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Tag Archives: willow warbler

Travelling again – 6. Mountain and Lochans

30 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, History, Photography, Wildlife

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Cairn Gorm, chickweed-wintergreen, Grant Arms Hotel, Meadow pipit, mountain avens, pill box, ring ouzel, Uath Lochans, willow warbler, WWII defences

Settings for morning and afternoon outings on Sunday 13th June could not have been more different, and it will become clear which I preferred.

I had been dubious about taking on the morning trip on Cairn Gorm with Nigel, and Sue W (the overall co-ordinator of programmes at the Grant Arms Hotel), as the programme mentioned walking up the mountain for a while. I am just not good on steady rises, but I decided to see how the land lay, as it were.

I stopped at the Cairn Gorm Ski centre’s lower car park to take advantage of the ‘viewpoint’, but as viewpoints go, I was a little disappointed. No doubt much better covered in snow.

While the lower car park had been nearly empty, the upper one, with the main ski centre, had plenty of vehicles there, despite it not being the skiing season. I took this photo to show that there was still snow in one very sheltered spot.

We met up, about a dozen of us, and I enquired how strenuous the walk was going to be. About half a mile of gentle walking I was informed, so decided of course to join in.

Sadly, much evidence of skiing paraphernalia was in evidence, and this was the least beautiful of the wildlife outings I did the entire stay.

The venue had been chosen in the hope of seeing a Ring ouzel or two, and, I think, a wheatear – I can’t remember. The first was achieved within a couple of minutes of our setting off, and very close, to the astonishment of those who knew about these things. A Ring ouzel, a.k.a. ‘mountain blackbird’, like the blackbird is a member of the thrush family. It has a white crescent bib.

We watched it bob about, getting to closer to us, for some time. It can just be seen at 10 o’clock on the edge of the upper large rock below.

More chickweed-wintergreen, actually a member of the primrose family:

There was a wildlife flower garden right by, in which we spent some time, and I could have taken a few more pictures of labelled plants (to be honest, the garden needed some tending) but I chose just this one, mountain avens.

People were also very pleased to see and hear a Willow warbler.

We started our trek uphill, which was not at all strenuous of course at the pace we went.

It was impossible to avoid man-made mountain furniture.

Though by focussing, once we got to our highest spot, on a very distant Ring ouzel, I could pretend it wasn’t there.

A very distant Meadow pipit took advantage.

I was pretty well in the vanguard of those turning round in due course, the thought of a coffee in the centre being rather attractive.

But we waited for the others, even so.

And were rewarded with another Willow warbler. Or perhaps it was the same one, having moved tree.

The afternoon was another kettle of fish, the Uath Lochans, which I see from this information is pronounced ‘wah lochans’ and means the hawthorn small lochs. A very pleasant afternoon was spent on a short trail, even though we did not see the Crested tit hoped for by many.

We met a mother and two children who visited regularly with one purpose in mind:

I have no idea what kind of mushroom this is.

Within seconds of observing this:

we observed this:

There was a bit of a breeze all afternoon, but it was not cold. Well, by comparison with other days that is. A heatwave was going on elsewhere in the UK.

Because we were only six in total, including the two guides, Sue W asked if she might bring her dog, Loki, along. She was very well-behaved and had fun.

This is bog cotton, I think.

Thus ended a gentle afternoon’s entertainment, and the day was rounded off with a yet another good dinner.

Postscript. In two earlier posts, I featured WWII pillboxes. I have since discovered this BBC article from 2015 about the defences along the Moray Firth, and this longer booklet by the Forestry Commission Scotland which explains that they were built because of fears of a German invasion from Norway, which of course never came.

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Grantown-on-Spey 5

14 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Music-making, Photography, Wildlife

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Avielochan, Cairngorms, Cairngorms National Park, goldeneye duck, Grant Arms Hotel, Grantown-on-Spey, Great black-backed gull, greylag goose, mallard, Slavonian grebe, willow warbler

Monday, 3rd June. I spent my final morning at Avielochan, on my way to Inverness Airport. The Grant Arms Hotel, where I had been staying for the four previous nights, has a hide there for the exclusive use of its guests, and indeed ask you that if the little car park already has its capacity of five cars to come back later. I was fortunate in that I was the only person in the hide for the full 90 minutes I was there.

I was fortunate also to have shelter – it was drizzling when I arrived, and for nearly all the time I was there. This was the general view from near the hide as I arrived.

Avielochan was another place where there was to be the chance of seeing Slavonian grebes, though, sadly, again they were not in evidence. But I enjoyed my morning, obsserving a variety of more common birds, some of which are featured below. For a short while, not long enough to get my camera to it, I caught sight of an osprey flying around against the background of the hills opposite.

Greylag geese were in abundance.
So were gulls of various kinds.
Hmm, there was a lapwing on the bank a few seconds ago.
Young ducklings – goldeneye I think.
Female Goldeneye
Great black-backed gull taking off
Willow warbler (?) in nearby tree
Greylag geese in parallel formation
About turn!
And I couldn’t resist taking this little video of the three adults and goodness-knows-how-many goslings.
Mallard
The greylag goose is all ready to start conducting the piece, but the choir is not watching. Heads in copies as usual.
Goldeneye taking off …
… in flight …
and landing.
Gulls enjoying the wind. I’m glad someone was.

There was short path beyond the hide, but I didn’t say long. By now I was perishingly cold, even though the rain had temporarily stopped.

And in the event, this was all I saw of the Slavonian grebes.

Despite the weather, and despite the underlying sadness over the very recent loss of my lovely Lulu, I did enjoy my short stay in the Cairngorms National Park. The hotel was a friendly, welcoming place and made me feel very comfortable and looked-after, which I’m sure helped my general satisfaction at the mini-holiday. But I was happy to get home to Bella in the early evening. I feel pretty sure I shall return to Grantown-on-Spey before too long.

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Last post, for now

06 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Musiewild in Cats, Countryside views, History, Photography, Plants, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

birds, blackbird, Caerlaverock, Carlisle, chiff-chaff, Eskrigg nature reserve, lapwing, linnet, Lockerbie, Lockerbie disaster, mallard, moorhen, Peter Scott, redshank, swallow, swan, willow warbler, WWT

I had not looked round Lockerbie itself yet, so on Friday morning took a stroll round the town centre on foot, including a visit to the library for information on the Eskrigg Nature Reserve nearby. Lockerbie’s handsome buildings are also of red sandstone.  The parish church, which was closed, was enormous.

P1110796tors (800x600)

So was this building, which I assumed to be the Town Hall, though, other than a minuscule plaque commemorating the town’s (and others’) disaster of 1988, there was no other sign attached to the building at all.  I had to go inside to confirm that my assumption was correct.

P1110798tors (800x631)

Nearby were these and five other sheep

P1110799 (800x593)

I decided that my day would be best filled by a trip to Caerlaverock, to visit the Wildlands and Wetlands Trust reserve, and the castle if there was time.  This decision had the advantage of taking me though more glorious countryside.

P1110808 (800x600)

Having studied the plan of the WWT site over coffee, I started my tour of several of the hides. At one, I was grateful to a couple who visit most days for pointing out where the linnet and the redshank were to be seen.

P1110842 (800x455)

Swallows discussing whether they should be thinking about returning south for the winter

P1110847 (800x439)

Lapwings and starlings

P1110848 (800x488)

Lapwing

P1110850 (800x610)

Linnet

P1110860 (800x645)

Redshank

P1110880 (800x600)

Martins’ nests, either beloved or hated by householders, but very welcome at the WWT

P1110885 (800x369)

I believe the correct collective noun is a ‘murder’, but I prefer, here anyway, just a ‘row’ of crows (with a cow behind them)

P1110888 (800x561)

Wagtail

P1110900 (800x572)

A chiffchaff, or a willow warbler? Or something else? Comments welcome please.

The reserve is on the edge of the Solway Firth, so that’s the Lake District in the distance.

P1110916 (800x585)

It is bounded by farmland on one side.

P1110886 (800x497)

Unlike the Lockerbie sheep, these were living.

I had been told that there was ‘nothing’ to be seen at the Sir Peter Scott hide, by which my informants must have meant nothing unusual.  I took pleasure nevertheless in sitting there after lunch watching swans, mallards and moorhens.  And learnt that when mallard is occupying a place where moorhen wants to be, it gives way, smartish.

P1110926 (800x545) P1110933 (800x600) P1110947 (800x555)

Then I decided to do the ‘summer’ walk, not available the rest of the year because of overwintering fowl.  It was delightful,

P1110949 (800x600)

especially as for at least five minutes two blackbirds insisted on showing me the way as I strolled along.

P1110955 (800x585)

The swans I’d seen earlier also seemed to want to keep an eye on me.

P1110948 (800x583)

I enjoyed looking not only at wildfowl but plants as well.

P1110962 (800x600) P1110963 (800x600)

I was nowhere near a hide when it started raining again, so my new umbrella came in useful. By the time I got back to my car it had stopped, but I heard the castle calling.

There turned out to be a wedding going on there, but visiting was not restricted. Glaring guests just didn’t appreciate how discreet one was trying to be. (One was not dressed suitably.)

P1110972 (800x530) P1110980 (800x600)

P1110986 - Copie (800x589)

In one tower, there were some young swallows practising their flight in anticipation of their long journey to come. As long as I kept still, my presence didn’t seem to worry them.

Accompanying the wedding was a bagpiper.

P1120012 - Copie (800x741)

Hers was not the only kilt around, but I didn’t dare point my camera at the others, much as I’d love to have done.

The next day, it was time to go home to the cats, by train from Carlisle.  Somehow my camera forgot it was no longer on holiday, until we had left Cumbria anyway.

P1120033 (800x549) P1120034 - Copie (800x586)

So ended my trip up north.  My next big trip is in September, wildlife in the Pantanal, Brazil, largely by river boat, but perhaps I’ll find a pretext for posting photos again before then…

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