July 2026
July has whizzed by in a flash!
I tend to spend July and August exploring other parts of Scotland with my camera, mainly because the vegetation along the Water of Leith becomes so dense that many of my favourite wildlife viewing spots are obscured. On a positive note, the extra cover gives the wildlife a little more protection from the constant footfall along the walkway during the breeding season.
Sadly, it wasn’t enough to protect one of the young otter cubs that emerged from the natal holt at the beginning of June, at around 8–9 weeks old. It was doing well throughout June, but by early July I was only seeing the mother with one cub instead of two. None of my cameras positioned along the river captured what happened, so I’ll probably never know the reason for its disappearance. It’s always sad to lose an otter at any stage of its life but that’s nature.
During the first week of July, I headed out onto the Firth of Forth to photograph the grey seals around Inchcolm and the Forth bridges. I was fortunate to pick one of the calmest and warmest days of the year, which made for excellent conditions on the water.
A few days later I visited Morton Lochs, where I photographed jays, red squirrels and a variety of smaller woodland birds. I was also pleased to spot a couple of otters from the Railway Hide.
I then travelled north towards Aberdeen before continuing to a pine marten hide near Keith. I spent around six to seven hours waiting, hoping for an appearance. Thankfully, after about four hours, one pine marten emerged, several times over a 25-minute period, giving me more than enough opportunities to capture some images in daylight!!
My next stop was the Loch Garten area in search of crested tits. They proved harder to find than I’d hoped, but after spending a couple of mornings there, I eventually managed a few photographs that I was happy with. In hindsight, I probably should have visited earlier in the season, but that’s wildlife photography!
It was also great to see ospreys and, rather unexpectedly, several red kites soaring over the area. I can’t remember seeing red kites around Loch Garten, Boat of Garten and Nethy Bridge on previous visits, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Back in Edinburgh, it was time to return to my early morning starts along the Water of Leith. I kept hoping the missing otter cub would show up, but despite spending many hours searching and wading stretches of the river, it never did.
There was some good news, though. I came across a roe deer kid that I hadn’t seen before, so that was a welcomed surprise! Towards the end of the month, while watching a pair of dippers and a kingfisher darting up and down the river, I realised I was being watched myself. Standing quietly to my right hand side was a female roe deer with her kid. I last photographed this pair on 25 June, so it was wonderful to see how much the youngster had grown in just five weeks. It certainly looked far more confident than when I first encountered them.
My two-minute Wildlife on the Water of Leith – July 2026 video will be available on YouTube on Tuesday. I hope you enjoy it.
