tales of the riverbank

 

30-10-22 I've been spending more time enjoying the wildlife along the Water of Leith. A kingfisher was reported near the Modern Art Gallery, and seemed to be something of a regular there. And this from Ken and Hugh, both very reliable sources. And I was also getting back into the habit of returning to Warriston Cemetery. Mostly still just squirrels and crows but on one visit near the end of October a pair of woodpeckers were flying around and I got a shot of the male before they both disappeared. Haven't seen any since; a shame as they are great birds, but it was a reminder to keep returning.

mad bitch

The visit was nearly ruined by this mad mutt, Bonnie. She careered through the trees (off the lead of course) and rushed up and barked ferociously in my face. Not being friendly and only just holding back from trying to bite. It certainly ruined the quiet serenity I was enjoying. The woman owner (quite some distance away) called the troubled dog off (not very successfully) and she eventually was put on the lead, with possibly a distant apology. I shouted that she shouldn't have the dog off the lead if it behaved like that. I determined next time Bonnie does that I'll video it and give the police the video. It was deeply unpleasant and soaked me in anger and resentment. Not what I'd gone out the door for.

04-11-22 Next visit a few days later. Mary doesn't work on a Friday. The sun was out, it was ridiculously warm for November, so we went off up the river in search of the kingfisher. 

These berries on 3 or 4 trees down Pilrig Street have been out for a while. (Particularly fetching background of nearby flats, painted in complimentary peachy orange/red.) The birds have not yet resorted to eating them though every time I go past I take their photo, in rehearsal for that flock of fantasy waxwings. Didn't happen last year. Either.

St Mark's Antony collecting windfall.

dunnock

grey heron

Clair Miles mosaic

Lovely to see this male bullfinch feeding on the new shoots next to the river. I have heard several out and about but they have been keeping quite well hidden so far this season.

And a real treat to see this dipper near Stockbridge.

I had thought there wasn't enough light to get a decent photo as it sat in the gloom over the other side of the river, then it came across to the same side of the riverbank on which we were standing. They bob and jump about constantly so you have to shoot on quite a high shutter speed and iso. It did not hang about and was off quickly but I was happy to get a couple of reasonable shots.

this is a particularly fine corner and there is often a 
bird or butterfly of note around this area

the Stockbridge Gormley has been accessorised

Dean Village

HERE!

Just upstream of the Dean Village, in the section that was off-limits for years and has been re-opened, we both clearly saw a bright orange comma butterfly do a couple of circles then head off into the trees. Of course I was very excited and determined to find it and get a photo. A November comma is special. As minutes passed and it failed to do another fly-past, spirits flagged and sank. I went from elation to gutted. Eventually, after 15 minutes and shaking every leaf on every tree nearby I admitted defeat and I slunk off despondent and depressed. I apologised to Mary for letting it ruin an otherwise really lovely walk. Even though I realised it was happening, I struggled to pull myself out of the slump caused by that missed opportunity. Damn you November Comma!

jelly ear fungus - always good fun!

It was of little consolation that we noticed loads of fungi on the fallen tree trunks nearby. I tried to lose myself in the various shapes and sizes of toadstools, but I was still thinking about that bastard comma.

We slowed for a comprehensive search for the kingfisher around the bridge across to the Modern Art Gallery. Just the heron lurking on the other side. No little turquoise and orange jewels. However it was sunny and everything looked sharp and well lit. Spirits were on the up again. After combing the banks for Mr KF we decided to check out the gallery cafe, a far greater pull than most of the art work under the same roof. We went in via the riverside entrance and avoided all of the pictures! It was plenty warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Can this really be November? Three cheers for global warming!

marmalade hoverfly on cyclamen flower

bored long-lens photographer decides to call it a day

nearest thing to a kingfisher

wren

So we're sitting out in the sun to enjoy soup (PB): pretty good and not too floral (not quite enough bread!); and 4 salads (MH): parsnip salad excellent, 2 others okay, 1 below par (good large plateful); when we notice there is a robin on the scrounge at the next table. The customer at the table is reading a magazine and has not noticed the intruder. I abandon my cooling soup and tip-toe over to get photos of the bandit robin. I probably should have asked permission of the dude reading but didn't want to risk disturbing the scene. 

serendipity!

scrounger

sitting outside in November

leafy shadows improving this Hepworth

The sun stayed out for the remainder of the walk back downstream and the earlier calamity of the disappearing comma melted away. We relished the Autumnal colours of leaves and berries and the occasional birds. A very gentle adventure but great for the soul.

a final heron

vocal robin

animatronic LTT

goldfinch

06-11-22 Two days later and I headed back to Warriston on my own. Looks like the sun was out to start with but things got gloomier quickly. I followed the routes I used to walk last year and earlier this year and was rewarded by bumping into some small friends I thought had moved on. Last Winter I coaxed 3 or 4 robins local to Warriston to feed from my hand, and a host of other garden birds to sit on gravestones and on the brick towers in the secret garden, so that I could photograph them.

