Wildlife photography in November was at the mercy of the weather and this month was a very wet one in Edinburgh. Our average rainfall in November is normally around 80mm but this month it was over 140mm – this is an increase of 75%. The majority of this increase came in the middle of the month, where the water level readings, at the Murrayfield water station, trebled from 0.55 metre to 1.6 metres within 24 hours.
When the water levels rise this quickly, it displaces a lot of the wildlife, such as moorhen, dippers, mallards & goosanders. Kingfishers can’t swim so they need to find still pools of water to fish in and these areas are few and far between when the water levels are at 1.6 metres!
There were several lovely days with amazing light from a low winter sun. Whilst I tried to take advantage of the light, I wasn’t always successful, particularly when it came to the many goldcrests & siskins that I had spotted – there’s always next month!!
In terms of otter movements this month, the cub at the Balerno to Colinton stretch has now left its mum. There is still one mum and a single cub in the Colinton to Dean Village section. There was also a second mum with two cubs, in this section, but the cubs have gone their own way now. There are 2-3 single otters that have appeared on their own, at various points, on the water but I have been unable to identify them as male, female or cub, at the moment.
For the time being, here are a handful of shots from this month.
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