Riverside Ramble

Over the weekend I went walking along the river Tyne in Haddington looking for kingfishers. On my first evening looking I had no luck but was treated to lots of other interesting sights. First I saw a pair of colourful bullfinches feasting on dandelion seeds on the path in front of me. The male has a deeper pink coloured chest than the female.

There were lots of pigeons about, flirting and cooing with each other as usual. I often overlook them as they are such a common sight.

The grey squirrels too were flitting about the trees. They are such characters!

On the river itself was this grey heron, standing at the bottom of the falls.

Still no sign of a kingfisher, no electric blue darts flashing by, no high pitched whistles. But other blue birds were in the trees, chirruping away, bonny blue tits feeding off catkins.

You might think magpies are black and white birds, but look again! Sometimes its tail feathers are rainbow coloured if the sun catches them the right way.

A pair of mallards sat resting together on the river bank.

A swan and a white goose were reflected in the water.

Then finally my patience was rewarded on my second outing to the river. I spotted a kingfisher! Whenever I tried to zoom in for a snap it flew off. But then I spotted it sitting, possibly next to her nest hole ( or is that just wishful thinking?).