birthday bike

 

7th Nov.

Mary is still a bit crocked for running so we planned a bike ride on her birthday. Pretty much the same route as last time although we did the circuit at the far end of Dalmeny in the opposite direction for variety. The weather was nearly great. More hazy than sunny. It felt it had the potential to break into a fabulous day at any point, but just stopped short. 

If you are used to running then suddenly being on a bike makes the scenery and miles whiz by. It was no time till we were out the cyclepath to the Cramond Brig. A kingfisher flew by to mark the occasion for the birthday girl but it didn't hang about for a photo, diving into the bushy shrubs at the side of the Almond never to reappear.

Also under the bridge was this little grebe (dabchick). I got the large camera out to get a better photo than last time but the light was pretty rubbish as was the photo. It was also a good way away. I am still not smitten by these birds but their relative rarity means I'll get the camera out if one is spotted. I think this was the only time I made the effort to get the large camera out.

fly photobomb

Queen Mary, King Tom

At this track up the hill (most of the way to S Queensferry), we turned and headed back. It saves going all the way to South Queensferry. I thought Mary was very polite not saying anything as some kid walking down the hill walked directly in front of her, whereas a step to the side to let her past as she cranked up the steep hill would have been what a well behaved child might have done. The mother - 2 yards away also said nothing. Ahh there's the reason for an ignorant offspring. Kid also did same to me. All you can do is roll your eyes and cycle on. The near vertical track up to the top road makes you breath quickly and sweat. Even without selfish people blocking the whole road.

We were turning left to head back towards the big house but I suggested we first have a look at the punk bushes further East another 200 yards. Their eyes light up randomly. Worth a quick photo or 2. Then back along and down the long swooping hill to Barnbougle Castle.

I ran out of steam trying to cycle up this hill
in too high a gear with a camera in one hand.

at this junction there were an extended family of more than a dozen pheasants 
who seemed to have set up sleeping quarters in a large pile of lawn mowings

the river was very high

as was the tide at the estuary

never seen the water so high on the causeway

Now this made Mary and I smirk a bit. A young couple dressed in evening wear were posing on the beach while a pro-photographer was doing a photo shoot of them in a waltz clinch. It may or may not have been shades of Vettriano. The umbrella was being used as a reflector and not in the shot. It nearly blew over and was deftly caught by the dude in evening gloves. She looked frozen through and losing the will to live, in bare feet and thin evening dress. (There was a baltic breeze and the sun was no longer keeping things warm.) Also I don't think they had reckoned on the high tide as there was precious little beach left on which to stand. Mary and I got all this in the seconds it takes to cycle past. There was no singing butler. 

I liked this inadvertent art. Very Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But with the broken wire net also doing a fine impression of a wave breaking and cascading over the rocks. I have just been googling Christo and Jeanne-Claude. An interesting couple who have been doing large scale artworks for ages. Famously wrapping things up. Like the Berlin Reichstag or a part of the coast near Sydney, Australia. They do not use public money; instead raising funds through selling preparatory drawings and the like, quite an art form in itself. As well as the paperwork necessary to achieve such permissions. 24 years of lobbying for the Berlin piece. How many have the stomach for doing that sort of "art." Their last piece was wrapping up L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (Link here) I had heard this had happened and saw some distant photos. I even thought up a joke to ask my Parisian pal: was there a big unveiling?

However it is worth a look at all the photos and videos on the official website. Holy shit it was a massive project. I had half wondered what would have happened if they pulled any horse heads or ornaments off while casually tossing some fabric over it. They very much anticipated all of of those scenarios and more. Going to great lengths to protect the ornamentation with steel cages before draping over huge swathes of specially woven fabric and specially commissioned rope. (And yes it is all recycled afterwards.) That must have been expensive you say? 14 million euros apparently!

Quite an art project! Over 1000 people involved. Sadly Jeanne-Claude died in 2009 and Christo himself died in 2020 without seeing L'Arc de Triomphe wrapped, although the project (first contemplated in 1960) was underway before he died. I wonder if his gravestone is wrapped? 

