Sunday 11 January 2009

Riverside birding

Yesterday we walked along the Water of Leith through the Dean Village and Stockbridge areas of Edinburgh and had a very birdwatching time of it! On the water we saw:

a dipper flying from stone to stone then off down the river where we caught up with it and watched it in the water then back on stones, bobbing up and down in its characteristic way;

a cormorant seeming to be too far from the sea but looking quite at home anyway;

a pair of goosanders;

a heron, standing still and silent, despite the noise of the machine that was crushing old Christmas trees just metres away from it;

a grey wagtail, far too pretty for its name, flitting along the riverbank;

several mallards.

We also saw two separate flocks of long tailed tits in the trees, whispering and flitting from branch to branch, some of them came quite close to us, beautiful birds and very colourful when you get close to them.

we saw a treecreeper climbing up the branches of a tree overhanging the water.

Finally, we passed a garden that is well known for having lots of bird feeders and it was full of chaffinches and bluetits.

Remember that all the bird names and place names link to sites that tell you more!

9 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

I enjoyed reading about your bird watching walk. Goosanders seem to be everywhere this year. I have - for the first year - had long tailed tits on my birdtable - I did read somewhere that they are beginning to visit bird tables at last. They are such pretty birds, aren't they?

polona said...

you know, i was just thinking today that thanks to your bird watching walks i seem to notice more of the feathered friends here :)
all the aquatic birds have left, though, now that we appear to live inside a deep freezer...

Bill said...

Thanks for all those links, juliet. I feel guilty about how few of the things in nature I can name--as though I lived next door to kindly neighbors and never bothered to learn their names.

Every Photo Tells A Story said...

Love the educational value of these postings, Juliet. Very enjoyable. And, birds are such loveable creatures:)

L'Adelaide said...

juliet, thank you for your sweet words on my blog about my spirited horse! :) your blog is wonderful and I could spend an hour just going to all the links....a wonderful place to spend some time...I am always happy to meet another bird lover!

blessings...

Tammie Lee said...

That sure sounds like a wonderful bird siting day!

Devika Jyothi said...

Interesting links there, Juliet

Most of them are new to me. :)

wishes,
devika

AscenderRisesAbove said...

i cant believe you know all those kinds of birds. I am still wondering what the names are of what visits my porch.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

We also had a good time birding yesterday. We had totally different birds of course. Love hearing about your outings.