Estuarine Escapade

It was a cold and crisp November morning when my friend Grant and I decided to have a bird-watching day out along the Forth Estuary east of Edinburgh. In a way it was ideal weather for bird-watching, the sky was clear, the sun was shining and best of all it was not raining, however the cold wind reminded you that this was November in Scotland. So suitably clad in anoraks, woolly hats and gloves we headed off to Musselburgh to start our Estuarine Escapade.

If you have never been, Musselburgh is the ideal place for winter bird-watching. At this time of year many of the birds we have enjoyed over the spring, summer and autumn have flown south for the winter so a trip to the hills, rivers or woodlands can prove relatively fruitless. A trip to the coast or the estuaries of major rivers is however the place to see many of the birds which migrate from further north to spend winter in balmy Scotland (well it's balmy to them!!). This includes several species of ducks, grebes, geese, swans and wading birds ('waders' to use the proper birding term).
Normally if you want to go and see waders you would time your visit to co-incide with a receding tide (i.e. after high tide) as that is when the waders return from their inland roosts to feed on the many beasties, crustaceans, etc. that the tide leaves behind on its way out. This unfortunately is not the ideal time to see grebes and ducks on the sea as the tide goes out taking them further away from you. At Musselburgh however this does not matter for two reasons: firstly because there is a nice long sea wall which protrudes into the river Forth making the sea nearby whether it be high or low tide; and secondly because there are a couple of man-made lagoons/scrapes inland of the sea wall where the waders congregate to sit-out the high tides.

Enough of the technicalities, just trust me Musselburgh lagoons and sea wall are well worth a visit. So what did Grant and I see when we went there, I hear you ask?
We went to the lagoons first and took up residence in one of the hides provided. When I say hide I don't mean the snug little wooden hides you get at most reserves, no I mean a WW2 concrete bunker without a roof and with cold wet concrete benches (tip no.1: take something warm and waterproof to sit on.......I used my gloves and my hands were freezing!)
This concrete bunker did however provide us with great views of Lapwing, Redshank, Black-headed Gulls, Teal, Widgeon, Mallard, etc. unfortunately I did not take my camera so images will be limited to what I captured on my trusty camcorder.
First of all here is a picture 'through the WW2 bunker window' in case you thought I was kidding:




View of Lagoon from Bunker

 The next clip is of a Redshank feeding on the Lagoon:

 



 

Redshank are medium-sized waders with medium-sized bills and medium-length legs. They would be a lot harder to identify if they didn't have bright red legs and weren't conveniently called Redshanks (I know that doesn't help if they are wading in deep water).

The length and shape of a wader's bill is not only one of the keys to identifying them it also tells you a lot about what they feed on. Waders with short bills such as Lapwing and Ringed Plover feed on insects and crustaceans on the surface, which they find by rummaging around in seaweed or by turning over small stones ( a wader called a Turnstone is a perfect example of this......but we didn't see any of them). Waders with long bills such as Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit feed on molluscs and worms which have buried themselves deep in the wet sand or silt until the tide comes back and covers them. These waders probe their bills right down into the sand/silt and haul out the hidden mollusc/worm/beastie and then gobble them up.

A wader with a medium-sized bill such as the Redshank does a bit of both and is therefore quite adaptable.

The following clip is of a pair of Widgeon on the Lagoon (male and female):



 



 

The best way to describe Widgeon so you can identify them is that the male has a reddy-brown head on which someone has painted a cream go-faster stripe right down its centre parting (not so obvious in the clip above I'm afraid). The female is much like other female ducks.......... a bit drab (sorry ladies) and the best way to identify a female Widgeon is............it will be the one swimming alongside a male Widgeon.

