over wintering

 

17th Feb
I am SO over Winter. Ready for Spring. It is not quite here yet. Here are some photos from Warriston. It's the only place that keeps me sane. If the sun comes out when I'm not working, I walk the mile there and spend some time with the little feathered ones. They appreciate the food I take and give me a better welcome each visit. They see me coming and start peeping and flying to where I put out seeds and homemade bread.

Someone went to the effort of adorning (St Mark's Park) Antony. While it worked well to start with, unfortunately the sweets melted in the rain leaving a nasty stain down Antony's quads and now needs a bit of a clean up. But it was mildly funny for a day or 2.

blue tit

great tit

This ^ was taken at 1/1000ths of a second (or so the camera claims). There is still a disappointing amount of blur and movement. I can only think the resolution to taking fast shutter speed pics that show all the details in crisp resolution is to use a better camera. This is in the pipeline but I need to buy an expensive lens, which may take a little longer. I would prefer to go into a camera shop and talk to people and hold (and look through) lenses but the internet killed most of that and there are few shops to loiter in.

bullfinches near the tunnel

this stream is very popular with many species

chaffinch and dunnock

bee 
comes before butterfly

While I was pleased to see this wren hopping in and out of the crypt windows I was hoping it wasn't going in and eating hibernating herald moths and any butterflies overwintering in there. I reckoned it looked an ideal spot for several species that spend the Winter in stasis - Small Torts, Commas, Red Admirals and Peacocks. And I always keep an eye open around this area for early Spring appearances. So far - over 2 or 3 years of watching - zero evidence. But the theory is sound!

the flies in Julys fly mainly round the pies

periwinkle

fell asleep in Jesus?

treecreeper

the crypts

dunnock bathing

We have taken to standing just South of the tunnel. There are three steps - a tree stump. a flat pedestal and an arched gravestone. We have been placing food on these like bird tables and the birds have very quickly learned when we arrived that they are going to be fed. They hop and up down in the nearest holly tree and often fly over while I am still putting stuff out. Mostly tits: great, blue and coal; chaffinches; blackbirds and robins. The magpies, crows and pigeons hold off till we leave then move in and sweep the place clean. Also in the area are goldcrests, bullfinches, goldfinches, wrens and the occasional treecreeper. And the solitary grey wagtail who has completely grown back his tail which was removed at the start of February.

coal tit

woodpigeon keeping its distance

nails on lame foot growing longer

Mrs Hopalong is the blackbird with the lame leg. She does well to get around without much use of her right leg and foot. When I first became aware of her she would often prop herself up with her right wing but seems to have adapted well and now rarely needs to use her wing as a crutch. She is still troubled by balancing on branches and the like but manages well and seemed to have a mate in tow the last few times we saw her. More recently she has been absent. He still appears. I'm inclined to think she is sitting on a nest as she made it through the worst of the Winter and was fairly assertive. Often being the first of the birds down the East end of the Riverside section to appear when I whistled there. (I let the birds know I am there by whistling - as a kind of dinner gong.) It could be she has died, but I suspect she is a trooper and managing fine. 

There used to be 3 or 4 squirrels who would come visit at this plinth near Powderhall bridge. They are comparatively shy and check things out from the trees before descending. Currently there is only one that comes regularly. It will sit munching away while keeping a wary eye on us. Although she is quite trusting. Or has worked out we are slow moving, friendly and generous about putting out food. They really like the bread as well as sunflower seeds. (The Botanics squirrels are a bit more fussy/spoiled and will only be interested in best quality nuts.) Then a dog off the lead will bound by and they are up the trees lightning fast. 

wren

Gunmaker: I wondered if in tribute they maybe fired him out a canon
on the Castle ramparts into his final resting place in Warriston?

the solitary grey wagtail

I was gutted to see the wagtail that hangs around the tunnel area - sploshing about in the small stream there most days - had had his tail plucked. As I pondered in a previous blog it might have been done by various predators but I suspected a dog, as hundreds come through the place and almost all will chase the birds and squirrels. I hadn't realised that it is a tactic of wagtails to shed their tails - a bit like lizards - if caught by their hindmost feathers, and then grow them back later. I thought it might take a season or 2 but within about 5 or 6 weeks it has grown back perfectly. Maybe even longer than before! 

The above photo was about 3 weeks after the incident and although it is a poor quality photo it was the first sign of new growth of tail feathers. I was very pleased and impressed as the poor thing was hopping about busy wagging nothing. I wondered was it even aware it had lost its tail, but it had to be. It flew just as superbly without its rudder and still let me get quite close so I'm guessing it wasn't hugely traumatised by whatever stole its tailfeathers. Great to see it make such a speedy full recovery.

Graham has been doing loads more work in the secret garden. He has removed a lot of the ivy from the walls and is busy doing some sort of meadow garden in the bit where the brick towers stood. He is a fan of the birds and always puts out food for them when working there, however a few of the changes are making it less a place I spend time in. Since there is less cover for the birds, fewer of them come to feed there. Hitler robin still hangs out and he sat on my hand for a long moment on that visit as if to mark that it had been a while since we had chatted. He doesn't chase the other birds as much as he used to. But still is a bit of a tyrant.

As I left the riverside area by the Tesco's cyclepath step-over, I was seen off the premises by these 2. (One came to my hand for bread.) I'm pretty sure they're the same pair as hang out in the sticky tree and also at the East end. And probably come to the tunnel area to feed. But it is so tricky to know for sure as they all look alike and behave in a similar fashion. At the tunnel area there are often 3 or 4 robins who will square up to each other about territory, so there is more than just this pair. But my requests for them to wear name badges has fallen on deaf ears and I am none the wiser.