Piercing, whooping, cries — urgent, incisive and yet ethereal, then warbling loops of repetition — a series of peppering question marks, followed by afterthoughts trailing on the wind. I do like curlews, their decline is depressing.
I did not know this, followed a link from the Caught by the river newsletter to Curlew Country. Both sites have activities and resources for schools. I wish I’d seen it earlier as it would have fitted nicely with Earth Day/John Muir day which we celebrated today in school.
Curlew and first post from micro.blog desktop.
Read: Cairn by Kathleen Jamie ★★★★★ 📚 The common curlew, as the old books have it, Fragments, essays, poems & notes, following the natural world, and the mess we have made of it. Beautiful.
A nice walk around Ardinning Wildlife reserve on Sunday morn, very quiet. Cuckoos, curlews & other singing & calling. Images: Ardinning Loch, caterpillar, wood anemone, bluebells, dandelion & a green veined white.
Walking round Ardinning Wildlife reserve for a picnic lunch today. The large keep your dogs on a lead signs seem generally ignored. Today a guy’s spaniel took off & quartered a section of moor, 2 curlew going crazy over it. Bloke could not catch or call his dog. Mood: grumpy.
We got there about 7:15 this morning, already 3 cars parked. Didn’t see the occupants. Bluebells & woodruff in the woods. Cuckoos calling, larks and curlew. Still and warm with a bit of a haze. Stonechat, bullfinch. lots of bird song. Dabchicks fishing on the loch.
Ardinning Arrived before 8. Cloudy, a breeze sun occasionally warming. Comfrey, bluebells, bracken unrolling. Mallard ducklings, a dabchick, a woodpecker. Larks & curlews singing & calling. A couple of ravens. Trees greening, fresh beech. One or two cuckoos. Apple blossom.
I have been looking forward to this. First cuckoo I’ve heard in 2021. Ardinning this morning. Lots of other birds singing, most I can’t recognise. I did hear curlew, peewits, ravens and dabchicks on the loch.
We had a early walk round Loch Ardinning reserve this morning. March has got cold again. Wee bit of snow on the Campsies and the Loch Lomond hills were white. Curlews and peewits. Quiet. The grass paths are in a bad way due to lockdown walking.
