nuthatches at Cammo

 

08-11-23

Off on the bus to Cammo. Not enough nuthatch action in my life. They seem to have changed a 41 bus into a 43. I get off 2 stops beyond the Barnton roundabout and go directly through a small gate and along the path to Cammo estate. Loads of folk about walking dogs and screaming kids. 

In the past I have taken some quality pics here, either side of the curling pond. Nuthatches and jays. The jays are very hit and miss but the nuthatches are almost guaranteed. Seconds after I put some birdbait out (sunflower hearts, peanuts and bread) in the usual places there is a whir of wings and the first nuthatch turns up. It doesn't make this trip an instant success though, as the light is struggling to get through the foliage still on the trees. Things will improve the other side of the new year but for now I have to contest with the shadows and crappy light. It is far from perfect and I wonder if it will produce anything of value today. Hopes are not high.

great tit

There are a few other species in the mix: blue tits, great tits, coal tits and a robin. The images look okay in the camera but I suspect on the monitor at home they will be noisy and murky. After a while I go to where the jays have appeared in the past and put out food in several spots. Nothing appears. Not even the nuthatches that were my pals over the other side of the water. I return to the original spot and take a few more pics. I try to get a coal tit - they keep arriving but leave so quickly I fail time after time. I have an undying admiration for their ability to survive cold Winters. They are about the smallest species around here and quite feisty despite their diminutive size. How they get through frosty snowy nights around here I have no idea.

coal tit

great tit

After being at the tree stump for a while photographing the birds coming and going this nuthatch sits still for a minute or 2. It is unlike any of the normal behaviour all afternoon. I'm not sure whether he is marking his territory or looking around for predators above, or just resting because he has eaten his fill. (Once they have eaten a certain amount they will continue to take away seeds but secrete them in hiding places in tree bark and in the ground, very much like squirrels.)

The fact it held still allowed me to take video and stills, and is really the only decent break I got all afternoon. Afterwards I headed round the walled garden and rest of the estate before going back to Queensferry Rd where I ran for the bus and only just caught it. 

The bus terminated at Waterloo Place.
There was something of a sundown going on as I crossed Calton Hill.