A funny old time!

Well it's been a long while since I posted anything. Mainly because we haven't done a lot of birding in the last couple of months. Also I think I mentioned in my last post, that I was having camera problems, this was repaired, but then my 500mm lens would no longer auto-focus due to a firmware upgrade applied by Nikon while the camera was being repaired!

So the lens had to be sent away at my cost, to Sigma for an upgrade (free), only to find that when I damaged the camera, the lens must have taken a hit too and also needed a repair. Many £££s later it should all be sorted and I should get it back in time to go to Lesvos next month.

In the mean time we have been up to Edinburgh a couple of times and made our first visits to the Musselbourgh Lagoons, plus a wander around the coasts of the Firth of Forth. Then after taking in some shows at the Fringe we spent a day at a very soggy RSPB Loch Leven.

The hides at Musselburgh are somewhat basic (no roofs), but the views on to the pools are great, over the two visits, this was the list, not huge, but we only spent a short time as we had things to do and it was August!

Blackbird,

Black-headed Gull

Black-tailed Godwit

Blue Tit

Carrion Crow

Curlew

Dunlin

Gannet

Canada Goose

Greenshank

Greylag Goose

Jackdaw

Knot

Lapwing

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Magpie

Mallard

Mute Swan

Oystercatcher

Pied Wagtail

Redshank

Robin

Sandwich Tern

Shelduck

Stock Dove

Swallow

Teal

Woodpigeon

We visited the estuary at Aberlady, unfortunately the tide was in, so there was little about, a few Lapwing, distant Curlew and loads of Mallard.

On our last day up in Scotland and 'Fringed Out' we drove north up the M90 to the RSPB Reserve at Loch Leven. The weather was awful but we persevered and managed a few hours when the rain eased off and visited all the hides. It was a great day in the end, with our first Osprey sightings of the year, we think four seperate birds.

Blackbird

Black-headed Gull

Blue Tit

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Coot

Cormorant

Curlew

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Canada Goose

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

Greylag Goose

Lapwing

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Little Grebe

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen

Mute Swan

Osprey

Pied Wagtail

Reed Bunting

Robin

Sand Martin

Sedge Warbler

Snipe

Starling

Swallow

Teal

Tree Sparrow

Tufted Duck

Water Rail

Willow Warbler

Woodpigeon

So not bad for what was essentially two non-birding trips.