I apologise in advance for the quality of the next clip, but as I said earlier it was cold and my hands were freezing as I had to use my gloves as a cushion. It is supposed to be a view of some Lapwing, Teal and a few gulls but they were also avoiding the cold wind by hunkering-down so it's not the best view of them.......brrr!!!:

 

 

After enjoying the delights of the concrete hide over-looking the lagoons Grant and I decided to brave the elements and head towards the sea wall to see if there was anything of interest there. It actually felt warmer out in the open than it did in the hide, maybe because the sun still had some heat in it, but more likely because we were moving about rather than sitting still in a cold, concrete bunker.

After 5 minutes of scanning the sea looking for birds (other than gulls) we were not disappointed as we managed to spot a Great-crested Grebe, some Guillemots, a Long-tail Duck and a Velvet Scoter (nothing to do with Mods!).

Some of these birds you may be familiar with such as the Great-crested Grebe which is relatively common on inland lochs and lakes in the spring/summer (Linlithgow Loch is great place to see these birds in their magnificent breeding plumage). Guillemots are also quite common around the Forth estuary and on the islands dotted around there.

Velvet Scoters are probably less familiar to you, unless of course you are a keen birder willing to brave the elements, as they are normally only seen around our coastal waters and estuaries in Winter. They are not the prettiest of the sea ducks (unfortunately I was unable to get a photo/film of the one we saw) and can be best described as a black duck with white eye-liner and a lumpy yellow beak (Google them and see if you agree!).

The Long-tailed Duck is however a much more elegant duck (particularly the male) and I did manage to get a short film of it before it dived and disappeared (yet again). It is not the best of clips and does not do the bird justice, but in my defence it was quite far out and didn't stay above the surface for very long before diving: 



 

 

We were starting to get cold again so we headed to the shelter of my car and drove to our next destination Aberlady Bay. We did have a short stop-off at Longniddry Bents (don't titter!) for a bite of lunch in the car. It contains several parking areas dotted amongst the dunes and we chose a spot where we could see the sea (but apart from some hungry gulls that was about all we saw). The place was full of cars (dog-walkers and sea-watchers mainly) and there was even a van selling fresh ground coffee!! we didn't stay long there, even though it was nice and warm in the car.

When we arrived at Aberlady Bay nature reserve there were dozens of cars there as well but we were fortunate enough to find a space we could squeeze into, although it did mean parking halfway up an embankment. There were a few dog-walkers there as well but most people were just out walking and enjoying the fresh, dry and slightly sunny day.

We decided to head out to the sandy prominent at the far end of the reserve, even though the light was fading fast. As we crossed the bridge which spans the mouth of the Peffer Burn we spotted several waders on the mudflats including a Curlew which I managed to capture on my camcorder:

 

 

Most people can easily identify a Curlew with its long curved bill. It is quite a large wader with long legs and it can wade in relatively deep water whilst probing the silt for moluscs and worms hidden underneath.

By the time we reached the sand dunes at the far end of the reserve the light had faded considerably and the wind had increased making it quite cold so we did not dwell long there. As we looked along the beach to see if there were any birds of interest we notice a small group of waders scuttling along the shore-line.

These were Sanderling, which is a bird Grant hadn't seen before so it made our trip out to the far end of the reserve worthwhile. Sanderling are great little waders to watch as they are so funny. They rush towards the sea as the waves go out and rush back in again when the waves come in. They are just like a bunch of kids who don't want to get their feet wet. Once again I didn't manage to get a film of this activity as it was too windy and they were too far away but if you want to see how funny they can be there are plenty of good clips on U-tube, or just Google 'Sanderlings running'. Alternatively try the link below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgPfdk3wZko

 

That's me finished my ramblings for now, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I'll try and come up with some interesting blog posts in 2013.

