Saturday 24th March

Very warm day with some sun.  Far too pleasant to stay in the house, so another bike ride to Poldivan, thinking it might be last chance to see great grey shrike.

Saw much less than I heard, but spotted first chiffchaff of the year in trees by
cycle track, then a few buzzards.  Thought I heard a skylark not far out from Locharbriggs.

Most productive area was a lovely run through Amisfield Moor, where the meadow pipits have returned and there were also two male wheatear and a number of what on checking were probably female reed buntings.

On the way past Ae saw the first butterflies of the season. The ones I got a view of were peacocks that have presumably over-wintered.  At Poldivan, the shrike was not in evidence, so headed up past Mitchellslacks hoping to see predators.  But there were just some more pipits, quite a few curlew and some lapwing starting to display.

On the way back, the shrike was back in position.  Hung around just to the south of the clearing as a bloke from Cumbria reckoned he had seen a couple of goshawks.  I may have heard them, sounded a bit like a pheasant though.  Nothing much on Amisfield Moor, but did hear another chiffchaff before the cycle track turnoff.

A notable absence was the swallow - must be a few in the country by now.

Tuesday 13th March

11 degrees  today so first spring fishing trip, although wind off sea sent me back to car for extra pullover by mid afternoon.

A mixed day ending with four barbel, four chub and three common carp (two small) but the frustration was that several decent fish got off and many, many bites were missed.  Alternated with short pole and method feeder but only one serious pull on the latter that looked like a line bite.

The first fish hooked was a decent barbel but appeared to be foul hooked and came off under the pole tip.  Big fish were in the swim for an hour or so around 3.30 pm but all came off early in the fight, including a snap off.  One in particular was going like a train.

I'm starting to have doubts about bacon grill as a bait, as, although popular with  the fish, they seem to have no trouble stealing it however it is hooked.  As on other trips there were any number of lighting bites that were impossible to hit, some of which may have been shot bited from fish looking for hemp.  Worm or meat/worm cocktail was more successful plus one fish on worm/sweetcorn.

The chub moved in heavily towards dusk.  Unlike the barbel, they are nothing like their river equivalents - elongated with soft, slimy flanks and above all soft, flabby mouths.  Nothing like the hard-fighting ones I once caught in the Trent, which were at times impossible to unhook without a disgorger, so tough were their mouths.

12th March

A couple of walks with Alex this week. At Mersehead saw reed bunting, pipits, curlew, ringed plover and 18 shelduck on shore. Still several hundred barnacle geese. Area behind beach towards Southerness looks to be worth investigating.

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve today.  Heard woodpecker and several skylarks but no sighting.

Thursday 1st March

Going over the moors by Shap on train to Lancaster, I saw what I first thought was an early swallow flying adeptly at about 50 ft, except I noticed the tail shape was completely wrong - shaped like a half closed fan with an almost straight edge.  All I got otherwise was a dark silhouette as the train sped on and I started to wonder about birds of prey.  The main suspect would be a female merlin, but obviously you can't get the train to go back and check.