They seemed to enjoy sunflower hearts and homemade bread. During the Summer months they all dispersed and couldn't be found. I wasn't sure where they'd gone and how many would return. A few visits in September and October and still no sign, and I began to wonder whether the robins I had made friends with had gone elsewhere or died. I know they can have tragically short lives although some have been recorded returning to the same spot year after year for the best part of 2 decades. 

blue tit and ladybird

Now this is the riverside robin. Last year a parent / offspring combo lived in a tree next to this stone. As they got to know me they became friendly enough to handfeed. I got the feeling this was maybe one of that pairing - no sign of the other bird. Within a few visits we were back on first name terms.

robin and great tit

greedy blackbird

I got this pretty poor pic of a chaffinch.
Last year there were a couple of very lively chaffinches around this area.

There is a crow that hangs out near the tunnel. This might be it. Trouble is they all look so similar. Anyway it swoops past alarmingly close and sits on the nearest stone trying to look cute, hoping for a handout. They are darkly comical. But it is so nice to get such a welcome that I often give in and they will get a handful of bread. They very much prefer bread as they have to turn their heads sideways to pick seeds off the hard stone surfaces.

I went along to the secret garden and whistled for my old pal little Hitler robin. He got that name due to chasing off all the small birds that have the cheek to land on his feeding towers. He can be a really possessive shit. But also will sit on my hand and look into my soul. So I kind of forgive him some of his worst territorial habits. Although I could strangle him cheerfully when he chases off the bullfinches before I get a decent photo. Anyway I thought he had gone. No sign for months as the Autumn approached and then on this visit, as I whistled my approach, was that him? They communicate by cheeping, so I assume are more likely to recognise a whistle than me shouting in English "hey Hitler! have you come back from the dead?" And in a public place, not a great idea.

Anyway, out pops this robin. It has been raining and he is a bit soggy. I test to see if he remembers our best trick from last year, holding out some bread. He gives a couple of flaps then flies to my hand and takes a piece of bread without landing. I wasn't convinced it was him or not, but this would be unlikely behaviour from a random (untrained) bird. I couldn't see the strands of juvenile feathers he has on the back of his head to confirm it was defo him, but I was fairly sure it was. 

I put some food out on the brick towers in the secret garden. Graham has been working in there loads; slowly transforming this overgrown area into a pleasant garden-like place. When working there he puts out birdfeeders and pouches of seeds. The birds have come to recognise it as a good spot although he has been coming less regularly (a new partner I hear!) of late and also much of the ivy the birds used to hide in beside the feeders has been removed. 

There was also an attractive memorial to Tilly the dog,
which had appeared since last visit. 

coal tit

Hitler?

blue tit

head sized snack

dunnock

There wasn't a huge response, but the coal tits and blue tits flew back and forth, landing only for the briefest moment to pick a seed then fly off. A blue tit lingered for a couple of seconds and I was just thinking 'if that robin is my old pal Hitler, he would have something to say about th...' before I could finish the thought the robin had appeared from nowhere at 60mph and chased off the blue tit. 

Hitler! Back from the dead!
(note extra feathers out back of head)

It was great to see my favourite little nazi. He took up exactly where he left off and seemed to enjoy posing for the camera. I would tell him how marvelous he was looking, and he would stand perfectly still while I got his best side. I suspect he is going into his second year and perhaps (though maybe I am being optimistic) is mellowing with age. The last few visits he is still chasing off anyone who invades "his" territory, but perhaps with less vigour than last year, when he was intolerably aggressive. This year he flaunts his ownership for a bit then retires, while only keeping half an eye out for the worst offenders, dunnocks and god forbid, other robins!

shieldbug

And so, with a happy heart, (who wouldn't be happy to see Hitler, back from the dead?!) I waved cheerio and headed North to see if there were any ladybirds (or maybe even a very late butterfly) on the stones over by the pines. There were a mix of hoverflies and the like enjoying the sun.

the fab four

lots of ladybird conferences - mostly harlequins

with a shieldbug instar on right

back to our old routine

11-11-22 The following Wednesday Mazza and I skipped off work for another WoL and Warriston wander. Mixed weather but enough sunshine to get us up and out, and up the river. (Not given up on that kingfisher yet! And proving persistence pays off.) But first Warriston and these robins. Actually first up were the absent waxwings in Pilrig Street. They were still absent (unsurprisingly) but there was a lovely skip with my name on it so that will do instead. 

cute doggo in St Marks

Gormers wearing ladybird earrings

great tit

riverside robin remembers

photo credit Mary
robin just under the x 

Obviously another visit within a short timespan and the riverside robin has remembered our routine. He sat on a branch and gave us a cautious hello from the safety of his tree. I am assuming he is one of my pals from last year although there are no distinguishing marks, other than he appears to occupy the same tree as last year, and takes bread from my hand. A different robin would take a few weeks of prep to get to this amount of familiarity.

bullfinch

While up above the crypts Mary spotted this rather tattered red admiral flying about the leaf litter. We followed it till it settled on just the right leaf, to sunbathe. It was quite flighty and I didn't get many pics before it up-and-offed. But I was totally stoked to record my last butterfly of the season in the second week of (this extra mild) November. 

