There is no doubt that the Water of Leith is one of the best places in Edinburgh & arguably, Scotland, to see such a variety of urban wildlife, at close quarters. However, during the height of summer wildlife is so much harder to see/photograph amongst the leaves and thick foliage along the banks of the river. As a result of this, I tend to venture further afield, to more open spaces and occasionally wildlife hides.
During August I spent half my time on the Water of Leith and spent the rest of my time at places like, Morton Lochs, Loch Leven, the Trossachs & Argaty Red Kites outside Doune.
The Water of Leith otters have been out and about throughout the whole length of the walkway from Bonnington right up to Balerno in August. There have also been early morning sightings of foxes and roe deer, where they can easily hide within the tall foliage along the banks. So keep an ear open for the rustling of leaves/branches and an eye out for moving greenery. Whilst I always have an eye on the river, I sometimes forget to look at the other side of the walkway where there are parks, allotments, cemeteries, etc where there are often foxes/deer roaming about!
The highlight of August was without doubt photographing ospreys. I headed up to the Trossachs on several occasions and visited the Lake of Menteith, Loch Achray & Loch Venachar. These areas gave me some lovely sightings of ospreys but too often they were too far away to get good photos. I did manage to watch/photograph ospreys feeding at the Trossachs Osprey Hide outside Callander. Whilst this is a paid hide (apx £30/3 hours) you do get good close up shots of the ospreys, as they dive for fish right in front of you. It is also thrilling to watch them in action!
I also visited Argaty Red Kites, outside Doune, to photograph red squirrels. The single woodland hide has around 8-10 red squirrels that scurry around. The squirrels visit feeders that are positioned in such a way that they have to leap onto a feeding platform, right in front of you. Photographing flying squirrels, in low light, is tricky photography, at its best. It will have you chopping and changing your shutter speeds, scratching your head when deciding on using manual focus or auto focus and wondering how to keep your ISO in check! And you have to do all this in a flash of a second, as the wee red guys race around at speed!
As we enter September, we have autumn & some beautiful colours to look forward to. In the meantime here are some of my shots from August 2023.
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