August 29th 2024 – Off for a wander up the Ericht in Blairgowrie, we walk here fairly often and I’ve taken to spending more time on the banks now that I’ve seen Kingfishers, very briefly!
So I parked up as usual, grabbed all the gear, often just one camera and headed up the path.
Up at the wee bridge I spotted my first subject, a female Goosander fishing.
Blink and you’d miss her, my first attempt did 🙂
Oooh! Wagtail.
Yes, I’m easily distracted, things catch my eye and whoosh
Grey Wagtail female on the lade wall
Meanwhile, back with the Goosander, she was now right below me…
And stretch …..
Right, what’s for eating?
It was great to be so close to a usually shy bird.
Then a few more turned up, there were five by this time!
I used to be able to get quite close to a mixed flock of Goosander on the pond in S. Wales so it was good to see these birds so close up.
No males around, wonder where they go?
Stretch and shake
They were so intent on fishing they kind of forgot I was just above them on the path.
As I’ve been editing these, I’ve noticed some of the birds have a white-ish stripe just under the eye and onto the beak. I wonder if this is a family growing up and some are younger birds?
Sing girls!
You can see the eye and cheek markings on the nearest bird in the shot below, the others don’t seem to have it?
I even managed a glamour shot with one of them 🙂
Sorry, quite a few shots there, one last group photo …. well, almost.
And off I went, on up the river walk. There’s a wee beach area we always head for, usually with a picnic.
I wandered down to the beach and sat a while, there was a bird calling somewhere nearby, sounded like a Buzzard.
Yup, a Buzzard, maybe a young bird? Sat up in a tree calling often.
It took off and headed down the river after about five minutes.
I followed and made my way back down the path, stopping off to climb down to the bank and watch for Kingfishers …..
I must add, I’ve only ever seen them flashing past, one day!
Scozmo's Photery 