Sunday, April 07, 2013

Auchie Glen to Maryport via Portankill - 6th April 2013

We left a snow covered N Rhins to see if it was a bit more Spring like on the S Rhins. Once we reached the south there was no snow at all and it was a beautiful sunny day.
1-Roe-Deer
We stopped to take this Roe Deer shot on the way
2-footpath-sign
We parked at the top of Auchie Glen and immediately heard and saw Yellowhammers
3-Auchie-Glen
Start of the footpath down the glen.
4-daffs
Plenty of daffodils out, only wish they were wild ones!
5-daffs

6-yellowhammer
Yellowhammer, the glen was alive with birdsong, but no warblers yet!
We saw plenty of Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches, Wrens, Dunnocks and Chaffinches. Mammals seen included a Fox, Brown Hare, Roe Deer and fresh Mole activity.
7-catkins
Catkins
8-roe-deer
Down at Portankill Bay we disturbed some Roe Deer
9-Portankill
A beautiful day!
10-Portankill

11-pebbles
Coloured pebbles
12-underwater-pebbles
Clear water
13-pebble

14-underwater-pebble

15-beadlet anemone
Beadlet Anemone
16-rock-patterns
Rock patterns
17-metal-bouy
Metal buoy
18-egg-case
Common Whelk egg case
19-trail-sign
We decided to carry on along the coast to Maryport as we hadn't done this short stretch of the Mull of Galloway Trail
20-mull-of-galloway-trail

21-portankill
Looking back towards Portankill…
22-Portankill
…and the Mull of Galloway
23-towards-Maryport
Towards Maryport
24-buff-tail
Our first Bumblebee of the year, a Buff Tail queen
25-buff-tail

26-buff-tail

27-trail

28-primroses
Primroses
29-blackthorn
Blackthorn just coming out
29stitchwort
Stitchwort
30-Creophilus-maxillosus
Rove beetle- Carrion Beetle (Creophilus maxillosus)
31-Maryport
Maryport
32-Maryport
The beech house Maryport
33-fossil
Large fossil I think
34-rock-markings
Mark on rock, wonder how old this is?
35-portankill
Looking towards The Machars, still a bit of snow about there
36-Portankill
Back at Portankill and the view towards the Mull is a bit clearer now
37-yellowhammer
Yellowhammer
38 aphodius-fimetarius
Beetle Aphodius (Aphodius) fimetarius
39-daffs
Daffodils
40-coltsfoot
Coltsfoot
41-hazelnut-eaten-by-woodmouse
Hazelnut nibbled by a Wood Mouse
42-daffs
Daffs
43-new-shoots
Some of the trees are starting to shoot but have got caught by the frost
44-Mull-of-Galloway
Mull of Galloway with the snow covered hills of the Isle of Man beyond (click on picture to see larger image)
45-Isle-of-Man
Zoomed in to show a snowy Isle of Man
A lovely walk in the spring sunshine, although we saw quite a lot of wildlife, we did vist on the same weekend last year and everything was much further advanced. The vegetation had grown more, the butterflies were about and the Warblers had arrived! More details here

1 comment:

Linda said...

Lovely series of photos.