Ken D
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Ken D
@gazingattrees.bsky.social
120 followers 110 following 54 posts
Pointing a camera at birds and beasties in and around Edinburgh. Photos by me, except reposts.

Walk softly and carry a big lens.
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It's fairly late for a northern brown argus, but that does mean it's not autumn yet. Spotted today in Holyrood Park.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark #Edinburgh
A northern brown argus (a small butterfly) sitting on a non-flowering head of knapweed on the left of the image with two out-of-focus flowering knapweed heads on the right.
July 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
A wool-carder bee on toadflax at The Botanics.

This was a nice surprise, I seldom see them visit flowers other than lamb's-ear (I'd watched a very aggressive one there earlier).

#bees #UkWildlife #Edinburgh #RbgeNature
A wool-carder bee visiting a purple and yellow flower, I think annual toadflax (Linaria maroccana). There's a lovely patch of these by the big pond.
July 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
This was a big surprise today, a white letter hairstreak appeared on the lady's bedstraw by the observatory building on Calton Hill.

@caltonhill.bsky.social, have a look high in your elms, they're likely there.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #CaltonHill #Edinburgh
A white-letter hairstreak on the small yellow flowers of lady's bedstraw. The white "W" that gives its name is visible here (but not the clearest example). It also gives the scientific name Satyrium w-album.
July 11, 2025 at 7:18 PM
A small skipper on catmint at The Botanics.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #Edinburgh #RbgeNature
A small skipper, a diminutive orange butterfly, sitting on the lavender-blue flowers of catmint (Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant').
July 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Stock doves at The Botanics this afternoon.

#birds #UKWildlife #RbgeNature #SexyPigeon
June 27, 2025 at 7:41 PM
A four-spotted chaser at Inverleith Park yesterday. There were three doing lots of chasing around lunchtime; this one let me admire it later in the day.

A dividend from letting the grass and loosestrife grow around the edges of the pond.

#UkWildlife #dragonflies #odonata #InverleithPark #Edinburgh
A four spotted-chaser resting on the tip of a long grass stem. The marks on the wing that give its name are visible, most dragonflies have similar outer marks but not the middle ones (pterostigma). The background is pale green with patches of pink. This is provided by purple loosestrife that is growing around the edge on the main pond.
June 21, 2025 at 9:26 AM
A cuckoo! An unexpected sighting in the centre of the city. I spotted it when looking over the wall from the Innocent Railway path into Murder Acre (the field below Samson's Ribs). #birds #UKWildlife
A cuckoo sitting on a low branch of a tree just above long grass. I assume it was finding food in the grass because it would go into the grass for a few seconds and then back up into the tree.
June 11, 2025 at 9:32 AM
A common shrew with a dark arches moth caterpillar. We were thrilled to watch the shrew hunting for several minutes, rooting around at the base of clumps of grass. The pursuit of the caterpillar took a while, but it looks like it was worth the effort. #HolyroodPark #UKWildlife
A shrew in grass with a fat caterpillar in its mouth. The shrew is a small rodent with short brown hair, small ears and a pointed snout. The body of the caterpillar is pale pink with small black spots. It has a pale head with maroon "eyes" (ocelli).
May 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
A gosling (Canada goose) in Holyrood Park this afternoon. It has one sibling and two attentive parents.

The swan is still on the nest at Dunsapie Loch.

#birds #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark
A small, fluffy, yellow gosling sitting in short grass. The geese, including the goslings, graze this patch of grass. I remained a respectful distance away, used a long lens and cropped the image.
May 18, 2025 at 6:56 PM
A large skipper made a brief appearance on Calton Hill yesterday. They can be found at Levenhall, but there are few records of them in the city. This one is early too. iRecorded.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #CaltonHill #Edinburgh
A male large skipper on red valerian.
May 18, 2025 at 9:51 AM
A cinnabar moth, my first of the year. I saw it fly into the garlic mustard during one of the last sunny intervals yesterday.

I suspected it might still be there today because the temperature had remained low. This time, I'd packed a macro lens and flash.

#moths #TeamMoth #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark
A cinnabar moth resting on the underside of a garlic mustard leaf. Its wings are folded, the visible wing is black with a long red stripe and two red dots.
May 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A juvenile moorhen, I guess days old based on its size and baldness. One of seven at the big pond at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh today.