 

Cheers

 

TeddyEdward









The Windy City

After Alan & Laura's wedding the famous five (Moira, Mary, Florence, Danny & Steve) all headed to Chicago........... I went too of course (I know that makes it six!!).
After dropping the hire car off at Wisconsin's Madison Airport we all boarded Mary & Steve's minivan and drove the 150 miles to Chicago, Illinois. When I say 'we' drove I meant Steve drove, and it was through some horrendous downpours of rain and heavy traffic on the approach to Chicago so thanks very much Steve........you are a hero.
The weather cleared up just as we approached the centre of Chicago, which allowed us a distant view of the Chicago skyline:


Appoaching Chicago

We were staying at the Congress Plaza Hotel which was right in the centre of Chicago, facing on to the park and Lake Michican. Needless to say we could not afford a lakeside room but instead had a room facing the back of the hotel. Not that we were complaining as it was a large room with queen-sized beds and a commanding view of the Sears Tower (the highest building in USA) and Chicago Public Library (which I believe was part inspiration for Gotham City in the Batman stories). Mary & Steve and Florence & Danny had rooms round the side of the hotel with less picturesque views.
Here is some photos of the view from our window:


Night View from our window



Gotham City Library

The first evening we were there we went out for a bite to eat then had a night-time stroll through the park area that leads down to Lake Michican. It's this parkland that I think makes Chicago so special, with the lake on one side and the skyscrapers of Chicago on the other side you don't get the closed-in feeling of being in a large city, but you have all the city-like amenities such as bars and restaurants close at hand.
The park area is probably best appreciated during the day but here is a few snaps from our night-time stroll (by way of explanation the Chicago Bears were playing some sort of American Football that night and local support was in the usual understated Chigaco style):


Go Bears!!

Stroll in the Park by Monet

I have to say that the Bears have nothing to do with Traquair (at least I don't think so?), and it isn't a Monet just a dodgy photograph.
Strolling through the parkland in the evening was fun but to see it at its best you have to go there during the day. The parkland is split into several different areas with roads and cycle ways running through the middle of it (so you have to be on your toes) and a railway line running under it.
Our hotel was on Michican Avenue which runs along the West side of the parkland area making ideal for exploring both the city and the parkland area. There were lots of interesting things to see in the parks including many statues, such as the Native Americans on horseback located directly in front of our hotel. One was throwing an imaginary spear and the other had an imaginary bow and arrow (I think it was to demonstrate the futility or war, or something like that). Apparently they are both naked, but I did not look that close. Here is a photo of one of the statues in front of our hotel:



Spearless (and Pantless) Rider

Another very interesting sculpture (I think it is classified as a sculpture?) in a part called Millennium Park is 'The Cloud Gate'..........commonly called 'The Bean' as it resembles a giant silver bean.
By giant I mean GIANT as it is so big that you can walk under it, and you can get a great panoramic view of the city in its reflection.
Whether it looks like a jelly, coffee or baked bean you can decide for yourself:


Posing by the Bean

 Although the park area was busy there were a few places where it was a little quieter and you could 'chill out' such as along the waterfront and in a little fountain garden next to the Institute of Art:



Peaceful Fountain Garden

Chicago is not just made up of parks however, it does have one or two architectural wonders (that means interesting buildings to you and me!) and we took a trip in an open top bus one day, and a river cruise on another day, in order to appreciate these wonders.
Don't worry I'm not going to show you dozens of photos of skyscrapers, but I have selected a few I think you might be interested in. In general these are older buildings, or ones that I thought were particularly unique or quirky.
The first is the Wrigley Building built in the 1920's..............it's amazing what you can make out of chewing gum:



Wrigley Building

The next two towers form part of Marina City and on close inspection you will see that there is a marina at the bottom to park your boat, a car park on the next few floors to park your car and above that apartments to park your backside..................how clever is that!.........this was built in the crazy 60's of course:

 

 

Sorry that was on video but I didn't have any still photos of the Marina City Towers, hopefully you managed to view it OK.
There are many more fascinating sky-scrapers in Chicago, but I found myself drawn to a few unusual buildings when we were on the boat. These were bridge-houses, of which there are many as Chicago has a lot of bridge crossings where the river snakes through the city. In the past some of the bridges could open to allow tall sailing ships through and the bridge-houses contained all the machinery to lift or swing the bridges.
Here is a few examples of the quaint little (and not so little) bridge-houses:

Pretty Bridge-house



Not-so-pretty Bridge-house



Impressive Bridge-house

I could have done a whole blog posting on Chicago Bridge-houses but I resisted.
When on the open-top tour bus we also saw some interesting buildings which were not sky-scrapers, this included the Rainforest Cafe, complete with giant plastic frog (not sure how eco-friendly that is?)



