Friday, June 29, 2012

SOC Walk Stranraer Community Woodland 23rd May 2012

A beautiful evening for an SOC evening walk at Stranraer Community Woodland.

1-Stranraer

The view from the car park towards Stranraer (click on photo to see larger image)

2-Ailsa

Ailsa Craig with Arran beyond

3-siskin

A Siskin up amongst the cones

4-yellowhammer

A distant Yellowhammer

5-towards-Cairnpat

Towards Cairn Pat

6-buttercup-field

Fields of buttercups

7 Garden tiger caterpillar minus hairs

A strange looking caterpillar that I struggled to identify, however Roy Leverton on the Scottish Moths forum wrote:

“I've seen something like this before, though not quite so extreme. I suspect
it's a Garden Tiger that has lost nearly all its hairs, perhaps have spun theminto a cocoon. Maybe the cocoon was then torn open by a bird. The few hairs that remain, plus the very white spiracles, would fit Garden Tiger."

8-juv-crows

Juvenile Crows

9-double-cuckoo-flower

I think this is a Cuckoo Flower, but an unusual double form

10-double-cuckoo-flower

 

11-cuckooflower

This is the usual form.

A lovely evening walk and plenty of wildlife seen, including over 30 species of birds!

Loch Trool to Loch Dee Walk–19th May 2012

A dull showery day and not very warm but ideal for a long walk in the hills. We parrked at Glentrool near to Bruces Stone and set off down the hill to the Glentrool Oak Woods.

1-sign

Managed by the Cree Valley Woodlands Trust with the forestry Commission, they do an excellant job in preserving this ancient woodland and it is full of life.

2-broken-tree

Old broken tree.

3-track

The path follows part of the Southern Upland Way..

4-shades-of-green

…through the Galloway Hills…

5-view

…past both deciduous and coniferous woodland…

6-burn

…and tumbling burns.

7-May-blossom

Hawthorn or May blossom

8-oak-woods

Lots of different birds seen by the burn including Grey Wagtails and a Dipper

9-waterfall

The tumbling Gairland Burn

10-waterfall

A chance to play about with shutter speeds…

11 waterfall

Low light….

12-bridge

….and in the absence of a tripod a bridge is always good!

13-nuthatch

Nuthatch-only recently colonising Scotland

14-track

This is a great path, even in wet weather

15-derelict-cottage

Glenhead-This beautiful little cottage has been empty for several years and sadly the Forestry Commission are talking about demolishing, such a shame as it would make a great walkers bothy.

16-bridge

We could hear Cuckoos here

16-river

Glenhead Burn

17-track

The path now starts to rise through the hills, this is looking back toward Glenhead

18-moss-or-lichen

Lichen or Moss?…not sure but it was very striking

19-Galloway-Hills

Up through the hills

20-bleak

Quite bleak in places

21-hills

Looking back towards The Merrick area

22-Loch-Dee

Our first glimpse of Loch Dee…

23-loch-dee

…with its islands

24-Meadow-Pipit

Meadow Pipit

25 giant-axe-head

The Giant Axehead….

26 giant-axe-head-2

…one of the Galloway Forest Park sculptures…

27 runic-text

…with its ancient Runic script

28-moss

Colourful moss

29-loch-dee

Loch Dee is quite a large loch…

30-loch-dee

…in a beautiful setting…

31-loch-dee

…and well worth the walk from either Loch Trool side or Craigencallie near Clatteringshaws

32-rubbish

Theres always someone has to spoil such a beautiful place!

33-rusty-barrels

Looks like these have been here a long time, you would think the Forestry Commission would clear these up

34-willow-warbler

Willow Warbler

35-island

One of Loch Dees islands

36-mayfly

Mayfly

37 loch-dee

7 Stanes sign

38-7-stanes

 

39-7-stanes

 

40-loch-dee

We must explore Loch Dee further on another day, but now its time to turn back

41-beach

The Loch even has sandy beaches

42-merrick

 

43-tadpole

Large tadpole in a puddle

44-cuckoo

Back towards the bridge over the Glenhead Burn where we heard the Cuckoos and we actually saw two in the distance, a bit far away to get a decent photo but at least we saw them!

45-conifers

Stark conifers a contrast to the lush oak woods

46-nuthatch

Another Nuthatch

47-spotted-flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

48-waterfall

Back to the Gairland Burn and the light is even lower so time to play with shutter speeds again!

49-waterfall

 

50-burn

 

51-water

 

52-water

 

53-nest-in-brambles

An empty nest in brambles

54-Meadow-Pipit

Meadow Pipit

55-waterfall

I think this is the Buchan Burn

56-dor-beetle

Dor Beetle

57-Bruces-Stone

Back at Bruces Stone…

58-view

…overlooking Loch Trool

59-view

A great walk!