season of goodwill

I seem to be unable to work and run properly at the same time. The last 5 weeks must have involved too much of the former and not enough of the latter. There were 4 weeks when I ran zero miles except for 2 Holyrood parkruns. Bizarrely both were personal bests. This revised my estimation of what makes for a faster parkrun. I had been placing my faith in caffeine drinks - either a strong coffee or red bullish drink - but both pbs were done without. I arrived at the conclusion it was about how well rested I was and perhaps having a decent sleep for a couple of nights before is the best approach. Or maybe I am just getting used to a thrashing on a Saturday morning and have become habituated. The second pb was by one second which I was pleased about as it left plenty space for getting faster. No point in taking several minutes off and snookering any further room for improvement. Having dropped the caffeine high I am now considering run training as a last resort road to improvement.

way back on 12th Nov

More recently on 3rd December

So last Saturday after doing another parkrun we went for a walk up the Water of Leith. Just as we got into St Mark's Park we noticed runners going through. The Water of Leith Half Marathon! I used to organise this race but have since dropped off the email list and didn't even realise it was going on today. Good to see it is still continuing.

St Mark himself cheering on Porties and others

Rich did 1.18 I believe which is very impressive

go on Jimmy!

good effort Anne!

Angus (in blue) is another ex-organiser of this event

I owe him an apology as I commented negatively on his hair - I am sorry Angus, I spoke without thinking and the words man-bun were out of my mouth before my brain engaged. But it was rude, and I am sorry. 

Alan had a tough one today (his words) but still managed a strong time.

He also said it was a cruel place to stand - one of the very few up hill sections about 12 miles into the race. Even though we didn't really choose it, it chose us. Also these 2, who should be the poster girls for the race as they are so chipper.

stick in Kate!

We popped into Warriston to check out the birdies and see who was about. Not many to start with although as we went towards the tunnel we saw a robin in the small stream that runs by there. It was having a great old splash about. I have seen a number of birds adopt this spot as a birdbath. It is not deep or fast flowing and although poorly lit for photos, it attracts lots of birds. I think the sight of one bird splashing about encouraged others in the trees above to fly down for more of the same. We watched and took photos of chaffinches, blue tits and then to my delight, a couple of goldcrests. We could tell it was a pair of goldcrests as the female has a yellow crest, the male, an orange tinged mohawk. Sometimes video works better for recording such fast movements.

chaffinch bathing!

goldcrest

blue tit

male goldcrest

female goldcrest

dunnock watches from above

nice to see a stock dove elbowing in to the magpies lunch

easily mistaken for a pigeon

not a pigeon!

We got a nice welcome from Hitler robin in the secret garden but for some reason he wasn't in a handfeeding mood today. We got the feeling (and there was evidence) someone had maybe been past earlier with seeds and everyone was pretty well fed.

As we were heading through Canonmills we saw the jogscotland Christmas party in full swing. We did consider trying to crash it but opted to go for a healthy walk instead to look for the kingfisher.

The resident wild camper at Rocheid was also off partying.

When looking at the Stockbridge Gormley closer, later,
I noticed his accessories also include a bracelet.

photo from a subsequent visit

Dean Village: some stuff left over from Halloween?

Metaphor for the spectre of divorce hanging over a teenage wedding?

Mrs. Gooseander chilling (one eye open)

When we arrived at the gallery bridge we realised we had missed the light
- and the kingfisher

Instead of walking back down the river we took the steps up towards Palmerston Place and because it was open, stepped into St Mary's for a nosey. It was very atmospheric in the sparsely lit gloom. I got Mary to stand still for a flash photo which worked very successfully given I did nothing beyond popping the flash up. 

St Marys 
(deliberate missing apostrophe for grammar humourists)

4th Dec. And I noticed Alan was hosting 3 laps of Holyrood as a middle distance chatty Sunday run. The weather forecast was poor and so this option seemed good. And it was. If I had gone out and done 3 times round the park on my own it would have felt like a grind. But the weather was better than expected and the company and chat made the miles fly by. I felt like I was a runner again! Thanks Alan, Ollie and Kate!