Wonder if they do Frog's Legs on Toast

And there was the Redhead Piano Bar (I liked the sign!!) You will also notice the Excalibur Club in the background complete with large fire-breathing dragon above the entrance. Apparently it's some sort of adults club so I wasn't allowed in:


The Redhead Piano Bar

Anyway that's about all from Chicago, with the minor exception of our trip up the Willis (formally Sears) Tower, the tallest building in the USA.........so if you are squeamish about heights stop reading the blog now!!........

Here is a photo of the Willis Tower taken from the tour boat, it's not a great photo but you may be able to make out on the 103rd floor (that's about 10 floors from the top) a couple of green-house type structures sticking out from the side of the building:



Willis Tower from Boat

 The express lift takes you (and fifty other brave passengers) from the ground floor to the 103rd floor some 1,353 feet up in about 50 seconds............... that's two floors (or 27 feet)per second!!.
On the 103rd floor is the Skydeck observation area and the views are breath-taking. Here is just one view looking North-east towards the other skyscraper which look tiny from this height:


Chicago Scrapers from Willis Tower

Remember those little green-house type structures I pointed out? Well they are in fact glass boxes known as 'The Ledge' and if you were wondering what sort of view you get from them:

On the Ledge

 Quite a view I think you will agree and stepping out on to these glass floors is very disconcerting when you are that high up.
If you want to share in this experience watch this video I took (best sit down first):

 

 

 



Well that's it from Chicago, It's definitely a place I would recommend for a visit should you ever get the chance.
I'm off for a lie down now................that video has made my legs shaky!!

Cheers

Teddy Edward

Wisconsin, Wedding & the Windy City

Just recently returned from our visit to USA for my son Alan's wedding to the lovely Laura from Wisconsin.
Luckily we travelled back before Stormy Sandy hit the east coast of America and wreaked havoc.
So this blog post will cover our trip to Wisconsin and the Wedding, I'll save our visit to Chicago for another post (in case I bore you too much in one post).
When we first arrived in Wisconsin we stayed in a hotel in Sun Prairie, near Madison (the capital of Wisconsin) for a few days before moving 50 miles north to a little cottage on the shores of Green Lake.
The cottage was lovely, being decorated in the 'beach hut' style with lots of neat and quirky touches that made it very homely and relaxing. It was on Lake Shore Drive and the picturesque Green Lake (the deepest inland lake in Wisconsin) was only a few yards away. Here are some photos to illustrate my point:


Our Cottage on Green Lake

Lakeshore Drive in the Fall

Green Lake

Another plus point of staying in this cottage was Reilly's Pub which was at the end of Lakeshore Drive, just a 5 minute stagger home. It had great food, good service and lovely Wisconsin beer............it was only proper that I sampled the local produce on a few occasions.
My sister Florence and her husband Danny had travelled over from Alloa and were also staying nearby. They were sharing a condo on the adjacent Lake Puckaway with my other sister Mary and her husband Steve. Florence and Danny had come over to USA a few days earlier and stayed with Mary & Steve in their home in Maryland before travelling north to Wisconsin.
The condo they stayed in was very roomy with balconies, double garage and a lake-side patio, a bit too posh for me I'm afraid. Here is a photo (their condo was on the far right):


The Condo at Marquette, Lake Puckaway

Although the condo was posh it was 1980's posh (and I don't think it was retro!). This was confirmed when Steve found a couple of drinks cans in the patio area which were definitely pre-90's, maybe even pre-80's as they were before ring-pulls were invented (apologies to those of you who have never encountered drinks cans which needed a tin-opener):


Real Draft Beer in a Can?

