Monday 10th August

Finally managed to have a go at the Big Butterfly Watch, aided by a whole morning of reasonable sunshine.

Not surprisingly, the results weren't wonderful.  I decided to try the beginning of the path from Loch Stroan to Loch Skerrow after the farm track turnoff, where there were large numbers of scotch argos at the end of August last year. In the allocated fifteen minutes I managed just six scotch argos and

Golden Ringed Dragonfly

three meadow browns. Outside the time frame, I did see several more examples of the same species, plus a couple of ringlets and two common blues but overall it was distinctly sparse and the scotch argos weren't keen to settle more than momentarily.  There were in fact a good deal more dragonflies around than butterflies, mainly golden-ringed dragon flies, testimony to the wet weather this summer if any was needed.

The picture in the garden is similarly bleak.  Buddleia has been out in large quantities for a week but all it has attracted is one small tortoiseshell. Early days yet though.

I attempted a bit of flower spotting and photographed two plants, neither of which seem to be represented in my Book of Wild Flowers. Also observed were a couple of low-flying red kites as on my last visit here, a juvenile robin and a juvenile bullfinch drinking out of a puddle on the road. Have not however heard a chiffchaff for a couple of weeks at least.

Wednesday 5th August

Continuing cool, damp and windy weather is confirming my suspicion that a lack of any consistent warmth by the end of July means that Autumn will start by mid-August, and so it is already proving this year when the temperatures have struggled to reach 20 Celsius since June.

Currently the Big Butterfly Count is still on hold as far as I am concerned as I cannot guarantee the 15 minutes of sunshine required.

This week's bike ride has also been a rain off, but I did manage on of my rare twitches yesterday in response to the news of two pairs of bee eaters breeding in a quarry near Brampton. Now obviously I managed to see bee eaters in Provence in June but this was a definite news item and I vaguely hoped that it might be possible to see them closer to.

The temporary site put up by RSPB has been really heavily visited and I wasn't too surprised to see a number of twitchers on arrival.  It was also no real surprise to find that the observation post was in fact at some distance from the nest.  However we did catch several sightings of bee eaters flying to and from the nest and occasionally perching on the fenceposts above it. They were too far away to photograph without top-notch equipment but I could make out the colours through my binoculars and it was possible to see them in reasonable detail by telescope. You could also see the hole they were nesting in perfectly clearly.

Twitchers Twitching

The Nesting Hole

Apparently, the only time that bee eaters have nested further North than this was in 1922 at Musselburgh. The chicks are expected to be on the wing in about a fortnight's time, so it may be that even better viewings will result then.

Also in the area were many sand martins, some linnets (spotted by twitchers with very powerful lenses) a couple of crows as well as a kestrel that arrived to interrupt proceedings for a while.

Saturday 1st August

A week of interesting bits and pieces...

Last Saturday Malcolm and I took a quick run down to the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve.  The intention had been to attempt the Big Butterfly Count but as we never had 15 continuous minutes of sunshine, the survey conditions were not satisfied so we turned our attention to a bit of tree spotting, during which I managed to remind myself what an alder really looks like.

Strangely, the best spot was on our way out of the pub that evening, when we noticed that there is a large-leaved lime growing in front of the churchyard on St Michael's Street. Shocking in a minor way that I must have walked past it several hundred times without noticing it was there.

As Malcolm has only seen a red squirrel in Wales, we went to Eskrigg Nature Reserve the day after as I reckoned the chances of seeing them there were odds-on. Unfortunately there was a lot of gardening and maintenance work going on round the lake, which clearly intimidated the local birdies from visiting the feeders and no doubt the squirrels as well.

So we took a long perambulation around the reserve seeing nothing worthwhile but sure enough, on returning to the lake the volunteers were away and the squirrels were already invading the feeders, so we had a good long session watching their antics. The curious thing that no birds of any real interest approached the feeders apart from briefly one female nuthatch and a woodpecker. The scene was heavily dominated by a large number of juvenile chaffinches in feeding frenzy mode, which may accounted for the lack of other species.

On the way out we managed another interesting tree spot, which after much discussion we think we identified as a red oak.

On Thursday I went down to Gretna with the bike to check out the River Sark and the Kirtle Water in the hope of perhaps seeing a few chub lazing around. After an enjoyable diversion to the Auld Acquaintance Cairn near the first house in Gretna, I was astounded to see that the Sark was running at a far higher level than when I last visited in wintertime.  So fishspotting was out of the question, but I would have to say that some spots looked incredibly chubby.  I found it hard to believe that the otters have got them all!

