Calton Hill

Sunshine and haze over Calton Hill this morning, where Friends met under the expert guidance of the Scottish Ornithology Club's Stephen Welch to record breeding pairs of bird.

Patient listening and hard stares helped in identifying 18 different species over 2 hours.

Namely: jackdaw, magpie, carrion crow, common gull, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull …

This morning, to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day, Spurtle despatched its Avian Affairs correspondent to the tranquil slopes of Upper Greenside.

Here, at 5.19 am, somewhere above the omnipresent hum and hiss of the OMNi Centre plant, is what they heard …

Blackbird, blue tit, chiffchaff, coal tit, herring gull, nuthatch, robin, song thrush, woodpigeon, wren, Eurasian drug dealer and common taxi.