Monday, June 27, 2011

Knockquhassen Southern Upland Way 18th June 2011

Another BTO Bird Atlas walk along the Southern Upland Way towards Knockquhassen Reservervoir.

2-foxglove

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

1-heath-bedstraw

Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

3-whitethroat

Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)

4-nettle rust

Nettle Rust (Puccinia urticata)

4-nettle rust-2

Nettle Rust (Puccinia urticata)

5-meadow vetchling

Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)

6-dog-rose

Dog Rose (Rosa canina)

7-honeysuckle

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)

8-meadow-buttercup

Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris)

9-marsh-woundwort

Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris)

10-adder

Adder (Vipera berus)

11-meadow-pipit

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

12-tormentil

Tormentil (Potentilla erecta)

13-prickly sow-thistle

Prickly Sow-thistle (Sonchus asper)

14-toadstools

Toadstools (unidentified)

15-silver-ground-carpet

Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)

16-small-fan-foot

Small Fan-foot (Herminia grisealis)

17-elderflowers

Elder (Sambucus nigra)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Plantlife & BTO Surveys 11th June 2011

Our first stop was very local, recording the wild flowers locally for a Plantlife survey. 1-yellow-rattle

Yellow Rattle, these are great plants to have if you have a wild flower meadow. By sprinkling these seeds your wildflowers are more likely to grow as it helps suppress the grass as it is semi parasitic.

2-tiny-white-flower

Lesser Stitchwort.

3-thistleMarsh Thistle.

4-bedstraw

Heath Bedstraw.

5-fern

Fern possibly Lemon Scented.

6-vetch

Bush Vetch.

8-umbels

Cow Parsley.

9-cow-parsley

Cow Parsley

10-hogwead

Hogweed

11-leaf-beetle

Leaf Beetle Chrysolina fastuosa

12-speedwell

Germander Speedwell.

13-mullet

Next stop was Stranraer Harbour for lunch. Watched a tern diving in the entrance to the harbour. There were about seven large Thick Lipped Mullet close to the harbour wall.

14-mullet

On to Stranraer Community Woodland to do a BTO Bird Atlas Survey.

15-yellow-raspberry

Golden Raspberry, perhaps a garden escapee.

16-dog-rose

Dog Rose.

17-meadow-pipitMeadow Pipit carrying food to nest.

18-meadow

Beautiful colours in the meadows.

19-roe-deer

Roe Deer down by the burn….

20-roe-deer…and another!

21-watercressWatercress.

22-meadow

Buttercups and grasses.

22-small-heath

Small Heath Butterfly.

23-scarlet-pimpernel

Scarlet Pimpernel.

25-small-copper

Small Copper Butterfly.

26-buttercup-field

Field of Buttercups.

27-Low-KnockglassThis small blue farm cottage is where we lived for 5 months when we first moved to Scotland in 2006

28 yellowhammer

A beautiful male Yellowhammer on the wire. This is a great place to see them and many other birds including Swifts!

SOC Walk - Three Lochs 4th June 2011

We met at the Three Lochs Caravan Park car park at 11am for our morning walk. We decided on the shorter walk around Loch Heron for the morning and then a longer walk in the afternoon. The receptionist informed us of birds we may see, such as the 2 pairs of Great Crested Grebes nesting. They also sometimes get Hen Harriers and even a fishing Osprey.

1-damselfly

Our first sighting was an abundance of Blue Tailed Damselflies by the side of the loch.

2-toadstool

Blusher Toadstool.

3-sedge-warbler

A very noisy Sedge Warbler heard and then seen!

4-greylags

Greylag Geese with young.

5-silver-hook

There were lots of moths to look out for and identify, the first one was a Silver Hook Moth.

6-common-heath (2)

Common Heath Moth…

7-common-heath...and underside.

8-small-heath-butterfly

Not a moth this time but one of our smallest butterflies-Small Heath.

9-swallow

Swallow on fence.

Next it was back to the Cafe on the caravan site. Some of the group had brought a picnic with them, whilst others were tempted by the Bacon and Egg rolls, which I would thoroughly recommend!

Details of the Cafe can be found here.. http://www.3lochs.co.uk/about-three-lochs/cafe.html

10 Aethes cnicana

Our moth sightings continued in the afternoon with a micro moth Aethes cnicana.

11-red-necked-footman

Red Necked Footman Moth.

12-clouded-border

Clouded Border Moth. 

13-small-pearl-bordered-fritillary-underside

Several beautiful Pearl Bordered Fritilliaries about.

14-small-pearl-bordered-fritillary

15-cart-horse

Friendly shire horse came to say hello!

16-mallardsMallards by Loch Heron. We did see the Great Crested Grebes but they were too distant for a photo!

17-cormorant-on-loch

Cormorant by Loch Ronald

18-cormorant

Although I didnt get many bird photographs, we did see or hear about 40 species in total:

Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Feral Pigeon, Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, Lesser Redpoll, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Rook, Sand Martin, Sedge Warbler, Siskin, Song Thrush, Swallow, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Wood Warbler, Woodpigeon and Wren.

I would like to thank the staff at Three Lochs for allowing us to use their facilities.

The Three Lochs is a delightful place to camp, particularly for wildlife lovers, they even have a Red Squirrel hide. For locals it is a beautiful place to enjoy a walk, have a picnic or enjoy a great value meal or snack in the warm, friendly cafe.

Full details can be found here:

http://www.3lochs.co.uk/about-three-lochs.html