Wednesday 7 July 2010

Birds and Butterflies

I've blogged about the fields near my office before here, here, here and here. I walk round the fields and up the hill every workday lunchtime. The area is really a lovely haven for wildlife. At this time of year there are skylarks singing (I've counted at least four singing males and today I was able to watch two of them as they sang, quite unusual, because usually a singing skylark is somewhere seemingly up in the clouds). There are also plenty of swallows and house martins flying round the offices and over the fields, swifts too, flying higher up in the skies. I've heard and occasionally seen grasshopper warblers singing their song that sounds very like a grasshopper. Over the past couple of days a yellowhammer has started to perch on a barn roof, to glow yellow in the sun as he sings 'little bit o' bread and no cheeeeese'. Skylarks, yellowhammers and grasshopper warblers in particular are birds that are struggling these days and so its wonderful to see them seemingly thriving just outside Edinburgh.

There are butterflies too, today I was surrounded by ringlet butterflies, I've also seen several small heath butterflies and a few small tortoiseshells. Plus there are the horses, the sheep, the goats and the geese that live on the small farms. It really is a lovely place for a lunchtime walk!

5 comments:

bunnits said...

What a lovely place to work. Although the setting is different, it reminds me of my days at the archaeology museum in Memphis, Tennessee, where there were plenty of woods to wander, lots of birds, butterflies, wild turkeys, bobcats, deer, and many other wonderful things to enjoy, but no sheep or horses. Actually, one Sunday afternoon a neighboring farmer's cows got out and made their way to the museum grounds. A delightful time was had by all...

I find it interesting that your yellowhammer is in the bunting family and our yellowhammer, the state bird of Alabama, is a woodpecker--the Northern Flicker, known by a variety of names, including Yellow Shafted Flicker.

Kay Cooke said...

Sounds so idyllic!

Anonymous said...

It sounds delightful. You painted a lovely picture with your words.

Janice Thomson said...

Love those ringlets - a dainty and pretty butterfly.

Caroline Gill said...

It sounds a beautiful spot. Have just arrived back from Scotland - so can vouch for the beauty first hand, too! Loved the red squirrels near Kingussie.