Quote Originally Posted by Calgacus View Post
I'm glad you had such an enjoyable day in the Borders. It's a part of the country which is rather overlooked by visitors and Scots alike.

You were fortunate to see an osprey, though they are actually more common than you might think. You were also fortunate to see a kingfisher, it's been a while since I've seen one myself. The dipper-type bird that you spotted was indeed surely a dipper. They always make me smile when I see them.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoveranden...name/d/dipper/
Thank you Calqacus, I am a bit of a closet bird watcher and enjoyed seeing British birds. The Osprey looked exactly like the ones which are quite common here. So did the dipper except for the white breast ours are just a plain drab grey but with the same bold attitude and pumping tail. The Kingfisher was quite different. Ours are big bold and loud and quite common. The British one was like a little gem, bright blue and was in and out of sight in a moment, though clearly recognizable as a Kingfisher by its profile and flight. I also was surprised to see Magpies which are common in western Canada but I have never seen one in Ontario.

A question for you about blackbirds. All day there were big flocks of birds which looked very much like crows to me but their calling was quite different. They were very very abundant, although I never saw one very close. Were these Rooks or European Crows?