Saturday, March 31, 2007

Status of the Birds of Heriot-Watt Campus

Early morning walk... hereby my exhaustive and binocular-free list of the birds of Heriot-Watt, Riccarton campus.

Mute Swan, Mallard, Tufted Duck (there's a loch - not exactly a crystal lagoon, but it does the job), Oystercatcher, Common Moorhen, Common Buzzard, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Great-spotted Woodpecker (really this time, drumming), Pied Wagtail, Song Thrush, Blackbird, (Winter) Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Carrion Crow, Rook (a rookery, maybe about 30 nests), Magpie, Chaffinch, European Goldfinch, and Greenfinch, Yellowhammer.

Also loads of cute baby bunnies, and a nice cinnamon-colured adult.

STOP PRESS:
Lunchtime on campus added Common Kestrel, Bullfinch and House Sparrow to what I now realise was not an exhaustively researched list of the birds of Heriot Watt.

2 comments:

Marianne said...

I've been to Heriot Watt to do aikido. Somehow I missed the loch :(

Martin said...

It's easy to miss - but you just have to follow the trail of swan droppings, and your nose.