Teddy Edward: January 2024

My first blog posting of 2024 and as the title suggests it covers the wildlife and views I enjoyed during local walks (and in our garden) over the last six months or so. I will start with a walk to the reedbeds on the southwest side of Crossford, which I did back in May 2023. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the reedbeds from our house, so let's get started.

Five minutes from the house you enter the woods at Pitfirrane Level:

Pitfirrane Level Woods

Follow the path through the Woods

The path leads you to the ruins of the old stables which once served Keavil House:

Ruins of old stables

Nature is taking over the ruins

Once through the stable ruins you carry on down the path through the woods:

Follow the path to the reedbeds

Nice Bluebells

Once you leave the woods you follow a track down to the start of the reedbeds. By start I mean the inlet channel of these reedbeds, which are operated and maintained by The Coal Authority to clean up the water rising from the old mine workings in the area. Particle of Iron (in the form of Ferric Hydroxide) from the mine workings are evident in the water and you can see the tell-tale Ochre colour at the inlet works:

Inlet Pool at Crossford Reedbeds

Don't be alarmed by this, that's why the reedbeds are there, they do a great job of cleaning up this water, hence why it's popular with the local wildlife.

When the water reaches the main pond the reedbeds have done their job and the water is nice and clear:

View through the reeds

The main pond

And the wildlife is on show, with this Reed Bunting making it's presence known:

Reed Bunting at Crossford Reedbeds

Here's the song it was singing:

A little further along the path the reeds open up and you can get a better view of the main pond:

Yellow Flag Iris on other side of main pond

Main Pond at Crossford Reedbeds

There was some wildfowl on the pond, including this pair of Gadwall:

Gadwall on main pond

Duck and Drake Gadwall

A pair of Greylag Geese also flew in and landed on the water at this point, they then proceeded to do a 'courtship display' on the pond

Greylag Geese on Main Pond

Greylag Geese "displaying"

A little further along the reedbeds I heard the distinctive sound of a Sedge Warbler singing:

Sedge Warbler in the Reeds

Sedge Warbler

Of course when I tried to video the Sedge Warbler it got stage fright and stopped singing:

You can however hear a Chaffinch singing in the background.

I crossed over the outlet channels at the end of the main pond to reach the other side of the reedbeds. As the water flows out the sluice gates you can see how clear it is and how much the reedbeds have made a difference to water quality.

Path over the Outlet Channels

The 'other side' of the reedbeds

Whilst on this side of the reedbeds some more Greylag Geese flew in and landed on the pond. It then got a bit noisy as they all argued about territory and partners and whatever else geese argue about.

In the reeds on the opposite side of the track from the pond I heard another Sedge Warbler, and this time I did manage to catch it singing on video:

I carried on along the track which took me back towards the inlet to the reedbeds. Just before I got to the end of the track I heard another warbler singing in the reeds next to me. I couldn't see it but I could certainly hear it. It didn't sound like a Sedge Warbler to me, more like a Reed Warbler (I think?).

As I couldn't get a photo of it I was left with a recording of the warbler's song, see what you think, is it a Reed Warbler?

Better if I had got an image of it, but would appreciate any comments from you birders out there.

Back at the inlet to the reedbeds you get a good view of Pitfirrane Castle, which is now an integral part of Dunfermline Golf Course:

Pitfirrane Castle, from Crossford Reedbeds

That's it for my local walk to Crossford Reedbeds, next up is the wildlife in and around our garden. I know that doesn't sound too exciting but hopefully you might find something you like or find unusual.

We are quite fortunate that our house has a half decent view out the back window. It wasn't like that when we moved in, but after removing a couple of unwanted and over grown Leylandii trees we now have a bit of a view. We have an area of scrubland next to our back garden and beyond that lies farmer's fields. Okay so it is not the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but it is home to some wildlife:

Scrubland over our garden fence

View towards the farmer's fields

Sheep in the field

I know Sheep aren't really wildlife, but in that same field we have had flocks of Oystercatchers, Curlew and Pink-footed Geese at various times of the year.

In the spring/summer we had resident birds like our ratty Robin (always chasing other birds away) our cute Blue Tits (which started nesting in the bird box a few days after I put it up) and our one-legged Blackbird (which has two legs but one is broken and points backwards):

Ratty Robin

Blue Tit at the box

Blue Tit in the box

Blue Tit leaving the box

One-legged Blackbird having a drink

One-legged Blackbird on the ground

This poor Blackbird had soldiered on with a broken leg all through the Winter of 22/23 and was still visiting our garden last Autumn. Haven't see it for a few months now.

In the Autumn we get different visitors coming into the garden; although some of the regulars are still there:

Tulip Tree in Autumn Colours

Pheasant on the fence

Earthstar has landed (it's a type of fungus)

Long-tailed Tit in Tulip Tree

Long-tailed Tit in garden

Checking for insects to eat

Ratty Robin still here

I put my trail camera out overnight a few times in the Autumn to see what was about. Mainly it was cats, I identified no less than five different cats using our garden, none of them are ours. I did however get some other wildlife visiting at night:

and some in the morning:

Pity the Squirrel wasn't a red one.

The wildlife visiting the garden ramped up even more when the Winter weather took hold. This was particularly evident at the beginning of December when frosty weather turned to snowy weather: