After work I managed an hour on the Kelvin.
Lets get the facts out the way – I caught two trout, both of which came to dries and one of the was an absolute stonker. The river had lost some of its height and color however is now covered in wee leaves or something and you can hardly see your fly on the surface because of them.
As I walked down the river I ran into a very pleasant old gent in his 80s. He was dressed immaculately and was sitting on a wee chair gazing at the water. As I got closer I realized he had the biggest camera I have ever seen. It turns out he was trying to take pictures of the Kingfishers. He told me that he has been visiting this spot for several years and regularly photographs Kingfishers and the mink that roam around. He was passing the time taking pictures of the ducks. He told me that every now and then he makes DVD’s of his videos and pictures so that sometimes he can sit and look back on them. His latest was “Sights of the River” I asked him if he ever thought about showing them to anyone, for example, on the internet, he smiled and said he did not think anyone would be interested. Even though he is in his 80s he had the technical know how as he explained about editing all the footage together on his laptop.
He had been in hospital for the last few weeks and was on new drugs for his heart, he said, however they did not need to see him for another three weeks – he took that as a good sign.
As we chatted I found myself looking up for a change as he pointed out the various perches he had seen the Kingfisher. I spotted a lovely looking bird I had never seen before. We both thought it might be a woodpecker and on further reading it turns out it was a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Being this urban lad who does not get much of a chance to get out into the country air seeing this so near the city was a treat and a half. It made up for the lack of trout rising and the wind.
Maybe next time I will see it again, I will be keeping my eyes open!
I enjoyed that. The pecker in the photo is a male as they have a red patch at the back of the neck. We get them on the feeders in the garden.
Fantastic, I am in the process of moving house just now and one of my goals is to get a garden that will actually attract birds. My current garden was all stones and was a desert to birds despite my best efforts. I laid lawn last year and have seen more birds in the last month or so – just in time to move out though 🙁
Where abouts do you live?
Hi, I live in Lennoxtown and my back garden is on the bank of the Glazert. I could cast a fly from my back door. Attracting birds is simple. Get a few feeders and hang them up. Woodpeckers like those coconut shells filled with suet as do tits. The only downside is that feeders attract crows and Magpies that devour everything and wood pigeons are the worse. Just make sure you can see the feeders from a window as kids love watching the birds.
Ronnie
Great post we have a nesting box on the side of my shed. Last year a pair of Blue tits nested in it and produced 7 eggs that all hatched. This year again Blue tits have nested and the 9 eggs they have laid have all hatched in the last couple of days. Alison and the grandsons Aarron and Jay have loved having the little tits back again and have spent hours watching them. The grandsons have been taking some photos that I have taken of the tits to nursery so their teachers and classmates can see the chicks progress.
When you get the new house Ill built you a couple of nesting boxes for the boys.