Counting Birds on Cammo Fields

I blogged recently about the proposed housing development for Cammo Fields and the public meeting that's happening on Thursday. I said in my previous blogposts that the area is rich in birdlife and today Crafty Green Boyfriend and I went along to the fields to record the birds we saw to feed into the meeting (though hopefully the local Wildlife Record Centre and Scottish Ornithologists Club will be adding in their records too).

 the field that may be lost to houses, photo taken by me

The birds were obviously aware of the importance of our task as they turned out in great number. Not only were there lots of goldfinches, several robins, blue tits and a buzzard (all common species) but there were also a range of rarer birds too. We saw: one or two yellowhammers, several tree sparrows and ten or more linnets, all of which are both red listed in the UK (ie of special conservation concern) and mentioned specifically in the seed eating birds section of the Edinburgh Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP)). We also saw: about 15 fieldfares (which are red listed in the UK but not mentioned specifically in the Edinburgh LBAP) and at least three reed buntings (which are amber listed in the UK, as being of moderate conservation concern and mentioned specifically in the seed eating birds section of the Edinburgh LBAP).We didn't however see any of the (red-listed) skylarks that sing so beautifully above these fields in the spring.

yellowhammer, photo by Crafty Green Boyfriend

tree sparrowshiding in the shadows in the hedge, photo by Crafty Green Boyfriend

We continued our walk into Cammo Estate itself and the autumn colours and shadows were magnificent in the woodlands. 

A reminder that the public meeting will be held at Cramond Kirk, Cramond Glebe Road at 7.30pm, Thursday 28th November. If you can't get along to the exhibition or public meeting, but have a genuine interest in the development then you can respond on the Cammo Development website. 

For Shadow Shot Sunday

as ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.