December Blog

Here it is my last blog of 2017 and what a year it’s been. I haven’t been Birding recently for a while, my Grandpa sadly passed away last month and I haven’t got myself to go Birding even when we did go to The Outer Hebrides to bury his ashes at Granny’s grave I didn’t go Birding even though I did have my binoculars & notebook with me, though I did see a Redwing so that was good. I thought in this blog I will tell you some of my highlights of 2017.

January

In January I fed the birds down at Cramond, it had been years since I did that and since I was going Birding that day I thought I’d do it at the same time. Normally I disapprove of people throwing bread to the birds but I had bread to get rid of so I took some action shots it was good fun.

February

In February on my 16th anniversary I had a great time Birding at my first ever local patch at The Botanic Gardens but it wasn’t until I got home and saw a few Waxwings on a tree across the road. I did see them again a few days later.

April

In April was very lucky to discover a Great Tit in my Camera Nestbox checking it out and then flew off getting nesting material. For the next few weeks me & my family were glued watching the action on tv it was like having our own Springwatch. The Great Tit laid 4 eggs and it was amazing to watch them hatch and grow up so fast. It wasn’t until the end of May they all left the box successfully. I hope they will come back next year.

Also another highlight of the month was going to Bass Rock, it’s always amazing to get there the smell and sounds is just fantastic.

June

In June it was a busy month I went to Portugal with the family to celebrate my Mum’s birthday but did get to go Birding too and see new birds including White Storks on nests.

September

In September after taking the month of August off to enjoy The Edinburgh Festival Fringe I went to St Margaret’s Loch. It was a pleasant day but taking this picture of these Swans was just magical.

October

In October I decided to go to Musselburgh Lagoons but first I decided to go to The River Esk because on Twitter I heard a Mandarin Duck had been spotted there. Sadly I didn’t see it but I had a fantastic time there in fact I stayed there instead of moving on to Musselburgh Lagoons because I was enjoying watching lots of geese & ducks, I will go to the Lagoons in the new year.

November

Which brings me to November (last month) I went to Figgate Park near Portobello. It had been a while since I was last there looking for The Mandarin Duck again, only this time I didn’t get stressed looking for one, it was peaceful and a Robin came up sitting next to me singing away.

That turned out to be my last Birding outing as I mentioned earlier the last few weeks in November have been tough I was spending time with my Grandpa. I hope you enjoyed reading some of my highlights of the year, it has been a great year and has gone in very quickly. It brings me now to December I have a few Birding trips planned before Christmas I will tell you about them in the new year, so I will end this blog by wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.