oh jays! pt.2

 

Sunday 27th Feb

2 days after meeting the Jay clan at Cammo, the forecast was excellent. Mary was up for neither a walk or cycle and so I was left to choose what sort of adventure I wanted. I was still buzzing from the Jay encounter on Friday and felt a return to Cammo wasn't the worst option. I had been so distracted by seeing the jays I had not fully focussed on the nuthatches and smaller birds. Even if the jays weren't about, there was still plenty to photograph. And I hadn't even got around to checking out the walled garden, which is carpeted in snowdrops at this time of the year. I jumped on my bike and headed West. 

I knew that being a weekend there would be more passing traffic. Hikers, families and dogwalkers. However they were mostly on the North side of the curling pond as the main path kept dogwalkers on that side of the water. But not exclusively. At one point a couple with 2 errant dachshunds clambered through the undergrowth chasing off every bird in the woods. I tried to roll my eyes as noisily as possible. They (and the owners) did not give a shit. Oh well. 

The good news was the jays reappeared. Not immediately, but after a short while they came down out the trees. I had put bread and seeds in a few places and it attracted loads of nuthatches and coal tits. I tried to get shots of the nuthatches, which I slightly neglected last visit in favour of the jays. There were a couple of nuthatches really excited about the piles of sunflower hearts and after eating a few began to collect them to stash elsewhere. Like Autumn squirrels, when there is excess food they hide it in holes in the tree trunks and ends of branches. There seemed to be quite a few nuthatches busy doing this and they were not shy; coming very close to where I was standing. Normally they would keep their distance so I was really thrilled to get close-ups of them in the intervals when the jays were sat in the trees.

Jays are famously wary birds, normally. I saw a small group on Corstorphine Hill once, and followed them, running up the hill breathlessly, as they flitted between the trees calling out to each other in the harshest of crow-like squawks. I only just managed to get a crappy record shot as they do not like human company and will fly off when you get close enough for a pic. As I said in the last post these have been friended up by a local photographer who has been putting out food for them regularly. They are intelligent birds and recognise a good deal when they see one. 

I got a sense of their intelligence when I looked through the camera at full zoom; watching them high in the surrounding trees, watching me. I could see they were keeping a close eye on exactly what I was up to. They might appear to be dozing or sitting doing nothing (about 30~70 feet away) but a lot of the time they would be looking right at me. They are also very well camouflaged despite their light peachy colour with that dramatic blue flash on their wings. 

still watching

Edinburgh airport nearby

yep, I can see you

fearless nuthatches came very close

I had been keeping an eye out for Mairi and Molly who had said they planned to come along to see the jays. After a while they appeared on the other side of the pond and I waved at them to come over. In the minutes it took them to clamber through the undergrowth I put out some more food in the stashes that had proved popular with the jays. I expected my movement and the appearance of 2 more people would chase off the jays but on the contrary more food seemed to encourage them down out the trees. And M & M were treated to a pretty good show as soon as they arrived. 

still from video of closest jay all day

I was also topping up the nuthatch seeds - balanced on branches much nearer to where we were standing. A jay must have been watching - or it saw where the nuthatches and coal tits were landing - and decided it wanted in on the action. It landed on the branch very close to where Mairi and I were snapping away like crazy. It was the closest we had ever been to one. Just brilliant to see one so unperturbed by us being less than 20' away. I shot some video of it but it didn't come out that well compared to other shots that day. Mairi had a better angle and took some cracking photos of it.

There was no shortage of decent opportunities with the birds regularly going to the places I'd baited. And the weather was perfect. I was very pleased I'd gone back for a second visit to Cammo. 

I said bye to Mairi and Molly and went off to see the snowdrops in the walled garden. I knew my pal Iain down in the borders would be out in this weather scouring the place for butterflies. It felt warm enough in the walled garden for an early outlier. But I wasn't able to find any. The bees from several of the hives were out and about collecting nectar from the snowdrops and it was really like the first day of Spring. I kept hoping to find a sunbathing butterfly and checked all the ivy round the walls. 

beehive with wrong sort of bee!

there are several hives in the corner of the walled garden

drone fly

Slightly disappointed by the lack of butterflies (but totally stoked about the jays and nuthatches) I cycled to the Almond, deciding to follow it to Cramond and return home via the coast. At the Cramond Brig there was the usual dabchick, a little grebe which stayed the usual maximum distance from the camera. I am not the biggest fan of these rare-ish but slight and unspectacular birds. 

On Dowies Mill Lane I saw a flutter and my heart gave a similar skip. A peacock butterfly flew up next to the cottages I was cycling past. I threw my bike to ground while powering up the camera I had slung round my neck and one arm (so it didn't clatter on the handlebars while cycling.) If I hadn't been wearing my camera I wouldn't have got a photo of my first butterfly of the year. It was up and over the building before I could zoom in for a closer shot. At least I got a record shot. No idea where it went.

I skulked about for 5 mins but it was goney gone. I am 90% sure it was a peacock - if not, then likely a tortoiseshell. I was expecting a flutter of posts on East Scottish Butterflies fb group page, but there have only been a handful of sightings so far this Spring. I think today was the first of them. 27th Feb is quite early. Last year it was 16th March, with several appearing on a sunny day. 2020 was 19th March for me, and a singular comma near the Water of Leith.

I was amused to see bathers in at Wardie Bay. Note: I didn't say swimmers, as there seemed to be no actual swimming going on. Just standing in chest deep water with dry hair. Seems to be the latest thing. I'm glad Mary and I did that whole season of Winter open water swimming before it became a fashion. It does give you a buzz but when we did it we chose slightly nicer venues than Jobby Wardie Bay.

maybe the nearby sewage outlet keeps it warmer?

Since the sun was still out - I think it was about 3pm - I went past Warriston. Mary would call this greedy. Wasn't I already satisfied with the day out? Well, yes but it wouldn't do any harm popping by to see how my locals pals were doing. As it turned out there was nothing that exciting happening there. A few of the usual suspects and they appreciated the end of the seed and bread bags. 

riverside chaffinch enjoying a late afternoon snack

A relaxed end to a marvellous day out. Really lovely to catch up with Mairi and Molly ahead of the whole butterfly season, having survived another Winter and having that behind us. (Okay there might still be storms and snow but fingers crossed not too much!) I was delighted the jays appeared again and I know M&M really appreciated seeing them and taking photos of them under ideal conditions. A great way to enjoy the transition into Spring. It is all looking pretty good! 😎