September was a frustrating month for photography… basically, I didn’t take many photographs!
That might sound strange, given how much time I spent out with my camera, but much of what I was doing involved testing a new video camera for some very specific shots, as well as identifying multiple locations for four different projects that I’ll be working on over the next eight months, along the whole 12.75 miles of the Water of Leith Walkway.
So, although September wasn’t particularly productive from a photography point of view, there was plenty going on behind the scenes.
My wildlife trail cameras, meanwhile, just kept on rolling, and it’s always encouraging to see the wildlife clips they capture. During the summer months, spotting wildlife from the Water of Leith Walkway can be surprisingly difficult, particularly from around mid-May through to mid-October when the vegetation is at its thickest. The trail cameras give me a completely different view of what is happening, showing that while we might not see much from the path, the wildlife is still getting on with life as normal.
One of the projects I was working on this month involved the dippers, and I was particularly pleased to capture a clip of one singing away without apparently opening its bill at all. I don’t remember ever filming a dipper behaving like this before, so it was a fascinating little discovery – and exactly the sort of thing that makes the what I do so worthwhile.
[CLICK HERE to see the clip]
I did manage a few photographs during September, including some of the swan cygnets. I hadn’t actually set out to photograph them. I was photographing House Sparrows at Murrayfield Stadium and later at Leith when, rather conveniently, the cygnets appeared right next to me!
So, despite September being a relatively quiet month photographically, it was certainly a busy one from a wildlife and filming perspective.
And hopefully, from mid-October onwards, it will be full steam ahead on the Water of Leith. My first project – weather permitting – will be a kingfisher count covering the entire 12.75 miles of the walkway, carried out over 12–15 days.
That should keep me busy!
