It still amazes me how many people always congregate at the weir in the River Kelvin to admire the heron fishing on the far side, and how few people actually notice this lovely loud and active little bird when walking along the river.

The dippers loud call ‘zit, zit, zit’, similar to that of the wren, is a dead give away. On hearing bird’s call, it is always easily spotted due to its white chest and continuously bobbing movements.

This afternoon, I spotted this dipper on the other bank with the wreck of a car as a backdrop, making for a contrasting image. After the bird moved along the bank a little, I got the opportunity to take some shots ‘unspoiled’ by men, getting as close as possible by stepping on some stones in the water. When I turned to step back onto the bank of the river, I realised that I was the attraction of passers by. My jaw dropped when they asked me what on earth I was taking a picture of.

It’s a very wise dipper, staying on the safe and dark side of the river, as far away as possible from the walkway, busy with people and dogs. The little dipper is undeterred by the action on the other side of the river, and is continuously bobbing on the rocks and dipping in and out of the water. Occasionally, it will swim on or even below water in search of food.

Unfortunately, the river is too wide at this point to get close enough, even with 400mm, so the shots below are heavily cropped, in addition to being taken at high ISO and slow shutter speeds.

Dowanhill Bob, our local sparrowhawk, has been ruling the roost in the West End this winter, terrorising our garden residents, including siskins, goldfinches, robins, chaffinches, great tits, coal tits, blue tits, tree sparrows and even wood pigeons. The only birds that stand up to him and chase him away are the crows.

Our garden used to be teeming with little birds, but since Bob has appeared on the scene, it has been extremely quiet. And when the birds are in our garden, they are visibly on edge, looking round from a branch in the undergrowth, swooping into the seed feeder, grabbing a sunflower heart, and swooping off into the undergrowth to eat it. A complete contrast to last winter, when literally hundreds of birds were in our garden feasting on the seeds, fighting for a spot on the feeder.

We have been seeing Bob daily, when he swoops into Athol lane and perches on the tree at the back of our garden or sometimes on top of the seed feeder in the middle of our garden. Unfortunately, the tree in the back is too far away to get any decent shots, but when he is on the seed feeder, he is within good range as you can see.

He is lovely coloured male and hopefully I’ll be able to get some shots of him in flight soon.

While walking along the River Kelvin, halfway between the Botanics and Kelvinbridge, I spotted a pair of Goosanders standing on the rocky shallows in the middle of the river. The drake had it’s head tucked under his wings, probably having a well earned siesta on the chilly afternoon, but the duck was busy cleaning herself.

I think that, unlike with most ducks (and birds), the duck (female) is actually more beautiful than the drake (male). And I just love the combination of the detail of her feathers with the turned head with crown.