retracing steps

 

I didn't have time before going on holiday to blog a few photos of trips to Warriston and the Botanics. Reluctant as I am to revisit January, I was looking through these pics and thought it worth sharing a few. I had forgotten about them and there are a couple that record the sunshine and feathered friends, and remind me that January isn't a complete waste of time. 

blackbird

It starts back on the 5th Jan when I had a day full of thrushes. Of particular interest was my first Mistle Thrush. Never to my knowledge seen one before. Sat high in a tree (in Warriston) trying to ignore me below walking about trying to get a decent angle. The lighter colour surrounds on the wing feathers and slightly bulkier shape let me know this was not the usual song thrush. And unlike a song thrush it mostly sat still in its lofty perch.

Next up a treecreeper. These are regulars at Warriston but never around when you go looking for them. Also very well camouflaged on the trunk of an average brown tree. See first pic. 

where? (centre)

pulling wiggly worms out the bark

Then a woodpecker. A male from the flash of red on the head. It was shy and flew off when I approached. It was good month for them and several were seen in both Warriston and, more abundantly, in the Botanics. 

bullfinch (m)

nice light on the feeding tables

I was pleased to see one of the orange billed blackbirds

 on the feeding table chucking back a sunflower seed. 

the friendly robin prefers it when I 
set up the lighting just right and get a decent shot for his profile pic

a redwing

Another thrush, the redwing, can be a bit flighty. I think this one was a fair distance away, but due to strong light came out okay. That concluded nearly all of the thrush family apart from ring ouzels (which don't appear in the Lothians) and Fieldfares. (Which took me till nearly mid-Feb to track down.)

wren

I was spending more time down at the riverside area of Warriston. The birding couple (we haven't exchanged names yet) often put out food for the birds and squirrels there, and so the creatures are well warmed up to the process and quickly appear out the woodwork when I do similar. There are coal tits, bullfinches, a robin or 2, and great tits. And 3 or 4 squirrels who come down from the trees for snacks and sit watching.

There are several robins in the riverside area and most are fairly friendly (to me, not to each other). A couple sat very close and threatened to come to my hand for food. It makes getting better photos much easier if you can move around to position the background while they sit still watching.

While stepping through the ivy and undergrowth I came upon an ancient birdbox I hadn't noticed before. Just yards from where I have passed dozens of times. 

First of many trips to the Botanics. I had heard there was a kingfisher, a female, visiting the Chinese Hillside pond. Unfortunately I went along the day after it decided to quit that activity. The male was on the duck pond. I took some photos but you need a better camera than mine to get any kind of decent results. It is nice to see but far more distant than the female at the other pond which sat just metres away from the huddle of photographers. Curses!

I made the most of where I was and the surrounding birds. There are 2 robins at the Chinese Hillside pond - a scruffy one and this (much smarter looking) one which sat on the frayed rope in the sunshine. Which made for bokeh-filled shots. 

16th Jan and back to Warriston. Not a huge amount happening except for a friendly chaffinch in the riverside area. Has it been talking to the robins? I put some seeds out on the headstones and it sat still very close by making my job much easier. They are very commonplace birds but if they are going to pose in the sunshine I will happily take their photos.

mrs. blackbird

friendly chaffinch

So with not much happening at Warriston I took another trip to the Botanics. It is prob less than a mile from the cemetery and the lure of a kingfisher was tempting. I wasn't the only one tempted; the big lens guys were there in force. I wasn't going to queue for a shot no better than the one above again so went for a walk to the other pond. I was going to say another blank. But actually a bullfinch turned up to eat the pods or fruit of one of the bushes and didn't mind me being quite close and pointing a camera at it. The sun and the parrot-like bird was a great taster for my upcoming tropical holiday. And I didn't feel cheated by the lack of kingfisher. It was far too cold for hanging around though.

Chinese Hillside pond

the smart robin

bullfinch

the scruffy robin

I spotted the bullfinch, a male,
land in the bush just right of the bridge

I crept up slowly while it gorged on fruits

redwing

On the way from the one pond back to the other, I noticed bark dropping from a tree onto the main path. This female great spotted woodpecker was working away digging out the bark for insects, which I filmed and photo-ed for 5 minutes as it hopped about one of the larger trees right beside the path. It slowly worked up the tree until it was nearly invisible at the top.

Maybe it was just a woodpeckery day. I later saw a pair working through trees round the other side of the gardens. They would fly some distance to the next tree and I followed them through about 3 or 4 till they eventually lost me. Once your eye is in they have a very distinctive flight (long shallow scoops) and it helps they are a distinctive and vibrant colurway. 

Full of woodpecker goodness I seem to have returned via Warriston on the way home to catch the last of the sunlight at the riverside. I know the LTT is a poor photo but it is one of the first times I have caught one enjoying my handouts. A gang of maybe 4~7 flew through and one stopped to see what was on offer. 

friendly chaffinch again

long tailed tit eats my bread!

the squirrels sit and watch mostly unimpressed

coal tit

not orange billed blackbird (m)

that wren in the holly bush again!

coal tit - never still enough for a good photo

all the crosses in the sunlight

17th Jan. Same game, similar results.

snowdrops well underway mid-Jan

goldfinch (like to stay high, high up the tall trees!)

