Monday 2nd January

I managed a mid-festive season walk last Thursday and decided to try one of the walks between Moniaive and Dalry I have noticed while cycling.

Unfortnately the experience was marred by the weather, which although reasonably clear around Dumfries, turned to light drizzle and a fairly substantial mist at my eventual selection, the Margree Circular.

In any case there seemed to be fairly little to see and all I managed to spot in the first hour was one large buzzard disturbed in trees near a lochan and a couple of wrens. As I continued round the forest path, a coal tit started an amusing game of hide 'n' seek as it kept fleeing along the trackside ditch and trying to hide behind any vegetation it could find.  But every time it lost nerve when I drew level and flew on again.

Then there was a small flock of finches in some sparse trees, though the light was so poor it was not possible to pick out any colouration on them at all beyond the white rump in flight.  I supposed that they were bullfinches, though brambling may have been a possibility.

Shortly after this it became apparent that the occasional signposts for the track had become completely non-existent, so there was no way of confirming whether I was on the right road at junctions.  With conditions deteriorating and darkness approaching, I decided to retrace the whole of the route covered so far, at which point the walk became a minor safety exercise and all attempts at spotting were abandoned.

Although the walk was a relative dissapointment, there was one noteworthy feature of the day.  On the drive towards to Moniaive I saw a red kite hovering over the road just a mile or two out of Holywood. Kites have been seen in the Lochmaben area but this is definitely the furthest East I have ever seen them.