Water of Minnoch 6th March 2010

This walk was recommended to me by a follower of this blog and we finally got around to walking it. A stunning riverside walk on a lovely day.

A lovely wide tranquil river, it must change dramatically in spate.

The "Roman Bridge"...

...A 17th or 18th century bridge locally alleged to be Roman.

A beautiful spot for a picnic

Hes always trying to get a better shot than me...

...and him!

Spot the Long Tailes Tit

Not a very easy bridge to cross, especially with a pack horse!

A pair of Dippers were spotted but we didnt manage to get very close.

Reflections were lovely

I spotted this reflection on the waters edge...

...turned sideways it looks like a mask!

Snow still on the Galloway Hills

Clumps of snowdrops on the banks

Our turning point, not such a pretty bridge. We now followed the Southern Upland Way back through the woods on the other side of the river.

Interesting lichen.

Stile not style!

Hooray we found a Waymerk Kist

..and still with waymerks inside-Treasure!

On the home stretch we heard some birds in the trees, it was a small flock of Crossbills, a lovely way to end a glorious walk.

Knockman Wood 27th February 2010

Our first visit to Knockman Wood and it certainly wont be our last! We went through the gate and parked in the small car park. The sign says that the paths are not easy to follow, however the sign is out of date and there is a great circular walk.

Just a few metres from the car we noticed our first frogspawn of the year. Most of the water is still frozen but this had fresh water flowing into it. I didnt notice the frog until I got home and looked at the photos!

Still bitterly cold and as we came ot into the open the views were great with the snow still on the Galloway Hills.

The habitat changes as you go past this lovely on dry stane dyke with it interesting lichens. This boundary was for the old deer park established by General Sir William Stewart in 1824 I understand.

The sign welcomes you to the wood which is managed by the Cree Valley Community Woodland Trust, who do a grand job.

Stile over the wall

Interesting lichen

There is also quite a lot of interesting archeology, including this corn kiln

Bird boxes have been put up including this barn owl box

This beautiful old ancient tree looks as if it collapsed some time ago and is now probably providing homes for many different creatures.

Huge bracket fungi growing out of the tree

Wrapped up for the cold!

This looks like somethings front door

My other gnome!

Great info boards, but no redstarts and spotted flycatchers today...

...just treecreepers...

...and nuthatches, quite rare in SW Scotland

Old mossy tree

and lovely moss

I see no ships!

More archeology

Lichen decorated tree

Views towards the Galloway Hills again

A small loch, will be great for dragonflies in the summer I think.

Silver Birch against a blue sky.

Another part of the old wall

Back towards the woods, will be back soon!

On the way back home we did a detour past West Freugh, plenty of geese, mostly greylags.

A flock of Lapwings

Curlews

and more geese, Whitefronts and Barnies amongst them.