Tag: walk

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3x3 grid of images, photos with a map in the centre. From topleft: The moon setting behind some trees, a sun lit orad, a sunling path trough bracken, a winter tree with the rising sun behind, the map, a raven wings outspread agaist a blue sky, an oak tree, a ranve perched on a rock, a buzzard in a hawthorn tree.

I arrived at the Kilpatrick hills car park at dawn this morning. It was already pretty full. Frosty with a clear sky. The full moon going down. More folk than usual on the tracks and paths. Saw a few redwing feeding on hawthorn along with blackies & thrushes.
Beautiful warm light to start, long shadows.
The frozen ground was much nicer than the usual bog between Loch Humphrey and Duncolm.
On Duncolm a raven circled diving & twisting with quiet croaks. Seemed unfazed by me and came quite close, shining in the sun. Saw a few more on the way back. A little egret in the horse field. I wonder if they come to the field when the tide is high. I saw this one at 12:30 and high tide at Old Kilpatrick was at 12:40 today. I’ll try and keep a note.
Nice view of a buzzard in a hawthorn near the road and a flock of fieldfares on the field and hawthorn.

Photos on flickr & on the

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A goldfinch feeding a oungster, in hawthorn bush covered with bright red berries, sky very blue behind.

On Monday I was planning a walk but it felt a bit hot to go to the hills. I got the train to Milngavie and walked back down the Kelvin walkway to Glasgow.

A dirt path through a dense green forest with sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Saw the first kingfisher on the Allander water which kept my eyes on every overhanging branch for a while.

Both the Allander and the Kelvin are lined with the pink stink of Himalayan Balsam. The path quite overgrown in places with nettles, thistles & brambles making shorts a poor choice.

Despite the warm weather the rivers are quite full. Less butterflies than I expected, green-veined whites all long the way.

Everything seems to have come to autumn early, brambles, acorns and already red hawthorn berries.

Once back in Glasgow I was looking across the river and saw a reflecting, the colour and shape of a foxes ear. Lying in the balsam above was a young looking fox. It didn’t look quite right, spread and very still. Zooming in I couldn’t see breathing and it was still when I made a loud clap. My second kingfisher of the day arrowed past.

Once I got to the science park I saw a couple of specked woods. Birds along the way: a kestrel, mobbed by wee birds; warblers, and goldfinches. I watched one goldfinch feeding a youngster in those incongruous hawthorn berries.