warriston wildlife

 

5th December

Okay that is plenty running - back to robin photos!

I have been trying to fire up my enthusiasm for running of late. The long day out to Peebles (cut short due to rain stopping play) was fun. A recent PRC session on a Wednesday evening less so - I was puffing at the back of a group of 400metre reps and feeling, not my age, but someone much older's age. It made me realise how much you can lose in quite a short space of time. And how you have to train regularly to stay at a modest level of fitness.

And I also get a real kick out of taking photos. That given the choice of a half decent weather window my preference is to run only as far as Warriston and then walk for 3 hrs taking photos and then run home. Usually less than 5 miles total. I kid myself this is enough to keep me fit, but I am already at full winter weight and certainly could do with a bit more running to keep that in check. But the positive vibes I get from all my small furry and feathered friends in the cemetery keeps the Winter depression at bay. It really does give me the sort of buzz I normally associate with the height of Summer and chasing butterflies. It is the replacement addiction for the butterfly hit, in their absence. Although it doesn't keep me slim.

So today I think I'll try and line up my point of view with the 2 feeding stations; that way when a bird lands on either I don't have to move the camera to get the picture. With the territorial robin chasing them if they linger, they are quick to land, grab and fly off. 

dammit

plan binned

don't normally get a cheeky magpie

bold dunnock

The dunnocks (there are prob just the 2 that come past here) are bold. They are second top of the robin's hit list and are chased more fiercely than any other birds except other robins. They will persist for a bit but usually don't hang around long. 

I like the above photo which seems to suggest the coal tit is levitating a sunflower seed by willpower alone. Then catches it in the pic below. 

"I hate everyone!"
(Except the bread guy)

meanwhile in orange ladybird corner the number has grown

the intruder has merged with the clan undetected

rarer eyed ladybird
Thanks to Alan for pointing out this specimen

thirsty work

geese overhead

first signs of Spring - bulbs pushing through

What looked like a clutch of tail feathers from a pigeon in the secret garden. No doubt a frisky dog vs a slightly too relaxed pigeon. Not enough to suggest a murder but if it were up to me I'd suggest the secret garden - a tiny area compared to the whole cemetery - was made a dog-free zone. So the squirrels and birds can occupy the place without fear of dogs. I think most of them are very used to dogs running freely about, but it would be more a reminder to the dog walkers that their loved fur-babies aren't as popular with everyone, and some people resent the way they disturb the wildlife of the place. There are more and more professional dog walkers seen out with half a dozen mutts or more and they won't be vigilant about picking up every poop. I think the regulations state dogs should be kept on a lead in a cemetery and that doesn't even pretend to be observed. Most do seem fairly well behaved as long as you don't mind excitable animals leaping up putting muddy paws on your clothes and the like. 

rare appearance from the rat

I realised I had been hearing crows cawing for quite a bit and suddenly appreciated it could be they were mobbing a bird of prey. I rushed out the secret garden to find it was just a large gathering up a tree. Maybe 30 or more. Something of an AGM or committee meeting. They were loud and chatty but not flagging up anything more exciting than a bunch of themselves.

If there's nothing more interesting to point the camera at, I will try to photograph gnats in sunbeams. They have a habit of being one of the few insects to appear in cold weather and can be seen picked out by a sunbeam, flying up and down mindlessly in small groups. Sometimes they appear as fairies or dryads due to flying with arms and legs extended. They present quite a challenge to get in focus, being so insubstantial. 

why are you wasting your time on bugs when there's
handsome me sat on a wall up here!

The bullfinch visits are becoming more regular. There's a pair that have discovered the joys of sunflowers seeds and a free meal and will appear from time to time. In a way it is a surprise it is just a pair as they otherwise seem to travel in small social groups of several males and females. Quite a few of them round the cemetery these days. I never tire of their beautiful plumage. (Just the lone female to start with today.)

chaffinch - quite timid currently, and keeping its distance

coal tit

great tit

blue tit

I was very pleased to catch this mirror image of a pair of coal tits. They usually operate alternately; probably as a caution due the robin. If one is harried then the other can do a bit of feeding while the robin is distracted. I got 2 photos of the pair of them but second is already much less good - they only stayed looking like tweedle dee and tweedle dum for a micro-second before hopping off. 