I thought diet soda was a recent fad? How can it be draft beer if it's in a can? These are some of the questions that trouble me and keep me awake at night!!
Whilst we were in the Green Lake area we had a few trips out to local places such as the nearby town of Princeton, where we picked up some provisions at Piggly Wiggly's and explored the many antique shops (I say shops but these were mainly folk's houses which were jam-packed full of curios, trinkets and junk!) My sister Mary loves to browse amongst these type of shops and picks up a few bargains which she then sells on e-bay (She may live in Maryland but she's still Scottish at heart).
Here are the girls after a good afternoon's browsing:


Moira, Mary & Florence outside Antique Shop

The real reason we were in Wisconsin was the Wedding and it was approaching fast. We had done the 'meet the parents' bit on the Wednesday night and on the Friday we had the rehearsal at the church, followed by a grill-out at the beautiful farm house of Laura's parents. At the grill-out relations from both families who had travelled to be at the wedding got to meet each other, which is a traditional American way of doing things, and I must say it helped to find out 'who was who' prior to the wedding proper.
After the grill-out we dragged Alan back to Green Lake with us so that he could spend his last night as a single man away from the melee that was happening at the Bride's house. Needless to say I had to take him along to Reilly's for a few beers to calm his nerves, luckily it was still open and when I enquired they said it would be open until 2.30am. We did not stay that long as Moira phoned us at 1am to find out if we had fallen in the lake or not!!
The day of the Wedding arrived and we were up bright and early (brightish and reasonably early) and jockeyed for position in the one and only bathroom in the cottage for showers, etc. Needless to say there were the usual last minute hitches: like Alan's new kilt not having the tacking stitches removed; my hire kilt being at least two inches too narrow (or was I too fat?); and Moira debating whether to travel in her fascinator or not!!
Anyway we finally got washed, fed and dressed and ready to head south to the Wedding:



Moira & Alan at the Cottage

So we all piled into the car and headed down the 73 to meet the Groomsmen at their hotel as arranged the previous night. Unfortunately the Groomsmen were staying at different hotels and I chose to arrive at the wrong one, they were all at the right one. Luckily we had left in plenty of time so we quickly re-arranged to all meet outside the church...........panic over!.........well almost I hadn't a clue on how to get to the church from the hotel we were at!!.........Thank god for modern technology as Alan quickly logged on to a GPS site on his smart phone and guided me safely to our destination with time to spare.
Everybody was arriving at the church in their best togs and it was pleasing to see that not only Alan and the Groomsmen had made an effort to wear the kilt but the other Scotsmen attending had done likewise:


Men in Skirts!

The girls all washed up nicely as well, so we were all ready to go: (the one striking a pose is Mary's daughter Cathy)


Here come the Girls!

All we needed now was the Bride and her parents, who duly arrived in separate cars (have you ever seen someone driving in a bride's dress?).
I won't go into all the details of the Wedding ceremony but it was wonderfully arranged with flower girls scattering petals, nice music and singing, a lovely love story and other readings, etc. and not all formal and stuffy.....most enjoyable!
I suppose you will want to see some photos of the Happy Couple now, so here the are:


Alan & Laura with Doug & Mary Ann



With the Bride's Family



With the Groom's Family

With the Groomsmen & Bridesmaids



Contemplating the Reception Party

Wedding formalities over it was now time for the reception (well in an hour and a half's time it would be). Which gave us plenty of time to head to the hotel we were staying in overnight (there was no way I was driving an hour and a half back up to Green Lake after the reception) and park the car, get booked in and jump in a taxi to Madison.
The reception was held in the Children's Museum which was very quirky and most enjoyable, it had a rooftop garden where we were served with drinks before heading into the area where the tables were laid. Laura's attention to detail was evident everywhere, especially the little badges we got with our place settings (the badges had our favourite things on them, mine was a Dipper and Moira's was the Crow's Nest in Anstruther).
The meal was also far from the traditional steak pie and potatoes, it was a selection of tacos, tortillas, chili and various other fillings which you just helped yourself to........brilliant!!....all wedding meals should be like this.
The speeches were very funny, particularly the best man's (Ally, he's the one with the beard & kilt) and I even made a speech in broad Lowland Scot's whilst wearing a 'See You Jimmy' hat (as did all the other kilt wearers). The good folk of Wisconsin must have thought we were mad, but they applauded us warmly anyway.
Meal and speeches over it was time for the dancing, this is when I realised that the people of Wisconsin were much like ourselves, they all liked their beer (or wine) and most liked to dance.
We rounded the evening off in the traditional way with Runrig's version of 'Loch Lomond' where everybody, Scottish and Wisconsinish, got up and danced until they could dance no more.
A great time was had by all, unfortunately I have no photos to back this up as I had left the camera in the hotel, so you will just have to take my word for it.

The next blog post will cover our trip to Chicago

Take care,

Teddy Edward

Ascent of Minch Moor

The day I decided to walk up Minch Moor the weather was a lot different than the previous day when I tootled along the Tweed in lovely sunshine. This time it was dull, grey and cold with spits of rain blowing in the wind, nevertheless I soldiered on.
To those of you who are Munro-baggers the ascent of Minch Moor would be a stroll in the park but for a mere mortal such as myself it was a fair hike up a hill. Standing at 567 metres (that's 1860 feet in old money) the summit of Minch Moor is not even a Corbett (hills between 2,500 and 3,000ft) never mind a Munro (hills above 3,000 feet).
Anyway I parked up at Traquair village hall and made my way along the track that forms part of the Southern Upland Way. Being a bit cold with the threat of rain I was suitably dressed in my fleece and anorak, however after fifteen minutes of walking uphill I had to stop and shed some clothes as I was so hot.
When I stopped I had a look back down the valley towards Innerleithen and even at this height the view was pleasant (although I did get strange looks from the cows in the field):


View of Innerleithen

I continued on my walk until I came to a stand of coniferous woodland where I was pleased to see a small flock of Goldcrests flitting about the branches. I heard them before I saw them as they have a very distinctive, high pitch call that some people have difficulty hearing.
Any sighting of them was fleeting and there was no way of getting a photo of them, especially since I only had a small compact camera with me. These compacts are great for fitting in your pocket but when you are trying to photograph wildlife the time taken from pressing the button to taking the picture is just too slow and what ever was there has gone.
A little further along the track I came across a rustic wooden bothy where I stopped to have a bite to eat (hungry work this mountaineering):


Love this Bothy

As I sat munching my pieces and supping my coffee I enjoyed the lovely view from the veranda of the River Tweed winding through the valley below...........bliss!


Tweed Valley from Bothy

Suitable refreshed, fed and watered I continued my journey uphill towards Minch Moor. The next stop was a spot called the Point of Resolution. What's that I hear you ask?.......well I'll let you read the signpost rather than have me repeat it:

The aforementioned 'Point of Resolution' sculpture and the heather circles (as viewed through the eye of the sculpture) are shown below:


Resolution Point Sculpture

Through the Round Window

That was enough art for one day so I forged onwards and upwards. After this point the scenery was decidedly moorish, with heather heathland and not much else. I half expected to see Heathcliff and Cathy romping about in the heather........but no!
In fact I saw no-one apart from a couple of mental mountain bikers trying to kill themselves (and anybody in their way) as they hurtled down the hill-side.
Whilst traversing the moor I stopped to observe the age-old custom of appeasing the fairies at Cheese Well..........no I have not lost my marbles!! The story goes that you have to leave a donation of food (commonly cheese) at this freshwater spring to appease the wee folk and they will grant you a trouble-free journey.
As I had no cheese with me I left a corner of my Alpen cereal bar, which I thought was relevant as I was heading to the summit.
Near the end of the moorland stretch I reached a fork in the path where the Southern Upland Way carries onwards to Portpatrick (some hundred miles away on the west coast) but I was taking the right hand fork and heading to the summit of Minch Moor (a few hundred metres away). You can see I had to think hard which route to choose:


Portpatrick or Minch Moor??