I stalked this pair of wrens who made a small effort to give me the runaround. Initially it didn't work and I sneaked in close. But they knew I'd get heehaw pics in the shadows. I followed them a bit more but they eventually flew off. Similarly a thrush in the riverside area which I nearly tripped over. It took a while to work out if I was friend or foe (while I took more poor pics in the crappy light) and then flew into the depths. 

I went back along to the Botanics feeling I have to get some kingfisher action one of these days. Sadly it was just more of the male at the duck pond and same distance away. I believe he has been there for quite some while but you'll need a giant expensive lens to catch him. I have neither the lens or the patience.

Up at the Chinese pond there was a similar crowd to usual including this hilarious fat great tit. I chatted to the guy who was putting out suet feed and we commiserated about the lack of kingfisher and that Hugh seemed to know it wouldn't be back and how nice it would be to prove otherwise. But alas, not to be. 

pre-holiday getting eye in for tropical

Since there was little wildlife I practised landscapes and tried to get the best possible photo of the pagoda and pond. Then both the robins turned up and some others at the pond edge to muck about in the water.

greenfinch and blue tit

There is very little light gets under the pondside bushes where the birds like to bathe. I was watching this one splash about and realised it was a greenfinch and therefore worth a photo. Not quite enough light to do a proper job but what else is there to do while waiting on royalty to arrive.

yep same again - megaphone sized lenses

kingfisher hiding from paparazzi

I left feeling a bit jaded (again!) about the lack of kingfisher but was cheered up considerably when on the way home past the end of Logie Green Road there were these 2 very handsome goosanders on the WoL. They swam along and back the same stretch of water. It was just as the sun was going down and although I struggled to get decent photos in the remaining light I took so many that (once thinned out) I had something decent enough to tweak into these results here. I love the birds - they have an elegance and both genders have fabulous plumage. And the females have those wonderful feathered haircuts!

goosander (f)

goosander (m)

what's for dinner?

they don't regularly get out on their feet
preferring to swim, dive or fly

The crow watched with interest. I suspect it knew me from the other
side of the river and wondered when the bread was coming out.

19th Jan. Less sunlight and fewer photos. The day before the flight to Tenerife; so I would have been in good spirits. We had watched as covid rules became more relaxed. It could easily have gone the other way and cancelled our holiday. So we felt like it could really happen. I probably should have been at home packing and think this was prob just a quick walk mainly for exercise. I'd been doing very little running but if the skies were even vaguely clear I'd put the bridge camera into the back pack and run down to Warriston, walk about for a mile or 2 then run the mile home. I'd clock about 4 miles and come home with 200~800 photos. Much fewer today by the looks of it. 

obliging wren 

- quite a distance away but good stance on gravestone podium!

ahh that scaredy-cat woodpecker
couple of shots and it disappeared

Really quite unusual to see 2 robins together. And friendly not fighting. Which presumes one to be an offspring, or both to be husband and wife. They rear chicks 2~4 times a year. I had the feeling these were parent and chick although they were both similar size. One seemed more cautious. The other a bit daft. But it is all just interpretation and really I try to keep an open mind and read the activity rather than fit it into an anthropomorphic fiction I have thought up after 2 minutes observation.

It was a robin filled day. Possibly 3 different robins came to my hand and took food. This is a season's best and 2 more than usual, although there have been a few near things lately. I say possibly 3 different, because it is impossible for me to know that the same one didn't fly quarter of a mile, then seeing me, come over for a handout. Defo at least 2 different birds, but I'm fairly sure 3. I must have been wearing the right aftershave or something. I only got photos of the very last episode - so often I stand with my hand out for a few minutes, camera primed, while a robin smirks on the end of a branch. I wasn't expecting at least 2 of the robins to go for it. I recently spoke to a young woman who was doing similar with one of the riverside robins so maybe she got things warmed up for handfeeding. Or maybe they get keener as temps fall and food becomes scarce. I wished them all well and hoped they'd be fine till I returned 2 weeks later. 

adult poses for photo while offspring messes about behind?
(the upstream riverside pair)

the downstream riverside robin
a bit more territorial - not unlike the secret garden Robin

secret garden robin

I put these 2 shots in to show the ring on the leg of this great tit is free enough to ride up and down with gravity. I often wonder what birds make of their rings. I saw a little egret today with a large plastic ring above the knee joint. I think they must very quickly accept it is part of them and not worry away at them like a cat or dog or fox might. 

secret garden robin poses in splendid manner

more snowdrops pushing through

This I was very pleased to see. Craigroyston FC changing huts on the Warriston side of St Marks Park. They were repainted a while back but the holes in the corners of the window joinery were not filled in. They had been used previously by this clan of sparrows. The birds would sit there or in the bushes underneath the windows cheeping away. There would seem to be a double skinned wall where they can get in to make nests inside. Hadn't seen them in ages. So it was great to see females removing old nesting materials and getting things ship shape for this year's brood. If you stand nearby (they are used to passing pedestrians) with a long lens you can get photos of them coming and going. What could be more cheerful? 

out with the old, in with the new

And then I went on holiday! ✈🌞🌞🌞