A couple of very rare sightings...

The Adult Education Classes start this week, so I was up and out with the commuters to go to my Bird Watching Class (Part 2).

A merry bunch of folk again, and after introductions we wandered up the Water of Leith looking for the fabled kingfisher. A sighting of him? No. But we did have a prolonged sighting of a dipper, dipping in the river. And we heard robins (just about the only birds still twittering at this time of year) and saw lots of tits. (Quiet there, at the back!) We also saw a pair of very rare striped black and white knickers. (Honestly. On a branch high up).

I heard what I would have said was a small crow making crowing noises. But it was a squirrel! I had no idea they made a noise, let alone a crow-like noise. Saw a rare (in Scotland) hornbeam tree, which has rather lovely pendulous catkins, which were turning yellow. A heron flew squawking above us. It was all go!

What I love about a group of birdwatchers is how we will all stand, in reverential silence and awe, and gaze at a tiny wee bird away up in a tree. For ages.

Actually, I lie, I could have got a photo of a kingfisher. When we came back I stopped off at the weir to see if there were any photo opps. Two chaps were examining the grassy bank very closely. Birders? No. They were searching for a lost ring. I said I wanted a photo of a kingfisher, and one of the chaps declared that he knew where I could definitely see one - a tattoo on his shoulder. I declined politely.

I was going to have a wander in town, then I remembered what was waiting for me at home - not only the big screen TV and the America’s Cup report, but an Almond Magnum in the freezer. Guess what won...

I did see this strange unidentified creature in the woods though...