The highlights of March 2015

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, times have been busy which is good because boredom is never constructive. The weather has not been too kind despite some encouraging signs in the days before Spring finally arrived, the outings we have managed have brought some intense flurries of excitement further re-inforcing my view that research eventually pays off.

Good friends John and Karen joined us for a long weekend in Dumfriesshire, a well planned trip that allowed us two full days and two half days of wildlife watching around the Kirkcudbright and Dumfries areas. Our cottage was very near to Kirkcudbright, about two and a half to three hours drive from our respective homes.

We arranged to meet at Mersehead RSPB reserve for the afternoon prior to heading to the cottage, it is a well managed and compact reserve with plenty to see.

The barnacle geese that winter in the Solway Firth will be leaving soon, these were just on a fly around...

Roe deer were grazing around the reserve edges...

A distant merlin was one benefit of multiple pairs of eyes...

Plenty of yellowhammer around too...

Not great light for photography but a lovely few hours..

The following day we visited Ken-Dee Marshes reserve, quite a lengthy walk to reach the two hides but a walk we gladly undertook twice as we returned to the cars for lunch!!

A buzzard was spotted taking a lazy break...

After a brief sighting of a red squirrel a lengthy perusal of the shrubbery revealed another animal of similar colouring but much larger...a fox..

From the hides we saw nuthatch

Bullfinch..

Blue tit

And the relatively scarce willow tit

Back in the cottage garden, a surprise as a red legged partridge was feeding...

A return to Mersehead for a full day brought some splendid rewards, again not great light for photographs unfortunately...

The barnacle geese seemed to getting ready for migration as they were very unsettled and took off often only to circle and land again,

We saw chaffinch and yellowhammer discussing dining priorities :-)

and the now not too common tree sparrow...

Male and female stonechats in the distance...

The pathway back to the cars was well worth a slow walk and careful inspection as the UK's smallest bird the goldcrest could be watched..

On the way eastwards before the southerly leg we stopped at Caerlaverock Wildlife and Wetlands centre for a few hours.

Similar to the barnacle geese, the whooper swans here will soon be away to Iceland or Greenland.

Another notable sighting here was the not rare but elusive treecreeper caught in the open...

A pair of little egrets were caught in deep discussion...

A fabulous short break during which we counted over eighty different species seen including many ducks which were just not as good in the photographs as I like to show.

Back home and I love this time of year if only because wrens suddenly become more visible!

Wandering by the river Wharfe one morning and I get a glimpse of a green woodpecker

Grey wagtails delight with their fluttering flight and delicate colours..

I love to walk this stretch of river just for the dippers

This one is gathering nest material and I now have three nest sites in the locality to sit near and observe if I am in the area.

My local raptor watch has been a great place to gain knowledge of birds of prey but often just through the telescope or binoculars, occasionally birds come close and I was grateful to have the camera to hand as a buzzard came in fairly close.

Curlews called and wheeled all around us..

...and a sparrowhawk came within a reasonable distance...

We ventured out on the moor one sunny afternoon and had red grouse all around us, always a delight.

I was fortunate to watch a kestrel approaching, it gave me just enough time to ready the camera for a shot of this beautiful male..

Another trip to Rodley Nature Reserve was fruitful with plenty of sightings...

The diminutive wings demonstrate quite well why the little grebe does not fly huge distances!

A goldeneye duck...

Our first chiffchaff of the year...

and of course the beautiful kingfishers, another superb day there.

Another nearby lake was visited later in the day and we had a lovely view of a great crested grebe...

One of the species I have yearned to see recently is the short eared owl, these beauties have inhabited my local moors in the past but exhaustive searches and watches have found no sign in the last couple of years.

A brief sighting by a trusted mate was enough to persuade me to spend a few hours looking for a precise location. Here we get back to my luck/instinct/knowledge question and my answer would be a combination of all three, probably!

Anyway...after not too long a wait I had my reward...

First one owl then a pair displaying and flying high then plummeting together, absolute wildlife magic...

These are days to treasure and hold in the memory...

A further visit and careful vigilance brought a shot of one resting, a sign of their vigilance is the eyes locked on to me as soon as peered over a handy wall.

A very exciting and fulfilling few weeks, the wonders of Spring!

Many thanks to all who read, don't forget if you do comment they come to me first for moderation.