I didn't see L'Arc de Triomphe in person but it looks very impressive. I'm not sure it was the best ever use of money, manpower and resources but it was a lot better than the awful Mastaba floating in the Serpentine. I think the world was a more interesting place for having them in it but the works are definitely divisive and provoke both strong support and condemnation. It is worth a scan through past projects. Umbrellas and curtains and lots of wrapping. (Not a huge amount of variety away from the theme of wrapping though.) None of it really lights my candle but they are exciting large scale events and sometimes it takes a fanatic or maybe a visionary to get past the point of "I can't really be bothered". Or maybe just a giant ego and a load of cash. I like some of these more than others and I think they do span the genre from rubbish to impressive.

For the artists; they do seem to spend a lot of time congratulating themselves about being marvelous artists and I wonder did they have day jobs where they did stuff that was worthwhile? Like playing music, making bicycles, learning carpentry or doing a proper day's work. I suppose there was quite a lot of admin and fundraising to do but it seems like quite a lot of self indulgence as well. I'm glad they didn't find try to monetise the Paris project or sell tickets. That makes me like them more. Although ϵ14million is a LOT of cash. I can't decide if it was money well spent.

As we cycled home there were several people in Wardie Bay. I can't quite understand how this toxic wasteground has become a place of recreation. There were 3 folk in swimming. Wet suits I think. This wind surfer was on a very fancy hydrofoil board. Windfoiling I believe is the name of the sport. Looks like an ironing board. Too cold to stop and get decent photos.

I don't think the Trinity tunnel on the cyclepath used to be lit. Well done the council  - you can now see if you are going to run over anything the dog left behind. 

squirrels with dirty faces

 

2nd November

With the sun becoming a rarity these days a little glimpse is enough to send me scurrying to Warriston with a camera. The winter bird count is slowly growing. But there are always plenty squirrels, crows and magpies to talk to, if nothing much else. The man-with-the-pipe said there were sparrowhawks about but I haven't seen any. And failed to find any on this trip.

I entered via the Powderhall bridge climb down and wall step-over. Almost immediately I got to photographing and video-ing a squirrel which I coaxed with bread and seeds. While I was standing quietly doing that I noticed a rat about 25 yards away which hadn't seen me and was busily rooting about looking for edibles under the autumnal leaf litter. The video was better than the stills. I posted it on facebook - this blog seems not to be able to cope with large video files unless linked from elsewhere. I have a few long overdue video projects to finish and publish so maybe the short dark days of Winter will see some of this sorted out. 

There seem to be quite a few rats about Warriston. (More in the overgrown areas near the riverside.) Since they are among the most shy residents and hardest to get photos of, I regard them as high tariff subjects and always enjoy seeing them. If you make a sudden move they will bounce off quickly like mini kangaroos. As long as they aren't in my house I think of them as part of the wildlife and really very cute.

trying to sneak around without being seen

no rat - just Autumn leaves

The Autumn colours are fine but not particularly spectacular this year so far. I've heard it said it takes a hard frost to really make the leaves turn more vibrant colours and I wonder is this - our climate-change warmer ambient temps - the reason we haven't had more impressive colours in the trees so far?

The little hitler robin says he doesn't mind if it hasn't been that frosty. I put bread and seeds out on the brick towers in the secret garden and there isn't much in the way of immediate uptake. Hitler Robin must be off elsewhere, terrorising smaller birds in other parts. Then he appears and begins chasing the coal tits off his territory. The great tits ignore his posturing and I saw one get into a mid-air fight with him rather than back down. It was over in a second and there were no apparent injuries. Well, maybe pride.

coal tit

great tit

The coal tits are amazing. I am continually in admiration of something so small that can endure a harsh Winter outdoors. It is hard to believe a life-force can be crammed into these miraculously tiny birds who operate faster than my eyes. I see them approach the tables knowing they are about to drop out the ivy and onto the food bricks. I point my camera at the very spot and wait for them to land. They don't hang about knowing the robin will fly at them as soon as they land. Sometimes they land, take a seed, turn around and fly off before I can push the shutter release. How do they do that? Only about 1 in 5 or 6 of the photos are sharp enough and not full of movement blur. Most have blurry wings or an in-flight blur leaving the frame. There is not enough light for faster shutter speeds on duller days.