#birds #UKWildlife #RbgeNature
A very young moorhen looking towards the camera. Its beak is red with a yellow tip. Its down is black with some long grey wisps at its neck giving the impression of a beard. The down on the top of its head is thin with skin showing. A wing is visible, but it is barely a stump. Its legs are not visible (obscured by vegetation) - those are well-formed already, and the young chicks can walk through the reeds.
May 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
A wheatear surprised me on Haggis Knowe in Holyrood Park today. I usually see them higher in the park's hills.

That's the National Monument of Scotland on Calton Hill in the background.

#birds #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark #CaltonHill #Edinburgh
A wheatear atop a rock with a hill in the background topped by a Parthenon-like structure. The structure is the National Monument of Scotland, built as a memorial to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars (with thanks to Wikipedia, it's an interesting article).
April 30, 2025 at 8:17 PM
An orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) on Chinese lilac (Syringa x chinensis) at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh yesterday.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A side-on image of a male orange-tip butterfly. The underside of the lower wing is spotchy green on white, ideal for camouflage, but the upper wings are not fully folded in, showing a splash of the orange that gives the butterfly its common name. It is sitting on a cluster of pale pink flowers. I had to check the plant label for this one, it's Syringa x chinensis. The image is framed by out-of-focus green and pink achieved by taking the shot through a gap in the foliage.
April 26, 2025 at 9:59 AM
A grasshopper warbler in Holyrood Park this afternoon. A long shift loitering beside the brambles was rewarded.

#BirdingLothian #HolyroodPark #UKWildlife
A grasshopper warbler calling from its perch in new-growth brambles.
April 20, 2025 at 5:54 PM
A speckled wood on grape hyacinth at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh yesterday.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A side view of a butterfly with its wings together so one underside is visible. The wing is brown with cream patches and the background has similar colours with some greens provided by moss on a rock. The grape hyacinth has a cluster of small blue urn-shaped flowers a little like a bunch of grapes.
April 11, 2025 at 8:23 AM
A peacock on Narcissus 'Salome' at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh today.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A peacock butterfly sitting on top of a pale, almost white, daffodil. There are many other daffodils out-of-focus in the image. The trumpets of the daffodils are more yellow.
April 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Not the only sunbather I saw today, this is Dunsapie Loch's resident terrapin.

I was told last year at "the other place" that it's a red-eared slider.

#UKWildlife #HolyroodPark
A terrapin sitting on a small wooden raft that provides a resting place for birds in the middle of a small loch (lake).
April 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
My first speckled wood of the year, on Corylopsis at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. A holly blue was charging around the nearby hollies but not stopping for photos.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A speckled wood sitting on the pale yellow flowers of a Corylopsis (I think Corylopsis sinensis, Chinese winter hazel).
March 31, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This comma spent a lot of time on the path, gravel, branches and ivy leaves but gave me a brief photo op as it fed at the grape hyacinth (Muscari aucheri) in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh today.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A comma butterfly sitting on a spike of small, blue grape hyacinth flowers with other spikes of the flower out-of-focus in the background. The rest of the background is green from the foliage of the flowers.
March 26, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I have realised that my list of harbingers of spring has become stupidly long. But this is one of my favourites: a wheatear in Holyrood Park this afternoon. A reward for climbing the hill looking for butterflies that weren't to be found.

#birds #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark
A male wheatear standing on a rock.
March 25, 2025 at 8:11 PM
A small tortoiseshell in Holyrood Park this afternoon.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #HolyroodPark
A small tortoiseshell sitting on a thin branch covered in small white flowers. The butterfly has some damage on the rear of its left wing.
March 19, 2025 at 8:16 PM
A hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes), on pulmonaria today at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

That was one of a few first-of-the-year sightings today. Others were frog spawn, a small tortoiseshell and purple toothwort.

#bee #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A hairy-footed flower bee on a pulmonaria flower. The bee has the short ginger hairs of a male and the legs hairs that give the common and specific names are visible.
March 11, 2025 at 7:45 PM
A peacock on Rhododendron dauricum 'Rosa' in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh today.

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A peacock butterfly sitting on the pink flowers of a rhododendron.
March 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I saw the red admiral at the same bush yesterday in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Of course, I looked again today, but the sun didn't poke out until I was on my way home. I'll try again tomorrow...

#butterfly #ScotButterflies #UKButterflies #UKWildlife #RBGENature
A red admiral sitting with open wings on a cluster of small pink rhododendron flowers (it's Rhododendron dauricum 'Rosa'). The background is mostly pink, provided by out-of-focus flowers on the same bush.
March 1, 2025 at 6:07 PM