This kenspeckle bird was busy in St Mark's Park today, undistractably focused on a fish supper.
You can tell the individual was adult by its black supercilium (the stripe running in theory from base of beak, over the eye, to the back of the head). The word in Latin means eyebrow, and has given rise to supercilious, meaning haughty or stuck up.
Whether the bird is male or female is much harder to say. Males tend to have longer wings and beaks than females, but we're talking millimetres so more reliable identification is best reserved for behaviour in the nest. At the top of a tree. Perhaps better just to ignore gender distinctions.
The Water of Leith contains: brown trout, eels, flounder, grayling, minnow, stone loach, three-spined stickleback and footballs. All delicious raw if you ignore the flavour.
The Water of Leith Conservation Trust is holding a clean-up event around Bells Mill this Sunday from 10.00am–12.00pm. Assemble at the Edinburgh Sports Club (off Belford Road).