There are a pair of them who seem to work in tandem, one pretending to visit the food but just inciting the robin to chase it into the ivy while the other dives onto the bricks, takes a beakful and retreats to their nearby nest. There is nobody for them to complain to about the unfairness of being bullied, so they have just invented this workaround and it seems to work well. 

Similarly, as soon as I leave the area, the wood pigeons and magpies move in and hoover up all remaining foodstuffs. Returning 30mins later there is never so much as a crumb left. The large birds generally avoid landing while I am there, although occasionally if I am very still a pigeon will arrive and sometimes plop down onto the tables. But generally they seem to have a larger minimum distance they require between food and potential predator, than the small birds. 

orange ladybird

Every now and then when there are fewer birds over on the North side I remember to look for ladybirds. They tend to prefer the more elaborately carved headstones. Often ones with more ornate Celtic crosses. The tiny insects are much harder to spot than you think they'd be. And my eyes are rubbish for close up stuff unless I take my reading glasses, which I don't. I know there are far more than I ever find as fellow photographer Alan finds loads of interesting creatures including shieldbugs, spiders and a variety of ladybirds on the stones. I get bored after a dozen stone inspections and return to looking up the trees. 

I have taken to putting bread on the prominent headstones and then taking pics of the crows and magpies as they follow me round the cemetery. The crows seem the more intelligent and will keep a close eye on a potential foodsource (me), as they fly from tree to gravestone, but always at a safe distance. 

greedy magpie

The LTTs all but escaped without a photo today, cute wee bastards!

This pair of squirrels were more bold and fairly interested in a handout. They were't that keen about sitting in the bright light though. Female on the right, male on left and more wary.

I put some sunflower seeds on a low stone for the squirrels. They were slow to find them and meantime the crows moved in. Then a squirrel saw the seeds and the crows moved away. I was interested in the hierarchy; who is top dog: squirrel or crow? And how do they interact. Probably about equal was the conclusion. In this case the squirrel moved in and the crow flew off. However since that episode I saw a crow following a squirrel, while it was possibly burying nuts. It was having fun at the squirrel's expense and pecking its tail, and hopping right behind it - something I hadn't seen before. The squirrel was not amused and every now and then took a jump at the crow who fluttered just out of reach, before starting the game again. Although the crow might have been solely motivated by an easy find of buried nuts, it did seem to be enjoying a game, largely at the squirrel's expense. A cyclist pushing his bike disturbed the game (and my video of it) before it reached any conclusion. Fuming!

out of focus blackbird

Back to the secret garden but nothing more about than last time.

Interesting the way the robins and other birds puff up to insulate themselves in the cold weather. The same bird above and below within seconds, making quite a different shape.

show's over when the pigeon lands

This male squirrel in the secret garden wasn't sure whether I should be trusted or not. I was rattling the food bag to let it know there was a handout in return for posing for photos. It was both interested and cautious. I had to move super slowly not to scare it. When I got close I threw some food in an underhand parabola. I have mentioned the poor eyesight of squirrels before. Seeing the direction of my hand it looked directly upwards to see if the food bits were going straight up. D'oh! I managed to creep forward closer, to throw some bread crumbs near enough for it to find them. He sat for photos but the light was fading quickly. 

Now that the clocks have changed (I enjoyed the extra hour but it's a bad idea) it gets dark at nearly 4 o'clock which is just depressing. I am not looking forward to another long dark cold Winter but at least have a January holiday planned to look forward to.