First off, I just wanna comment on how warm it is for a February day. According to my
weather app, it's 10 degrees. Like, I'm out without a jacket in February, like, this is
mind-blowing. And not in a good way. Hi, gang. If you're just joining us my name is Meg,
I am a somewhat beginner wildlife photographer... documenting my journey and my learning all
here on Youtube so if that interests you... join the gang - apparently we're a gang now
- and hit the subscribe button. I am kind of, like, in my natural habitat, if you're
new to my videos or if you're familiar with them, you will be familiar or will come to
be familiar with this image of me leaning against a tree in a public park. It's just,
it's what I do. In terms of what park I'm in, right now I'm in Victoria Park which is
in the west end of Glasgow, in an area called Partick. I had kind of only heard of this
park for one reason which I will get to in a minute and which is in the title of the
video. But I came to kind of know about it's reputation for being a good place for birdwatchers
to go through an app called 'Where to Watch Birds in Scotland'. I'm not sponsored obviously,
I just really like this app. But it's, it is actually fantastic. It gives you a map
of Scotland with little location markers of where you can go birdwatching, and where's
great to go birdwatching. It not only gives you locations of where you can go birdwatching,
but if you click on the location it gives you the best seasons to go and it actually
gives you points of interest where you're likely to see things and there's also a part
where people can actually record their recent sightings so you can have a look and see;
"oh my goodness, somebody saw a feral pigeon here I really wanna go and see it!!" Yeah,
I just thought it was a really cool app if you are a birdwatcher or wildlife photographer
in Scotland, I highly recommend it, or if you are coming to Scotland and want to see
some of our birds then you should also download it. I was surprised to see a park in Glasgow
on this app, it's great for waterfowl because we actually have a loch just here, which I
will show you in a minute. But what is particularly notable about it and the reason that I had
already heard of this park, is that it is the only place in Scotland, or was the first
place in Scotland, that wild ring-necked parakeets established a population. I know you're probably
thinking; "parakeets? In Scotland? I know it's 10 degrees today but it's not exactly
tropical." Obviously, the parakeets are not native to here, they were mostly down in the
south of England, I believe. But, like the mandarin ducks, which were featured in another
of my videos, they made it north to Scotland and of all places have settled in Glasgow.
I'm not holding out much hope of seeing them today, but, I will take you down to the loch
and we will see what sort of wildlife we can see down there because from what I can see
there's quite a lot of bodies down there. Yeah, let's get away from this tree. Honestly,
yet another video where people are going to be commenting: "get some decent shoes". I
thought since I was just coming to the park my converse would be fine! But look at this!
Oh my god! Oh no. I thought I would quickly introduce you to my camera if you haven't
already been introduced. I use the Canon EOS 80D, and I use the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens
So I'm just down at the loch and I have been able to photograph a couple of coots
which is quite cool 'cause I haven't seen those since I was in St. James' Park in London.
And I even saw two doing the dirty although I didn't take a picture of it. Because I didn't
get there in time, not 'cause I respected their privacy.
I've been able to photograph
some tufted ducks up close as well which is, if you've seen my Loch Lomond vlog you will
have seen that they were like specks in the distance, so that's quite cool.
I have just
- are the cars too loud? This is how urban this park is, there's like a main road right
there - but I've just also spotted two little grebes which I've also featured on my channel
before but, again, from like a massive [distance] so it is good to get them much closer, for
you guys to see them in all their glory.
I had literally just managed to kind of get
my converse a bit cleaner when I spotted a great spotted - haha - a great spotted woodpecker
and just ran right through a bog to get it and I don't think the picture's even any good
but there we go. I'm sorry, Converse.
So as you can maybe see, I have headed away from
the loch and towards where the app says that is the best chance to see the parakeets. I'm
not holding out much hope, but, ehm, I will just keep an eye out and see if I see anything
else of interest as well. 'Cause it's actually quite amazing just kind of how much I've seen
and this is just a Glasgow park, y'know, there is so much wildlife here. So, the app said
that it's up in these trees around here where they roost and obviously it's the middle of
the day so they're not doing that any time soon, but, ehm, I thought it was worth coming
down to just to have a, have a nosy. That's a magpie...
Yeah, all I'm seeing are magpies
and wood pigeons and grey squirrels, which is what you would expect from a park in Glasgow-
whoa! Yeah, which is what you would expect from a park in Glasgow, not, ehm, not parakeets.
Sorry the cars are loud again!
Look how tall these trees are...
That's cool.
So, yeah...
no parakeets unfortunately. Although I wasn't really expecting it so it's not like it's
a disappointment or anything. And I count myself lucky that I saw the great spotted
woodpecker, and the tufted ducks, and the little grebes and I also saw a redwing although
I didn't manage to get a picture of it. But, yeah, so I count myself lucky that I saw those.
Y'know, if wildlife showed up exactly when and where we wanted it to then it wouldn't
be wildlife so.
So, yeah, I'll probably end the vlog here and I just wanna say thank you
so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed and I'll maybe see you next time. Bye.