So a week of variations which has highlighted for me how much of nature I have not been taking in as a result of ny preoccupation with birdlife, butterflies and fishing.  I have even bought myself a book on wild flowers, about which I know practically nothing, so who knows...

Meanwhile it appears that there are a pair of bee-eaters nesting near Brampton - after I went all the way to Provence last month to see them!

Large-leaved Lime	Red Squirrel Invasion
Red Oak??	River Sark

Saturday 25th July

Interesting follow up to last week's post in that I posted a photo of the leaf on the Dumfries and Galloway Wildlife and Birding Facebook group, a great forum where people are posting pictures of all sorts of things they have seen about the place - notably some fascinating insects recently.

Someone thought my leaf was an aspen rather than an alder, which did not quite tally with my observations of the trunk and structure.  Then there was another suggestion of black poplar and on consulting again the Book of Trees, that appears to be spot on.

Baby Swallows

A bit of a quiet week this week.  Mainly concentrated on improving my Chris Froome imitation during the Wednesday bike ride, but did manage to see half a dozen red kites between Dalbeattie and Haugh of Urr, flying low and very visible next to a field where a farmer was harvesting grass. What might they have been looking for?  Mice?  On the way to Crocketford there was also a single red
admiral.

On Friday went to visit the Housesteads roman fort.  The area was notable for its lack of birds, especially birds of prey but there were a couple of cute baby swallows above the shop entrance, waiting to be fed.

Wednesday 15th July

My knowledge of trees is pretty poor and I've been meaning to do something about it for some time.

So by way of a change, I took my Book of Trees along on today's bike ride (via Milton, Kirkgunzeon, Loch Arthur, New Abbey, Kirkconnel Flow) and set about identifying some of the broadleafs.  Thus I

Alder Leaf?

now know there are a lot of ash trees north of Kirkgunzeon and generally, plus a lot of oaks, hazels, sycamores and holly trees on the road past Kirkconnel Flow.

One tree near the cycle track in the town has confused me a bit.  I think it was an alder from the trunk and size but the leaves did not match the pictures in my book very well.

Of course there were also some goldfinches, a few yellowhammers near Kirkgunzeon and several ringlet butterflies. On the wilder bit of the run to New Abbey, there were also a couple of stonechats grinding away.  I haven't seen them there before.

A pleasant change from some of the frantic riding I've been doing. Who knows, maybe I will finally show some interest in wild flowers one day as well.

Thursday 10th July

Walked from Mossvale to Loch Stroan in search of birds of prey, as I've heard tales of a few sightings in this area.

The weather was more mixed than anticipated with one heavy rain shower and some drizzle, though this did not put off the ringlet butterflies who were again out in force. However it may have contributed to the lack of birds of prey taking the wing, apart from one red kite I disturbed from its roost, which gave a very good view of its underparts as it flew of squawking.  Apart from that, the most notable thing I had seen on turning back to the car was a grey wagtail perching in the conifers near the loch.  I didn't know they would do that.

Wheatear

But on the way back I noticed two birds of prey, heading over the moorland towards the forest.  The merlin is a bird I have a strange relationship with, full of half and questionable sightings, but from the
adept, speedy flight and the pointed wings, I would be fairly confident these two were indeed merlins. Too far away though to pick up more of the body colouring than a hint of dark brown.

Two or three minutes later, I noted some 'tek, tek' noises coming from a hawthorn, followed by some brief whistling notes. I got close enough to see the bird, but it took me a few minutes to decide it was a very pale looking male wheatear - the first I have come across this summer.  So pale in fact that there was only the merest suggestion of red on the breast, which doesn't show in this photo but I also managed to identify the tail pattern when it started to fly around a bit.

More Photographs From Provence

As promised three weeks ago, here are some more photos of birds and other wildlife from provence. Thanks to Cyndy Hutley for providing them. N.b. some are from her previous trips to the area.

As you can detect, Provence offers good opportunities to see things that are uncommon or rare in the UK, plus some others you wouldn't see at all.

Bee Eater Chamois Citril Finch False Ilex Hairstreak Golden Eagle Great Spotted Cuckoo Mountain Goats Red Backed shrike Scorpion Sphinx Oak Moth

Calendra Lark Chough Eagle Owl Glossy Ibis Great Sooty Satyr Lesser Kestrel Ortolan Bunting Rock Sparrow Wryneck