best part of the day: bugs and birds

Sunday, 22 December 2024

bugs and birds

1st December and remarkably mild with moments of sunshine. Last chance for a chat with the locals at Warriston before heading off to sunnier climes on the 3rd. I had been going regularly to try and make friends with the robins but it wasn’t really going according to plan.

great tit

blackbird

grey wagtail

bullfinch (m)

female and 2 male bullfinches at the tunnel stream

I’d love to say this was planned

but it was just fortunate timing and a fast shutter speed

great cammo of matching colours

2 x m, 1 x f

treecreeper

chaffinch

blackbird (f)

wren

blue tit

a terrible photo of a goldcrest

but the only one I got today!

kestrel, also avoiding any kind of decent photo

I then noticed this distinctive character. When I saw he was examining and taking photos of gravestones close up (more likely ladybirds on said gravestones) and underneath pine trees, I realised it had to be Per, of Cemetery Wildlife Watch fame. Sure enough it was and I introduced myself. We had never met but have shared interests and chat online about bugs and insects. His background is biology and although he takes photos of small things on gravestones, his angle is recording and identifying, whereas my angle is more art and photography than science, although I strive to identify many of the bugs I come across.

I knew we were bound to cross paths eventually, even though his stomping ground is over the other side of the city. We chatted about ladybirds and he pointed out a few of the rarer specimens he had come across that morning. Ones I might easily have passed by without recognising. I have laminates and books defining most of the local species but there are variations and aberrations that can confuse the inexperienced.