Sightings at Leadburn

After seeing my first whitethroat during my last visit to Leadburn Community Woodland, I was determined to come back and explore some more. I knew that there was a wide area of heathland that I hadn’t seen yet and I’d also heard there was a pond.

It was a clear, bright morning on Monday so I seized my opportunity.

I headed straight for the heathland. The views across Midlothian and the Pentlands Hills were spectacular. But the first thing that caught my attention was a derelict building – it looked like the type of place birds might use for nesting.

I poked my head in and was immediately greeted by the most incredible encounter. A barn owl flew down from the rafters and perched on a beam only a few feet from my head. It stared straight at me, and then took off silently out of a window. I hurried out and managed to get this distant photo before it settled in some woodland.

I’d twice before suspected I’ve seen a barn owl on my way to work (see here and here) but this is the first time I can be certain. I don’t know whether the owl was just using the building for roosting or whether there was a nest. I wouldn’t want to disturb a nest site so I won’t be entering the building again next time I visit.

I carried on walking and saw these birds, which were making a tsi-tsi! type of call and taking short looping flights from perch to perch. Here are some photos:

And here is a video:

I think they were meadow pipits as the description and their call seems to match and also the habitat, although tree pipits are apparently very similar. I did post the images on iSpot but haven’t got a response.

At the far end of the site, I saw some birds amongst the reeds. I was pretty sure they were warblers, but it took a while before they came out of the reeds enough for me to see them properly.

According the ID guide on my phone, the flat forehead and dark ‘cap’ means they are likely to be sedge warblers and iSpot agrees. I did get a very short video of them too:

By this point I was feeling very satisfied. Barn owls, meadow pipits and sedge warblers are all life ticks for me so the morning couldn’t really have gone any better.

I did find the pond that I’d heard about. There was no bird-life although it was surrounded in this cotton grass which looked beautiful in the dawn sun.

I did catch sight of a distant roe deer bounding away and there were a number of deer tracks in the mud.

I was just about to head back to the car, but there was one more surprise to come.

At of the corner of my eye I saw a bird landing on the ground about a hundred yards away. I thought it looked largish so crept closer to see what it was. To my total amazement I discovered that it was a green woodpecker.

I’d seen this on BBC Springwatch the previous week and never imagined I’d see one in the flesh so soon. It spent a minute or so foraging on the ground before I lost sight of it. I had managed to get one (very distant) photo of it perched on a post:

The green woodpecker is yet another life tick for me and a very special one at that.

Garden Wildlife 19: Lilac

Our very own “tree.” The untidy centre-piece of our garden. Popular with the birds due to its dense foliage and the bird feeder(s) we hang there.

It’s our lilac (Syringa vulgaris). It may not be much, but it’s ours!

We gave it a pretty severe haircut in late winter so it’s not really flowered much, although the few flowers it has produced are gorgeous as always. Lots of the other gardens nearby have similar trees.

According to Wikipedia, the common lilac is a member of the Olive family. It is native to the Balkan peninsula. However it is widely cultivated now and used as an ornamental in Europe and North America. It can grow as a large shrub or multi-stemmed small tree, producing secondary shoots from the base or roots which in time can produce a clonal thicket. Sounds very much like our own specimen!

Read more about the Common Lilac at Wikipedia, RHS and the BBC.

Insects in Sunlight

Caught my imagination for some reason. On a recent trip to Cardrona Forest, a shaft of sunlight through the conifers lit up the myriad flying insects in the air.

Garden Wildlife 18: Welsh Poppy

We have a number of these flowers currently in the front garden.

I popped the images onto iSpot, and was informed that it is a Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica), quite possibly a garden cultivar.

The RHS says that the Welsh poppy is a “tap-rooted perennial with light green, pinnately lobed leaves and bowl-shaped lemon-yellow or orange flowers.” The Wildlife Trusts describes it as an ideal plant to brighten up a shady corner in a garden.

Read more about the Welsh poppy at Wikipedia, BBC and the RHS.

Garden Wildlife 17: Bluebell

At this time of year we have a profusion of these flowers in the garden:

They’re bluebells! These are likely to be a hybrid of native bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica). The overall shape of the plant is pendant like native bluebells, and the creamy-white pollen is typical of natives too. However, the bell-shaped flowers, many of them attached to the stem, are more characteristic of Spanish bluebells. iSpot agrees.

The Latin name to describe such hybrids is suitably catchy: Hyancinthoides non-scripta x hispanica = H. x massartiana.

According to Wikipedia, Hyacinthoides non-scripta is our native bluebell, often associated with ‘bluebell woods’ in May (such as the one I blogged about recently), while Hyacinthoides hispanica, the Spanish bluebell, is an introduced species. The two hybridise easily.

Find out more about the bluebell at Wikipedia, BBC Nature and The Natural History Museum.

Bluebells

At the entrance to our estate, there’s a tiny wooded area. There’s not much to it, but there are a couple of paths which can provide a small diversion to the footpath along the main road.

Today I took Ellie there for a short walk. We were delighted to discover the woodland floor carpeted with bluebells!

What a fantastic sight!

Garden Wildlife 13: Glory-of-the-snow

One of the flowers that came up in our garden this spring is this little beauty.

According to the clever people at iSpot, it’s a Glory-of-the-snow (Scilla forbesii). There’s a few of them scattered in the corner of the garden near an old tree stump.

According to ukwildflower.com, glory-of-the-snow is an introduced species from western Turkey that has become a favourite early spring flower in UK gardens. The Latin name used to be Chionodoxa forbesii until 2010.

Find out more about glory-of-the-snow at ukwildflower.com, Wikipedia and Botany Boy.

Garden Wildlife 9: Lenten Rose

Another flower bloomed in our garden this week.

I had no idea what it was, but I’m told by some helpful souls on iSpot that it’s a Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis).

According to Wikipedia, the Lenten rose is one of the ‘hellebores,’ flowering plants that are sometimes likened to roses but aren’t actually related to them. The hellebores found in gardens nowadays are mostly hybrids between H. orientalis and related species and subspecies, and I expect the specimens in my garden are no different.

Wikipedia also says that the five ‘petals’ of the Lenten rose are actually sepals. The petals themselves are hidden inside and are modified to hold the nectar.

About.com says that this plant is called the Lenten rose because it flowers during the Christian season of Lent.

You can read more about the Lenten rose at the BBC, Wikipedia, Gardeners’ World and About.com.

Mystery Nest

Can’t quite believe I didn’t noticed this before!

The climber at the front of our house has shed its leaves and revealed this cute little nest, which was presumably occupied last Spring. Does anyone know what could have made it?

The birdfeeder is back!

Today I put our bird feeder back up. It’s hanging in its usual place on our lilac shrub.

What prompted me was finding two small bags of seed in a box in our storage cupboard.

Already, it’s attracted robins, coal tits, blue tits, woodpigeons, chaffinches and plenty of house sparrows. It’s great to see so many birds in our garden again!

I had stopped putting feed out earlier this year to try and save a bit of money, but now I’m seriously tempted to order a new sack of bird seed.