One last push up the hillside and I reached the summit of Minch Moor, which was surprisingly in black and white??


The Cairn at the Summit of Minch Moor

You got some terrific views from up here, which photographs don't do justice, however here is one showing the Eildon Hills (or Trimontium as the Romans called their nearby outpost) which are a good few miles away near Melrose:




View from Minch Moor with Eildon Hills in Background

It was cold and windy at the top of the hill and although it hadn't rained yet it did look very dodgy so I decided not to hang around and made my way back downhill.
On my descent I chose a slightly different route and followed the track alongside the Camp Shiel Burn (which was a bit soggy under-foot) which led surprisingly to Camp Shiel. Here I found a beautiful cottage which was only accessible by a rough farm track, but what really fascinated me was some of the old out-buildings which surrounded this cottage.
There were stone buildings and wooden sheds with corrugated tin roofs:


Camp Shiel Out-buildings

There was a creepy summer-house that looked like an old railway carriage:


Camp Shiels Summer-House?

Was that a ghost inside or just the reflection of a poor photographer??
I beat a hasty retreat and walked along the farm track which followed the Fingland Burn. This was a great little burn, fast flowing, gravel-based, the sort you would expect to see a Dipper on (my favourite bird) but I didn't see any.
I did see a tree growing up through the burn, which was strange, maybe the burn had changed course over the years and the tree was there first!!


Tree in Burn

I had to cross a couple of bridges and go through a few gates along this track. It didn't look like a track that was well walked, in fact the sheep gave me a look like I shouldn't be there:


You shouldn't be here!!

I wasn't about to argue with them, especially the one with the horns.
I passed by another cottage which wasn't as nice as the Camp Shiels one and definitely looked like it needed a bit of TLC:


Damhead Cottage

At the end of the track there was a farm and once I passed that I was on the home straight back to Traquair.
Just before I reached Traquair and the end of my journey I noticed some other sheep in a field which didn't seem to have the same aggressive attitude as the previous ones. In fact they were being very helpful by suggesting some lottery numbers for me to use:


Sheep Bingo

Overall I had a briliant walk and the rain stayed off.........result!!.

Take Care

Teddy Edward

Tootling along the Tweed

Last week I had a couple of days to myself down in Peebles and took the opportunity to go for a few walks in the area.
My first walk was a reasonably leisurely stroll from Tweed Bridge in Peebles heading upstream along the side of the river to Manor Bridge where I returned by the high road past Manor Sware and back to Peebles.


Tweed Bridge at the start of the walk

My first encounter with wildlife was a family of mute swans on the river near Hay Lodge Park, there were two adult swans and three cygnets that were almost fully grown:


Mute Swan cygnets and adult

Although you could argue that swans such as this can be reasonably tame and not consider them as wildlife I can assure you that if you get too close to the cygnets the adults will soon let you know they are 'wild' alright. Anyway they are one of the few wild birds that people can get close to and are one of the first wild animals that a child learns to recognise, so good on them!
A little further up the river the nice even tarmac path disappears and you are now on a rougher (and muddier) track that edges its way under through the gorge under the rocky outcrop on which Neidpath Castle sits.



Neidpath Castle

Just after Neidpath there is a bend in the river which is surrounded by Scot's Pine and this is a favourite fishing spot for some anglers (the Tweed is renowned for its fishing and is commonly known as the Queen of salmon rivers).


