Sunday 5th April

An early Easter.  Yesterday I took advantage of reasonable weather to do a longish bike ride via Ae, Lochmaben, Dalton, Clarencefield, Bankend.

Heard a chiffchaff before leaving the estate and a woodpecker on the Caledonian Cycleway.  I'd just begun to think it would be one of those "heard loads, saw nothing days" when I got a nice view of a male greenfinch just above my head.  Mybe they are staging a comeback. This was shortly followed by a chiffchaff sighting in the same stretch of trees, probably a first year bird as it hadn't quite learnt the words properly.

After a couple of thrushes, a long-tailed tit and a hare en route, there was quite a bit of life on Amisfield Moor.  Three of four young buzzards were confronting each other in a row of trees (pictured below) and then a pair of curlews flew over widely and, presumably mating, serenaded each other with various winsome calls.  Also sighted on the moor were meadow pipit (briefly), reed bunting and wagtails.  But in spite of at least half a dozen calling there and at different parts of the ride, I still did not managed to catch sight of a skylark.  Perhaps my long-range vision is failing.

Amisfield Moor

After Ae the sun more or less disappeared and there was generally less to see.  A pair of hares nearby decided not to pose for the camera and the feeders at Castle Loch are no longer being stocked.  But between Brow Well and Bankend, there was one kestrel hovering over the hedgerow for voles, just like they used to do.

I still haven't seen the first butterfly of the season, which has remained cool.  This was confirmed by a quick trip to Brooms today, where there was very little sign of fish activity beyond smaller stuff.