5th Dec. I continued my running career on Monday. (Amazing how I can actually enjoy running when not working - this week's work postponed; sarcastic tear-faced frowning emoji) Coach Mary suggested a 10miler round Holyrood and Duddingstone. Once in the park we put on timers and did 2 mins tempo, 2 mins recover on repeat. During the recovery I'd circle back or wait for Mary while taking photos. Mary didn't enjoy it as much as I did. She aggravated a recovering injury, but also (I suspect) seeing me being far too upbeat and bouncing about (how annoying is Tigger?) sealed the deal. We reduced the distance to 9miles.

Tuesday 6th

For some time I've been meaning to fix my keyboard. Not qwerty, Yamaha. The black keys are rather cheaply made with just 2 thin strips of plastic that allow them to flex. After a couple of years of punishment an F sharp broke on one side. It rattled for several more months like a loose tooth then eventually broke. I asked the shop where I bought the keyboard if they could supply a replacement block of keys - they come in octave blocks - and they helpfully suggested I look on eBay as they would have to get them from Japan and it would likely be a month or 2. I had already placed an order on eBay but was pretty sure what looked like the right keys would have the screw holes in the wrong place or they'd be the wrong size. I bought one octave with a view to buying more if they matched.

Last keyboard I had and the same thing happened and the replacement key had to be shaved and coerced into the gap as it wasn't quite the exact match. Also there is the "joy" of fitting it. You have to remove 23 screws from the underside of the PSR EW410 (catchy name!) flip it upright, lift the top off then unscrew, unclip and replace the block. Top tip: if you can't lift the lid off easily check the battery compartment as there's 3 more screws in there! I like to draw a diagram of where the screws have come from and place the removed screws on the diagram. Although there's only 2 sizes it doesn't hurt to put the same screws back in the same holes from which they came. You could probably throw out all but 10 of the screws and save time next repair as 23 is entirely excessive and adds half an hour to the business.

go screw yourself

Anyway to my deep joy and incredulity the keys off a YPT-230 fit a PSR EW410 and didn't need re-drilled or shaved. Removing the screws and putting them back in took about 30 minutes, but the key change only took about 30 seconds. Thing is I need another set for the next F sharp which has gone on one side and won't last, so will have to go through the whole thing again. I should have left those screws out but where do you keep 20 screws till they are next needed? In the underside of the piano seemed like the best bet. I am hoping the next model I buy (perhaps the MODX 7+, pronounced Mo Dee-ex not Mod X) will have a better quality keybed. On the upside, keyboards these days are so inexpensive compared to 20 years ago when you had to pay the price of a car for something that sounded shit. Although there is a retro fashion to fetishising and recreating the sounds of 80s synths and electric pianos. 

7-12-22 Which all put me in such a good mood that I went off to see my woodland pals on Tuesday. The sun was out to begin with and Warriston was busy with scampering squirrels and wee birds.

blue tit

great tit with homemade bread
brace yourself for a rant

There was a facebook post recently by East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers (who should know better) saying...

‘Angel Wing’ is a condition that mainly affects waterfowl and is caused by a nutritional deficiency in vitamins and minerals combined with a high level of carbohydrates and sugars. While a number of factors are involved, human-fed bread is one of the probable causes.

Now for several reasons I am not a great believer in this. It was behind a campaign a couple of years ago to Ban the Bread. There are a few reasons not to dump whole loaves of sliced white bread on St Margaret's Loch; mainly that it will moulder and attract rats. Also too much bread is not a suitable diet for any bird. But misguided people do like to overfeed the ducks and unless you're going to be a total killjoy and shout at them there is no way to stop this happening. The park rangers in Holyrood put up signs from time to time about this. Happily they do not mention Angel Wing, a condition that makes wings on geese and swans form poorly in the first 4 weeks and leaves them unable to fly. Given people have been overfeeding the ducks on St Margaret's Loch for at least the 20 years I've been going past regularly, and I've never seen a deformed bird there, I think we can rule out the link of bread and angel wing. 