then the male bullfinch appeared! Hurray!

oh oh oh - both together, quickly now!
fires off a dozen shots pronto!

in more natural surroundings

the song thrush watches from a distance

this tree is last to lose its leaves
and looks amazing during the process

6th December

Next day and I was lured back to Warriston with the promise of more sunshine. The morning had been overcast but the cloud lifted later on and I ran along to check the place out. I have been checking the Water of Leith at Powderhall because it is a well known stretch for kingfishers. Unfortunately I have not had much luck seeing any there lately. For months. However if I can be bothered I take a detour on the way and run along to the bottom of Logie Green Rd then back to the bridge upstream of St Marks park where with a small 2 stage clamber you can gain access to the riverside section of the cemetery. Yet again no Mr K Fisher. However there was a heron in the tree in the sunshine. Which has a certain spectacle, if a slightly over rated one. (They are large impressive birds but often just sit there looking glum. And have murderous feeding habits.) 

a spectacle in the sunlight

looking glum by the riverside

Quite a large and heavy bird for arboreal activity. This one aimed for one branch but stumbled and dropped down to the next one below. Not the most elegant of perchers. And look at those funny boggly eyes, popped out for maximum visibility of fish and frogs in the water below. The day began and ended with a heron chapter.

Mary invented a game called "Heron or Poly Bag". You see a white or light grey shape in the riverside tree up at the bend in the river. Is it a heron or just a poly bag? The latter requires less stealth to get the photo. As above. 

2 squirrels with an invisible finishing tape

hiding but watching

so cold everyone was blowing on their hands

harlequin ladybird

2 spot

that robin

he did what?

This is one of several riverside robins. I don't think it is the same one as last year. But it is quickly becoming familiar with the process of approaching for food. I think it is a good candidate for hand feeding and is more than halfway there. We have established ground rules and fees for photo sessions.

Right at the last gasps of sunlight catching the tops of the trees a small group of bullfinches were sat up the less tall trees near to where I was standing. There are a couple who regularly feed the birds there, and so the birds have grown accustomed to human presence. The finches went about their business ignoring me downstairs trying to get a line of sight through the branches and a photo without a dozen branches obscuring the bird. The light is just fantastic at that end of the day, about 3pm, although all too often blocked by low clouds near the horizon. It makes me want to paint small almost abstract sketches using a limited palette of colours. It is a very meditative process of just moving the camera and my feet while focussed on the frame and the bird within the frame and becoming the late afternoon and the bullfinch. 

some goldfinch about too, appropriately

And that would have been that but as I left by the same way (the bridge upstream of St Marks) I caught sight of another heron (or the same one) on the other side of the WoL looking for his dinner. He stalked very slowly and would go into motionless study for minutes at a time if he saw any movements in the riverside grasses. Which makes taking photos much easier, even though the light was already gone. I kept a respectable distance not wishing to disrupt the scene, although I think all the wildlife has grown used to the banging and clatter of the building site next door which has been going on a couple of years now.

held this vigil for an age

The drama rose to a silent crescendo then quick as a thrown knife the long beak stabbed into the grasses. There was a blood curdling shriek! (Wasn't me!) And I was gutted I had turned the video recording off 10 seconds prior, thinking we could be here all night matey are you not going to shit or get off the pot? I thought it must be a rat but saw nothing of it. And am quite glad it got away. All except a mouthful or rather a beak's-worth of rodent fur that remained at the end of the heron's chagrin. 

only fluff for tea tonight
rat remnants visible at the pointy end

It would have been intriguing to see how a heron dispatched a large rat but not very pleasant I'm sure. Watching a toad being waterboarded for 5 mins then swallowed whole by a heron at Hunter's Bog last Spring was more than enough to lose my appetite for murderous mother nature. So well done to ratty, evading the dinner gong. And he'll have a wee bald patch to show to his pals for the boasting rights.

greenfinch

On the way home I cross the tall bridge out of St Marks and along to the end of MacDonald Road. There are often some finches in the high branches of trees there and along the riverside trees. Bull-, gold- and green. In fact that's the only spot I've seen greenfinches this season. It is very tricky getting a clear view of the target through the criss-cross of sticks and branches, but I wanted confirmation of the ID. Wonder where else they hang out?