Sparrowhawk in Edinburgh (and other stuff)

We went up to stay at our daughters the weekend in Edinburgh, so officially a non birding weekend, but that doesn't mean they don't come to us.

We looked out of the flat window and across the car park some 100 yards away, it was lunch time!

The obliging Sparrowhawk stayed for about 30 minutes whilst he completely devoured the pigeon. Shame the weather was so dull, plus he was under some trees, otherwise the photos would I hope have been better.

Whilst not a huge fan of Zoos, we booked a slot to see the Pandas, that was well worth it as I very much doubt that we will ever get the chance to see them in the wild:

We wandered around the Zoo and whilst we enjoyed the day, I still find it distressing to see the behaviour of some of the animals, especially the big cats, a Leopard in particular looked 'unhappy' pacing in front of the glass in what seems to me a tiny enclosure. I understand the essential breeding programme work that is so important for some species, but I find it difficult to reconcile some of the conditions, I could rant on for ages, but I won't.

So on the way home we took the scenic route via North Berwick and stopped for a coffee and Ice-cream. We had good views of Gannets coming close to the harbour, plus Eider and our first Turnstones of the year.

If we had had time, we would have loved to gone on one of the boat trips run from the Scottish Sea Bird centre to get close to the Gannetts on Barr Rock, maybe next time...

20 days to Sri Lanka and counting!