like making paintings and hanging them in an exhibition) and that it is that, and not the subject, that is important. But maybe it is just because I haven't seen a butterfly in 6 months and forgotten how they make my heart flutter. Maybe this is as close to clean as I get. Yeah man I've been off the gear for 6 months. Birds are my methadone. Haha, I shouldn't speak so flippantly about my little pals.

I have actually started to think of the robin as my pal. I was there today and wondering was I falling back on robin photos in the absence of other distractions so at least I'd go home with something in the camera. And was that an abuse of our relationship. And then I realised I had a relationship. I wondered what the nature of that relationship might be. And tried to dismiss it saying to myself they were just decorative bits of nature like a tree, or a flower. But I couldn't accept that either. Sometimes when I appear the bird will fly over to ...what? Have a chat? It is not purely for the bread-bribe as he will often leave some and fly off, rather than eat all or any that is laid out. Anyway, the only reality I could nail down here was I was maybe spending too long standing around in the cold, talking to birds in a cemetery and perhaps I should be seeing slightly less of my wee pal. I am going to be returning to work soon. Probably just as well.

Anyway I meant to talk about dunnocks under the photo of the dunnock. I like them a good deal more than the wrens, currently. Places could change as the seasons and behaviours do! A few months ago I couldn't have told you the difference between a dunnock and a hedge sparrow. (That is a joke, they are the same.) As I have come across them in Warriston, my respect and enthusiasm has grown. They are quite rare to the bird table, preferring to hop around underneath. As such my interest was piqued. On the hunt for wrens I'd see something brown in the brambles and find I was stalking a dunnock. However they would sit still observing me while I took their photo. And the closer I got the more I'd notice the lovely plumage round their eyes and a pretty song. They tend to go around singly or in pairs and not in gangs. Their look is dapper rather than flashy and I recommend them highly for all those traits.

While I was hunting little brown jobs in the brambles I heard a woodpecker drumming. It was loud and almost directly overhead. I put the wrens and dunnocks to one side and scanned the trees nearby quickly finding the red/black/white bird and shooting off a number of pics. Often they stick to the top half of a tree, but this branch must have a particularly good resonance as the bird stayed there tapping out a tattoo for 2 or 3 minutes before flying off. It was less than 15' (5m) off the ground. I zoomed in to fill the frame and shot lots of photos then video-ed the drumming. When it flew off I chatted to the girl who had appeared, called over by its noise, and we just about cheered with delight that we had been treated to such a display. I found out later my Warriston pal and fellow photographer Alan was over the other side and hearing it, annoyed he wasn't nearer. 

the red head flash means this is a male

more dunnock action

I was walking about randomly when I came across this sad sight. I had heard there was a sparrowhawk regularly spotted in Warriston. I had hoped to see it at some point but this was not the circumstance I had hoped to see it under. There was no obvious sign of death or foul play but I didn't look any closer than this photo. But it wasn't tied up in one of those owl killing paper lantern things or anything. Maybe it just had too hard a Winter. Weirdly, for a cemetery, I connect the place with life and vibrancy and don't expect to come across death quite so face-to-face.

While I was contemplating this I bumped into a couple of the Friends of Warriston Cemetery. There is an actual group who work to ensure the monuments and the garden design and sculptures are all visible and enhance the local biodiversity and introduce suitable planting. We chatted about the place and the wildlife as well as one or 2 of the downstairs residents. 

I later bumped into Alan again - we had previously met about 10am as we both arrived. I knew he had found a shieldbug he was pleased about, having not seen that specific species here before. (I heard on the grapevine through my 2 new friends!) He pointed out some ladybirds (above) in the corners of monuments. Sort of thing I hadn't noticed. I assumed once I knew what to look for I'd see them in every tenth headstone. And I have been looking (when not distracted by birds) and particularly at the stones with decorative carving and particularly particularly the Celtic carving ones as they have exactly the nooks and crannies suitable for the ladybirds. And I have seen NONE! Not one! How is this possible? I have to admit I am only mildly interested but not absolutely agog for ladybirds. So I start looking at every Celtic knotted carving, then a redwing flies up into a tree and I see 3 others turning over leaves and can I get close enough for a shot before they all flap up into a tree, and it has a treecreeper high up on a branch. And I don't look at Celtic carvings for another hour. But still, none? Someone is having a laugh.

I have about the same attention span for bees. Which is yes I am a fan and know there are different sorts and one is called a buff tailed. BUT, I can't even be bothered to google it and see if that one there is a buff tailed or just a bumble and to be honest it is more that they are a direct precursor of butterflies that I like them. And frankly I don't buy into all this if bees disappeared we'd only last till the end of the week guff that people who know even less about bees than I do, state as fact. It may be an internet meme but that doesn't make it real. And there are far more pollinators than bees and far more bees than just bumble and buff tail. Like 20,000 species more. So we'd need to spray the planet end to end with DDT from aeroplanes to make any kind of headway into killing most bees and even then are we that stupid? Wait, don't answer that.  

Record shot of a goldfinch. I love the colours of goldfinches and feel frustrated about most of the ones at Warriston staying 5 stories up the tallest trees. I see them on feeders in Haddington: photos on Lothian Birdwatch fb page and elsewhere as if they were ground level regulars. But in the cemetery; never had one on the feeding tables and always miles high in the trees. The long lens can get photos like the one above but it is a long way off capturing their best side. Another project. Lovely birds (I think.)

Talking of which, I went round to the secret garden (not my invention, that name) to the feeding tables. There was a dunnock in the tree nearby who didn't mind me standing very close by and getting many close ups while it sang at full blast. That is why they are the best!

rare appearance up top as they more often skulk on the ground

the magpies know when they are pushing their luck

stock dove

Now, Graham had said a pair of stock doves had visited and I wasn't sure what they were. They are the country cousins of urban pigeons and (above) this is one. I was pleased to get this sunny photo, although a couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have known it from a rock dove or urban feral pigeon. They are recognisable for a dark eye and a couple of black marks down the wing. For sake of comparison below are wood pigeons. There are dozens of different pigeons but it is too late in the evening to start clicking on all these google questions and answers like how many types of pigeon are there? (110?) which is the most beautiful pigeon in the world (what's your favourite bus?) Victoria crowned pigeon apparently. What is the lifespan of a pigeon? I'm not telling you, go google it. (Okay 6 years in the wild.) But enough already. Too many corridors to go down, and I'm just passing time till the butterflies appear.

wood pigeons, I think

The magpie tries to sneak in unnoticed at the furthest table and take ALL the bread away in one go. He eats a load and then fills his throat and beak with everything else on the table so he doesn't have to come back. (How's he breathing midflight? You know what it's like to get a crumb in your throat?) He looks guilty the whole time or do I put that on him? It can't be good for him and I can just imagine when he gets back and tries to impress his wife by coughing up half a loaf in tiny pieces. Just look what I brought ya!

More bees, this time honeybee, pretty sure. It was flying round the snowdrops. They face down the way so any pollinators have to go in from below or by crawling round and in off an overhang. This one was hanging on with both front feet and then just one foot. It is not much of a weight to support.

I think the sun had stopped shining so I went home. I'd had a great time, an education and lots of photos, good and bad. A pretty great day out and all a mile from home.

last dunnock waved goodbye
well would have, but was holding on with both feet

one mile an hour - fantastic!