There are some amazing patches of fungi throughout Cammo, these bracket fungi are particularly impressive.
Then there were the birds! The woodland was full of blue tits, long tailed tits, great tits and coal tits. We also saw a goldcrest and a treecreeper. But it was the farm fields around Cammo that were most exciting for us as birdwatchers. We saw a big flock of small birds and quickly identified some of them as goldfinches (common but very beautiful, groups of them are appropriately called charms), yellowhammers (getting to be rare these days, but still quite reliably seen on farmland round Edinburgh) and tree sparrows!!!! I've never seen tree sparrows in my life before so I was quite excited. There were a load of them chattering away as they flew between the trees and the stubble in the fields. They are delightful birds, more elegant than house sparrows, and male and female look the same. They are one of the birds on the Biodiversity Action Plan in Edinburgh and are red listed because their numbers have declined drastically in the UK in recent years (though apparently there has been a slight improvement in the past year or so). As ever, text in red contains hyperlinks which take you to other websites where you can find out more!
10 comments:
as u say, the fungi r quite interesting...never seen this kind in my part of the world...
love this post, birds and fungi..doesn't get much better!
Great post, lovely photos and lots of information. Thank you!
Enjoyed hearing about your tree sparrows and looked at the link you gave.
Not at all like the American tree sparrow. Wasn't sure how they might be "related."
Gorgeous day you captured there.
Must keep an eye out for fungi, which i rarely think of as being photogenic, but they are indeed!
Pretty. Here the Winds of November are gathering in their Northern lairs and preparing to come blustering forth and pelt us wit rain and blow off all the leaves. There is snow on the hills. Hello Winter.
Havent seen fungi around here in a bit. Too dry this summer. Gorgeous pics as usual.
After reading ur post I fill pity on myself.
Wish I could also see this at least once in my life.
Regards,
Manish
I really enjoyed your post, especially the part about getting excited about seeing tree sparrows. When I get excited about spotting birds or anything else that I see in the wonderful out-of-doors, there are few people I have frequent contaact with who appreciate and share my enthusiasm. It's good to have a kindred spirit.
If you ever get a chance to photograph a "fairy ring" of mushrooms, I'd greatly like to see one from the wild and not staged for a movie. I love your blog! Thanks!
-Andrew D.
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