ardinning loch
Overcast quite cold compared to last week, a little breeze. It rained for a couple of minutes, Cold rain.

The trees are all in leaf now, even the oak starting to unfurl.

Comfrey and apple blossom. Lots of woodruff under the trees.

The small bluebell patches neat the entrance are fully out.

A reed bunting among the other wee birds in the trees near the loch.

A couple of Great Crested Grebe (I think) on the loch.

The moor grass, heather and bracken is still pretty dead. Very dry underfoot today.

Heard a few cuckoos. A couple of jays flew across the moor.

Some lapwings, one harrying a buzzard.

pattern on the water

Photos on the map: walkmap and on Flickr

Yesterday I went on this familiar walk.

Bright day with clear skies and a lot of haze. Little or no breeze. Waerm, t-shirt all the way.

The grass and heather on the hills has not started growing, very dry too, which make for easier walking.

Lots of wee birds singing in the woods at the start.

Stonechat and wheatear further up the path.

A common lizard on the way up Troisgeach.

Quite a few white feathers then a few ptarmigan neat the top of Troisgeach.

Pools were filled with frogs, croaking loudly and mating all over the moor .

Plenty of deer sign but no deer.

As I came off Meall an Fhudair what looked like a peregrine flew by.

As I got back to Troisgeach a couple of eagles circling and drifted off south.

Met the ptarmigan again.

Half way down Troisgeach I sat down an the two eagles appeared briefly over the ridge to my side. By the time I got over only one was in sight, being mobbed by a raven or crow. The size of the eagle compared to the mobber made me sure it was an eagle.

Interesting Ground Beetle. Carabus nitens perhaps on the track.

A few butterflies, peacocks and one orange tip near the bottom.

Loch Humprey

Loch Humphrey 08-04-2019

First time up to the loch with Dorothy for a while.

A bright breezy day.

Larks singing on the moor.
Gold Finches
Grey wagtails
First coltsfoot of the year.
Masses of blackthorn.

Butterflies, peacock and Small Tortoiseshell. Got a couple of pictures using my new selfie stick. This seems like a good tool for photographing insects.

A couple of short walks with Christine.

We decided to go to Campsies when the Mountain forecast was for gales on the top. But it was too windy for us there, we got to the top of Dumgoyne and turned around.

Dumgoyne walkmap

Headed off to Cashel stopping for coffee by the Blane.

Cashel walkmap

A pleasant couple of walks.