Late Summer

Even though there are fungi growing all through the year, they somehow always feel autumnal. Here's some fungi that we saw on Corstorphine Hill this lunchtime.

And below, this rowan tree is already fully berried red.

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Yesterday I went to Musselburgh, birdwatching. It's the time of year when lots of passage migrant birds turn up on our coasts so the bird hides by the Lagoons were full of very keen birdwatchers. There were huge numbers of birds on all the lagoons, including lots of ringed plovers and dunlin and several lapwings and oystercatchers. There was a group of black tailed godwits also three ruffs, which arrived a couple of weeks ago and seem to want to stay a while - all in winter plumage but still very pretty. There were a few little stints, just passing through, I got a close view of one of them, such a pretty little bird. Also a curlew sandpiper, a lifer for me, another very pretty bird, though if it and the dunlin had been in winter plumage they would have been very difficult to tell apart.

I still find wader identification challenging! Every time I go to Musselburgh, I check beforehand on the Lothian Birds website what unusual birds have been seen recently at Musselburgh. If then there are any I'm not familiar with then I look in my bird books and stare at the pictures until the bird's image is burned into my memory. This is a surprisingly good tactic.  

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