October Blog

Here we are in October already and we have now entered the autumn season which is my favourite season. There are a lot of golden leaves on the ground and some of the trees are starting to show their autumn colours. I’m much looking forward to seeing the winter arrivals showing up .

September was a great month bird wise after having a break in August it was great to be back Birding again. At the beginning of the month I saw two juvenile Goldfinches at the feeder, it was the first time I ever seen one so it was exciting to see them.

I did a lot of walking in September and one morning before I headed on a walk I watched a House Sparrow & a Goldfinch at the feeder followed by two Goldfinches. During my walk in Cramond beach I spotted a Heron.

That weekend saw me spot my last Swallows of the year. I haven’t seen any since so I hope they have a safe trip back to Africa.

As we were in September it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen my regular female Great Spotted Woodpecker in my garden since 8th April. There have been times I’ve not seen her for a few weeks and she will turn up but it’s not like her to not show up at all especially now as it was September. I had the feeling she may have passed on, but she was a brilliant regular to my feeder and hopefully her spouse & kids return to the garden soon and continue her legacy. I did put a rose on her favourite feeder and quickly took it off .

The garden was then full of Goldfinches adult & juvenile followed by a adult Greenfinch & juvenile.

On one drizzly afternoon I had enjoyed some Goldfinch at the feeder even some waited their turn while others fed on the feeder. It really brightened up my day.

I had a few days up in Fife it was great to get away. Stayed at Lower Largo but did go for a walk through Pittenweem, Anstruther & Cellardyke. Through out the walk I spotted lots of Cormorant, Shag, Heron, Curlew, Redshank & Sandpiper. On my last day had a close encounter of seals as well.

I will finish off this months blog by showing you pictures I took during my walking exercise. The first is when I was back down at Cramond and spotted two Herons, one on the ground and the other on a tree.

This week on my walk I came across very strange looking fungi next to the bank. I’m not a fungi expert but it was extraordinary and interesting to see.

When I was walking through Barnton woods I came across a Robin perched on a branch singing away so I stopped and watched it sing till it flew off. Just as I was walking on the path between two golf courses I came across some Long Tailed Tits on the tree above me but only managed to take a photo of two of them, that was the highlight of the walk. It’s been a very quick month and I’m looking forward to what this month has in store.