September 2025
September seems to have flown by which is understandable after 6 days in France & then 3 days in Arisaig! Most of the remaining days were spent on the Water of Leith, where I was able to observe 5 kingfisher fledglings, via my trail cameras. Once they fledged and were out on the river, I was able to spot them, as they tried to start fishing & feeding for themselves. The adults chase them out of their territory within 7 days & then they have to fend for themselves thereafter.
This was harder to watch than normal, as I was fully aware that we had a mink, in the area, & they are ferocious predators. A helpless kingfisher chick sitting on the riverbank would not stand much of a chance. For footage of the mink, have a look at the start of this month’s YouTube video – CLICK HERE
For some reason the Water of Leith Otters were out and about a lot, during the day, this month.
There is currenty 1 resident female and 1 cub on the Water of Leith in Territory 3 (Colinton to Balerno); there are 2 resident females and 3 cubs in Territory 2 (Dean Village to Colinton) & a single otter in Territory 1 (Leith to Dean Village).
In addition to this, there is at least 1 (maybe 2) male otters visiting the whole length of the river, at the moment, as well. These resident female otters & cubs can travel between 5-10 miles, in their territories, in a 24 hour period. This year they have been spending about 75% of that time, moving around at night, so I am not sure why they were out so much more, in daylight, this month.
For those of you that maybe interested in spotting otters, on the Water of Leith, here’s a link to an article that I wrote about spotting otters, on the river – ‘Spotting Otters on the Water of Leith’ – the key thing about watching otters is not disturbing them. Hopefully, this article is self expanatory, in terms of taking due care, if you come across them, on the river.
As the otters were out so much more this month, I thought I’d make it an ‘Otter Only’ gallery this month! Enjoy!
CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS BELOW TO ENLARGE THE IMAGES
