Friday 28th September

Mixed fishing expedition to Brooms on swim 8 in calm conditions.  Wasted a couple of hours in the margins to produce only one carp on pellet and a couple of tiddlers. Action was slow enough to notice a small flock of swallows moving in to take flies above the water as the temperature went up to the upper teens in mid-afternoon.

Frustrated, went on the long link feeder at distance using hair-rigged prawns, which produced a run a cast for two hours, but of the ten fish hooked only five were landed - the best approaching 4lb.  Had a slight feeling with this was due to the link between the feeder and the main swivel without being able to explain why.  On 8lb line, these fish made an incredible fight all the way back to the net but kicked free in the final stages.  All caught were commons but one escapee that found the reeds was a mirror.  After one biteless cast, tried the margins again without success, and after one last fish came off on the feeder wondered how many I would have had if I'd stuck to it.

Also saw two dragonflies and an unidentified butterfly.  Sadly the red admiral did not revisit the buddleia which is more or less finished for this year.  It would be nice to see it last into October but clearly unlikely to ever happen.

Wednesday 26th September

Bike ride to Loch Ken Sailing Centre, with again few sightings to note. Possible hen harrier did not hang around long enough to be identified. Five red kites on moorland after Kirkpatrick Durham and eight or ten wagtails on the road at one point. Notably absent were swallows, possibly indicating they have already started off to Africa.

Friday 20th September

Bit of a disastrous session on Queensberry Peg 14 at Brooms, where it drizzled steadily for half the day contrary to forecast.  Started with prawn on feeder thinking to change onto pole late afternoon but only got twitches and one decent run fishing towards the tree in the corner.

So switched to pole early, having found an interesting drop off between two patches of aquatic plants to my right.  Thought meat might work in the colder conditions, but switching to prawn was far more productive and had a couple of commons and a slightly damaged mirror by teatime.

Then it all went wrong.  Started losing fish on the way in and eventually one took the lot with it, having snapped the elastic, which must have been fraying.

Switched inevitably to feeder in the same swim, which if anything accelerated the rate of bites, but still kept losing fish. Part of the problem was the wet wooden planking in front of the peg as I was apprehensive about slipping over. One of them snagged the line on the platform when I was slow to stand up, then another got off as I was gingerly getting the landing net out. Others shed the hook at some point during the fight. Eventually the ide moved in and I packed up.

Friday 20th September

Painted lady appeared at least once more this week but again singly, so no big irruption.  Since then peacocks have decreased and red admirals have increased. Now we are left with one magnificent large red admiral that visits the remaining, rather small buddleia blooms on its own.

Today pleasant walk in the more obscure parts of Ae Forest, but little bird life observed - a few wrens and a jay on the way in.

Wednesday 11th September

A good number of meadow pipits north of the Cairn on the way over to Corsock by bike. Chasing each other over the moors, which I haven't seen before.

Friday 30th August

Returned to Brooms first week on and managed nine carp 2/3 of way down Bruce's Acre.  Six of these were small commons on swimfeedered prawns about 15 yards out, which seemed better than casting further.

Getting the feeling that cooler weather meant larger fish might go for the margins, I dumped a load of corn in and succeeded in getting a nice common of over 7lb as well as a mirror that might have tipped 5lb plus one other.  However all three were foul-hooked.  Also lost a few two fish on pellet and one on small prawn after a couple of major battles.

Common carp

Mirror carp

Monday 26th August

I haven't been able to maintain this diary over the past five weeks due to various personal matters, so this is by way of a summary entry to catch up.

Bike rides to Palnackie and Kirdubright on 24th and 31st July showed that there are still red admirals around, plus a large number of whites on pussy willow on 24th while hot weather still predominated.
Early in August experimented with swimfeedered prawn in the spawning swim on Bruce's Acre, which worked well for seven carp up to 4.5lb and a couple of bream, plus three snap-offs to good fish.  Unfortunately, same approach did not work on the Canal left end on 15th, when I got nuisance bites all day and just four small fish after a promising run.  I think this indicates a stronger population of larger fish in Bruce's Acre with resulting competition for food, as they all came to strong runs and small fish bites were eliminated - although possibly not visible as there was a fair wind moving the quiver tip.

A walk at Lochdougan Forest on 18th was very pleasant but overcast weather meant few dragonflies and just one red admiral. One large red deer did not see me until I got quite close, indicating that not many people go there - as did the length of undergrowth on one of the tracks.  Looked quite a good area for willow tits. Saw two sexton beetles trying to bury a shrew on the road as I returned to the car.

A bike ride around Loch Ken area on the 21st showed up a lot of red kites looking for road kill near Crocketford.  On the road from RSPB car park to Laurieston found myself pursuing a host of baby pheasants along the road.  Eventually they panicked and tried to fly off one by one but kept crashing clumsily into trees and bushes.  Also saw swallows feeding  immature birds on the telegraph wires, which I've never witnessed before.

Meanwhile in the garden, another first was a willow warbler visiting the buddleia bush, which is now in bloom.  Again this year, peacock butterflies have predominated, with red admirals back in about equal numbers with small tortoiseshells.  Years ago there would always have been more red admirals than peacocks.  Not many painted ladies however - just two separate sightings on buddleia and next door's lilac.  Also absent for about a week or so have been the swifts. They must have returned to Africa earlier than last year.