Then there was this response from The Queen's Swan Marker on the Swan Sanctuary page, who know more about birds than I do. You can find the whole page linked above. This is the short version...

“There has been a great deal of press coverage in recent months regarding the ‘Ban the Bread’ campaign which is confusing many members of the public who like to feed swans. Supporters of the campaign claim that bread should not be fed to swans on the grounds that it is bad for them. This is not correct. Swans have been fed bread for many hundreds of years without causing any ill effects. While bread may not be the best dietary option for swans compared to their natural food such as river weed, it has become a very important source of energy for them, supplementing their natural diet and helping them to survive the cold winter months when vegetation is very scarce.

There is no good reason not to feed bread to swans, provided it is not mouldy. Most households have surplus bread and children have always enjoyed feeding swans with their parents. The ‘Ban the Bread’ campaign is already having a deleterious impact upon the swan population; I am receiving reports of underweight cygnets and adult birds, and a number of swans from large flocks have begun to wander into roads in search of food. This poses the further risk of swans being hit by vehicles. Malnutrition also increases their vulnerability to fatal diseases like avian-flu which has caused the deaths of many mute swans and other waterfowl in the past.

Furthermore, there have been statements made in the media claiming that feeding bread causes angel-wing in swans. Angel-wing is a condition where a cygnet develops a deformed wing. Professor Christopher Perrins, LVO, FRS of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University stated, ‘There is no evidence of a connection between feeding bread and angel-wing; at least some cygnets develop this condition without ever having seen any bread’.

The exact cause of Angel-Wing in birds is unknown, and is likely a combination of stress, genetics, pollution and poor diet in the first four weeks of life. After which (I am led to believe) it cannot be contracted. So avoiding feeding chicks covers it. 

I always think these campaigns are entered into by middle class guardian readers with nothing better to do than foist their erroneous values onto everyone else. And they rarely bother to consult the actual end users. In this case the birds. If you cared to ask any of the garden birds at Warriston I'm pretty sure I know how they'd answer, only it's impolite to talk with your mouth full.

Ducks? Well some ducks are quite enthusiastic about bread. See video at bottom of page. As with all things, moderation is the way forward. I don't eat supermarket bread. So the bread I give to birds is what I eat myself and we all like mostly wholemeal loaves with a high seed content. The squirrels are keen on this too. And chop it small so they don't choke. 

how many is too many?

pleased to see this bullfinch
they have been rare so far this season

Bullfinches have one of the easiest calls to mimic. A high short whistle that glissandos a tone down. They are really social birds and when you do their whistle they will sometimes come over for a chat. This one landed quite near. I'm not sure whether they are disappointed to find me and not another bullfinch. They haven't as yet come down to the feeders for snacks. They are cautious birds and will hang back for a while, watching the comings and goings, before joining in. Seems to be mainly males about Warriston currently. 

riverside robin

secret garden robin (aka Hitler)

dunnock

blackbird
while a great tit looks on

It was still very sunny just after 1pm when I left Warriston heading up the river. I hoped the sun would stay out and the kingfisher would make an appearance, but it seemed a lot to ask for. I got the bird but the light was pretty poor. A shame as the kingfisher seems to be very obliging these days. He did f off to the right of the Gormley bronze for a while, but then came back and sat in a willow tree for a couple of shots. He is getting quite well known and there is usually at least one other person with a long lens type camera out waiting. 

This was a new one on me - Mr KF sitting on the path side opposite Gormley. I held my breath and approached super cautiously. I only got this picture before a girl on a bike came along and scared it off. You could tell from the look on her face she was not expecting it and she went from mystified to realisation. She looked up at me and I confirmed it was a kingfisher trying not to roll my eyes and imply by grumpiness that "you've just scared it the fuck off." I followed it around for maybe 30mins then let it be. The light was getting even worse. 

Craig and Rose on the way home
(Mixing business and pleasure!)
(After Michael L.)

08-12-22 Some snow fell. Had the day off so went to offer the locals some snacks. Resulting image is the nearest I'm likely to get to a christmas card!

what could be more christmassy than hitler in the snow?