New Camera, Same Old Blogger

 My lovely wife treated me to a new compact camera for my birthday, ideal for producing the snaps and videos I use in my blogs. 

This gave me the perfect excuse to get out to some of my local patches to test out this brilliant piece of photographic equipment. My first stop was down at the Forth Estuary under the Rail Bridge:

The Forth Bridges

The Rail Bridge

I had a look about for some wildlife to photograph but it was a bit quiet; the birds I could see were quite far away, but I tried my best with this little camera:

Heron under Rail Bridge

Red Breasted Merganser

There were a couple of birds on the shoreline which were a bit closer, but they kept dodging in and out of the rocks:

Curlew

Oystercatcher

Thought that it would be a good time to try the video recording on this little camera:

I was certainly pleased with the quality of that video. You might not see the full benefit of it as I had to reduce the quality level in order to upload the video to my blog.

Whilst I was in video mode, I managed to capture the Pilot's Launch returning to the Hawes Pier:

And here is that same boat moored at the pier:

Skua the Pilot Boat at Hawes Pier

Here is my last photo from this area, a train crossing The Bridge:

Train Crossing The Rail Bridge

Next stop on my outing was Pepper Wood near Kirkliston:

Pepper Wood

It was reasonably quiet here, but I did manage to snap a Blue Tit and a Blackbird:

Blue Tit in Pepper Wood

Blue Tit Close-up

Blackbird in Pepper Wood

I was just about to leave Pepper Wood when I heard the unmistakable sound of Pink-footed Geese. 

I frantically searched the sky through the trees and finally managed to catch them flying overhead:

On my way back from Pepper Wood I stopped at the back of Edinburgh Airport to check out the River Almond:

River Almond

Again there was not a lot about; a pair of Mallards on the River and a large green and white bird landing behind the trees:

Mallards on River Almond

Plane Landing at Edinburgh Airport

That was all for that days outing.

A few days later I was out again, this time a little trip to Humbie Pond:

Humbie Pond

Snowdrops at Humbie Pond

This private fishing pond can sometimes be quite good for birds, but on this occasion there wasn't too much and what was there was quite far away. I did manage to video some Teal, Coot and a solitary Dabchick:

There had been a lot of rain a few days earlier and some of the fields (and roads) in the Humbie area were flooded:

Flooded Fields near Humbie

It was however a really nice day, if a bit cold and windy, so I took some snaps of the scenery:

View towards The Queensferry Crossing

View towards the Snow-covered Ochil Hills

I also went for a walk along the old railway line from Dalmeny to Royal Elizabeth Yard to see if there was any wildlife about. However the only thing of note was a little group of Tree Sparrows, which are not particularly common in this area:

Tree Sparrow hiding in bush

Another Tree Sparrow a bit more visible

Tree Sparrow out on a limb

Not too great in the photographic stakes, but I did my best. Maybe the video is a bit better:

Short but sweet.

The rest of my photos and videos with my new camera were taken in my back garden, some better than others. Let us start with some birds I caught way back in February when we had a little snow:

Crow in Snow

Fat Pigeon of the Wood variety

Grumpy Greenfinch

Moving forward a week we saw some more Spring-like activity such as this Blue Tit investigating our old birdbox:

Blue Tit Entering Birdbox

Blue Tit in Birdbox

And here he is leaving the birdbox after checking it out:

Not sure if he approved or not.

We also had a Goldfinch practising his Spring song:

Goldfinch in our Tree

I know you can't hear him singing in the photo; here is the video evidence:

The Goldfinch song is supposed to sound a bit like someone jangling keys! you can make up your own mind about that.

We had a some other birds who visited the garden over the next few weeks:

Is that a new camera you have?

Is this pose okay?

This is how you pose?

I'm not really Grumpy

It's just the way I look!

Strike that pose!

But I wasn't limited to birds posing in the garden, oh no, our resident Wood Mouse just had to get in on the act:

Did you want cute?

Foraging in the sun

Last one for the camera.

So that's it for now. 

Some local photos and videos using my new compact camera, next time I will go further afield and seek out more exotic wildlife and scenery ................ I hope.

Hope you enjoyed these ones

cheers

Teddy Edward