Fishing on the Tweed

After you pass through the gorge the path passes through an open area of wild grassland which (even in September) is full of wild flowers and plants. Where there are wild flowers you can bet there will be insects (which I know you all love!!):


Meadow Cranesbill with Sawflies



Common Knapweed with Drone Fly

At the end of this wildflower meadow is a disused railway bridge that crosses the Tweed. This was the line that run from Symmington (where it branched off the main Glasgow/Edinburgh to Carlisle line) and passed through Biggar and Broughton before reaching Peebles west station. The Caledonian Railway run the 'Tinto Express' along this line from Edinburgh, to compete with the North British Railway's 'Peebles-shire Express' which came through Leadburn and Eddleston. It was a longer journey from Edinburgh on this line, but it was a favourable line if you were coming from Glasgow. The line was closed to passengers in 1950.


Old Railway Bridge across the Tweed

At this railway bridge you go up the embankment and join the old railway line which is now a path, which is pleasantly edged with wild plants and flowers:


Path along Old Railway Line

Hover-fly on Knapweed



Umbellifer seeds (possibly Cow Parsley)

Walking along the pathway you could tell it was the end of Summer and the start of Autumn by the fact that the Rowan berries were bright red, the rose-hips were a lovely orange and the pods on the Broom (which had lost all its lovely yellow flowers) were starting to dry out and pop in the heat of the sun.


Broom with popping pods

At the end of the railway path you reach Manor Bridge, which crosses the Tweed and heads into the Manor Valley (which is a great place to visit and definitely a subject for a future blog post). Once over the Manor Bridge I turned left and headed back towards Peebles on the other side of the Tweed. At this point you have to go over the Old Manor Brig, which crosses Manor Water just before it joins the Tweed. I knew it was called Old Manor Brig, because the signpost told me so:



Old Manor Brig

As you can see it was built just after 5pm and they didn't bother to straighten the walls as they were in a hurry to finish by tea-time.
You start to climb up hill now as you go along the old road to Manor Sware, looking back down the hill you get some great views of the start of the Manor Valley and the surrounding hills:


View towards Manor Valley

At the top of the hill I stopped at a convenient picnic table where I had my lunch. It was certainly a table with a view (that's the new Manor Bridge in the background)


Table with a view sir?

After lunch I headed into South Park Wood to pick up the trail back to Peebles (no I didn't meet Cartman or Kenny!..... but the sign made me giggle anyway):

Once in the woods I came across the age old dilemma of finding three tracks with no sign telling me which one to take. So I used my initiative and decided to take the centre track as it was the widest and most used, hence it must go to Peebles............20 minutes later I arrived at the picnic area where I had had my lunch. Second time round I looked at my map and took the correct track on the right.
In the woods there were a few items of interest such as the fungi that was growing there and there were also a family of buzzards soaring overhead but I did not have my camera with the zoom lens on it so I could not get any decent photos. I did however get a photo of a Peacock Butterfly that was in a torpid state sitting on the path in front of me. I moved it to the side so that it did not trodden on and it immediately flew away (just as well I snapped it before it left):


Peacock Butterfly

At the end of the woods I crossed a stile and headed over a field towards Peebles. There was no danger of treading on a butterfly here, the obstacles were a lot larger, softer and smellier...........


Cow Pat

Coming over the field I could see my destination in sight (although I did keep one eye on the ground in front of me as well!):


Peebles

After a few manouvers around South Park Industrial Estate I found myself back on the path alongside the river, this time on the opposite bank. My friends the Swans came to see me again:


Mute Swan family

It had been a great walk and although it was a nice sunny day for most of the walk I was not too hot. I certainly didn't even consider going on the deep, cauld water???

I hope you all enjoyed going on the walk with me today.
The following day I tackled Minch Moor and you can read about that in my next blog posting.

Take care

Teddy Edward