24-02-26. Fellow wildlife enthusiast Joanie had posted photos of a wagtail roost in the centre of town. Right enough I had seen a few pied wagtails up and down Leith Walk in ones and twos and I had wondered if there was a place they all went to roost in the evening. Someone had tipped Joanie off that they gathered at the end of the day in 5 or 6 trees up the lane West of John Lewis. Little King Street. I had been meaning to check it out and wondered if they were still roosting there. On the 24th I had stayed at home all day as the weather was indifferent. I thought I should wander up the road for some exercise and see if the wagtails were still roosting there. When I arrived some time after 5pm there were no birds. I hung about in the hope they turned up. Just before 5.30pm I saw one arrive and land quite high up in what looked like a birch tree - very white decorative bark. In 5 minutes, 10 more had arrived and soon they started to fill every available branch in the trees with lots of peeping and cheeping. Just magical!
the first to arrive!
quickly followed by a few friends
I didn’t want to disturb the birds given this was their bed-time. But I also wanted to get photos that weren’t just black shadows against a dimming sky. I don’t normally take images at dusk so had taken along the flash but used it with a diffuser on the end to soften the flashes and hopefully not upset the birds. They didn’t change their behaviour one jot or respond to the light bursts I was making. In fact it seemed surrounded by light pollution. There are brightly lit cafes just below and a string of powerful fairy lights along the trees they are roosting in. However they can all huddle together about 15-20feet off the ground. A rising ramp goes alongside so I was able to get quite close to the action.
I took my 12-60 lens along as well as the zoom. I started by taking some wide shots to show the surroundings then changed to the zoom to get individual birds chatting and preening as they settled down for the night. By 6pm they were all gathered and had found their stations for the night and 5 minutes later all the chatter stopped and, as if someone had flipped a switch, they stopped interacting and began to sleep. I walked further away to get a distance shot and in doing so got close to a temporary coffee cabin parked opposite the trees. The person behind the counter had been watching my progress and we got chatting. His English wasn’t great but I think he was suggesting numbers increased during the night (I found this unlikely but what do I know?) until max saturation about 5am and then they stay in place until 10am. I’d have thought they would be off to work sometime between dawn and 8.30am but haven’t been back to check up since. I’m not much of a morning person.
Little King Street
looking North towards the Playhouse Theatre
fairy lights strung along below where the birds roost
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