A few days away from home, this was our first days walk. Grey cold and windy but hopefully dry we decided on a long walk. Despite the weather the wildlife was abundant with over 35 species of birds seen, with one new tick for us.
We parked near Harlaw Reservoir and checked out the visitor centre before heading up the path towards Glengorse.
Although this stretch looks barren there were plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks singing
Waterlogged fields, presumably from melted snow.
Skylark
Glengorse Reservoir in sight!
Old stone stile
Our peaceful day was shattered by gunfire, the red flags were flying today, didn’t affect our walk but the noise was unnerving
Lone tree
Still snow on the hills
No fishing!
Glengorse
Nice signage!
Good to see these signs, there were also farmers names and telephone numbers on gates!
Little Grebe
Plenty of geese flying over
There were several Goldcrests in this area, I spent ages trying to get a shot and this was the best I managed!
The path follows a metalled track for this stretch
The countryside would look a better place if all farms had interesting signs like these…
…and a bit of history too!
Pied Wagtail
Three boats with two men
Reed Bunting come for a drink
The track follows the Logan Burn, we found a nice spot along here on a bridge to eat our lunch.
Stretching Lamb
With mum
The Pentlands still looking bleak and wintry
Loganlea Reservoir
Water shoot
Looking back down the valley
At the dam
Loganlea Reservoir
Looks like a dangerous place to be!
Mini harbour for the fishing boats
Loganlea Reservoir
Drinking Water Supply
Built 1851, Capacity 117 Million Gallons
Depth 51ft, 850ft above sea level
The path is now a grassy track
The Howe
Dipper
Ring Ouzel!
Yes this was our new tick, not seen one before, well chuffed!
Waterfall
I bet this was frozen a couple of weeks earlier!
Over the stile, this was the only point on the walk where the signposting was not great and we were unsure which way to go.
Female Mallard..
..and her mate
We leave the hills now to go down through the Bavelaw Estate
Pete found a friend!
Sad eye!
Snowdrops still in bloom
Beautiful avenue of trees
Soft!
Long-tailed Tit
Old ruin
These huge trees were growing inside the walls
Next we took a detour around the boardwalk at Red Moss of Balerno
SWT noticeboard
At the pond there was a lot of croaking going on and dozens of frogs
New boardwalk…
…snakes across the moss
Threipmuir
Pentland Hills noticeboard
Lambs
Lapwing, they were also displaying above us!
Treecreeper
Daffodils
Grey Wagtail
Magpie
Part of the Biodiversity Trail
Dirty snow!
Oh no a Grey Squirrel!
We would recommend this walk, apart from the number of dogs near the car park and the mess in that area, this was a lovely, very varied walk with spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife. Oh and we were disappointed that the visitor centre was closed by the time we returned as it closed at 3.30pm!
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