There has been some miserable weather over the last few weeks in January. Plenty heavy rain, driving winds & dark skies, mixed with a handful of perfect chilly days, made wildlife photography a challenge this month!
Having said that, I have found January to be one of the best months of the year, to photograph kingfishers, over the last 3 years, so that’s what I concentrated on this month. If you spot a kingfisher on a perch at this time of year, take note, because it is likely to return to that perch several times that day & for the foreseeable future or for as long as the fish supply continues.
The heavy rain has produced high water levels & fast flowing water. In these situations, the Water of Leith gets fairly murky. When combined with fast flowing water, it makes it very hard for the kingfishers to feed i.e. they can’t see the fish below the water line. This has been the case several times this month, so I have kept an eye on gardens, with ponds that sit along the water. I have managed to photograph the kingfishers using these garden ponds to feed on newts and other pond life! They have also been using the garden furniture, as perches as well.
Dippers & wagtails have temporarily lost a lot of the boulders that they usually sit on because of the high water levels. However, alternatives were always found! Cormorants don’t seemed to have been fazed by the weather so far.
Sadly, as I mentioned in November’s post that we had lost an otter cub, it would appear that the very high water levels have taken their toll yet again. Of the four otter cubs that were born between 16 Aug & 1 Sep, there is only one cub that has survived. Unfortunately, one of the mums has been picked up on the trail cameras, multiple times, over a 4-5 week period but without any cubs with her. This is highly unusual if they were still alive. The second mum still had her two cubs up until the first week in January but she has been spotted after that with only one cub. Unfortunately, with the weather and more high water levels forecast, I had to pull in all my trail cameras and I’ve not had a chance to get them back out.
Finally, a huge THANK YOU to the Water of Leith Conservation Trust for inviting me to talk about ‘Spotting Urban Wildlife on the Water of Leith’ on the Mon 22 January. Also thanks to everyone who came along. I was told that all tickets were sold out 4 months in advance, so we have already discussed the possibility of doing another wildlife photography talk later on in the year or the start of 2025. Watch this space!
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