Someone has positioned these large Lewis chessmen on the opposite bank near Canonmills.

And a person (I had used the word troll to describe this wild camper - who else lives under a bridge? But troll has so many other connotations these days,) has taken up residence under the bridge at Rocheid Path. It is quite a snug little den and the several suitcases and large amount of household items suggests to me that the occupier might have been previously living nearby and been booted out. It just looks like too much luggage to transport in one trip, on foot from Eastern Europe. But that is entirely supposition as the chance to pass the time of day with said resident has not arisen. Mary and I both felt we recognised the album cover behind his head but extensive googling of 70s and 80s prog-rock has as yet drawn a blank. He has since changed the artwork to a zebra print photo, confounding our hope of a better view of the album cover and maybe the words Alan Parsons Project etc.

We popped up to the botanics to use their facilities which were open despite the gardens being closed. The recent strong winds had maybe loosened branches liable to fall on unsuspecting visitors. This was probably the luckiest thing all day, in a day of really great luck, as it stopped us dawdling here and undoubtedly getting no further up river. After all, the sun goes down not long after 2 and all sensible photographers say stuff like the light is shite I'm going home. I stood around at the entrance way while Mary dodged in for a pee.

I was trying to see if that was really a sparrowhawk landed in the high conifer or my optimism was just upgrading a pigeon. I could not for the life of me see where it was sitting, until it took off again and yes it was a sparrowhawk. No photo, so it didn't happen. I hear (via some article of dubious merit on the www) Manchester and Edinburgh are the favourite places for sparrowhawks to take a city-break. Clearly I am overdue an encounter, although I did see one on the pavement adjusting its grip on a garden bird opposite my mum's house recently. Didn't have the camera to hand as I was on my bike. Plenty turning up on Lothian Birdwatch fb page, most often plucking unfortunate garden birds or consuming them. Beautiful looking birds but not the friendliest manners with the other service-users on the birdfeeders.

deja vu

ditto

I can never go past without celebrating these Helen Miles mosaics
below the Belford Bridge.

Initially there was no sign of Mr K Fisher near the gallery bridge, so we continued to wander upstream. I had previously noticed a couple of poles on the opposite bank and wondered if they had been nailed there for the kingfisher to sit on. In a flash of iridescent blue we soon found out as he landed on one, remarkably close to where we walked. The sun wasn't out but it was about as good as it gets to have this spectacular bird sitting clearly visible about 30 yards away. We both held our breath and took a million photos. 

Then it flew across the river to land about 15 yards from us. This never happens! There was a dogwalker standing beside us - having noticed we were avidly taking photos of something across the river, he hovered and quietened his perfectly behaved dog. The four of us stood in disbelief as it flew across and landed on a branch overhanging the river. We were too gobsmacked to speak! I took loads of photos and seeing it hadn't flown off several seconds later started shooting video. I had the ideal angle to catch a yellowy autumnal light behind it. (Video at bottom of page.)

It moved about on its perch, keeping an eye on us and the water for fish. It perhaps realised it was far too close and after 30 seconds it flew off. I felt with that sort of luck (a November admiral, a handfeeding robin and a tame kingfisher) I should defo buy a lotto ticket. Kingfishers really do not do this. It seems that this one has grown used to the passing traffic on his stretch. And rather than do the more usual KF thing of flying half a mile up- or downstream upon seeing a human closer than 100 yards, this one has more of a habit of just turning its back and putting up with passing traffic. I could not be more pleased! These are the best photos I've ever had of this bird which is nearer the size of a robin than a blackbird. Mary was equally thrilled. We went off to the gallery cafe to celebrate.

cafe break

When we were done there (I think we sat outside again) we retraced our steps and bumped into a guy we had seen earlier who was taking photos next to the riverbank. Sure enough the kingfisher had reappeared and although the light was dying quickly we followed the wee bird back up the same stretch and got some more photos. At points we attracted fellow by-standers and despite small crowds gathering the bird didn't fly off at great haste. 

We saw Pamela W leading a group of runners down the river

impressively large cycle powered coffee outlet

20 seconds of OMG!

you can hear Mary's camera clicking and bleeping away
I have suggested she turns the bleeps off, as I have done on my camera but she says
she likes it that way! Oh well. Fantastic lucky day!