By the Shores of the Carron

The River Carron starts its life as a burn tumbling down from the Fintry Hills some ten miles west of Stirling. It has no sooner started flowing when its progress is punctuated by the Carron Valley Reservoir; of which it is one of the main feeder rivers. This reservoir provides clean drinking water for a large number of people in the Falkirk area and the river which issues from the base of the dam is of course the River Carron.

The Fintry Hills

Carron Valley Reservoir

From source to sea the Carron is not a long river, perhaps covering a distance of less than 20 miles, it is however a river with a great history of utilisation. As well as being a major source of drinking water it has historically served as an essential water supply to many paper mills in the Denny & Dunipace area, several large iron works and foundries in the Falkirk area, as well as chemical works in the Grangemouth area.

Bridge at Carron Valley (upstream of Denny)

As the river rushes down through Denny and Larbert to the lower reaches at Carronshore it changes from relatively fast flowing to a sluggish, meandering river which winds its way down to join the much bigger River Forth at Grangemouth. At these lower reaches it is tidal and both banks are covered in deep, brown mud which is clearly visible at low tide; it is at this point my walk began.

Walkway along the Banks of the Carron

Starting from the outskirts of Grangemouth I headed along the cycle/walkway that runs along the north bank of the River Carron and leads to Carronshore. For those of you not familiar with the area it is on the opposite bank of the river from a little sculpture known as the Kelpies:

Kelpies from River Carron Walkway

Kelpies Sculpture

That's enough equestrian art for now, time to concentrate on the real wildlife.
The first evidence of wildlife I encountered was a mixed group of ducks and gulls enjoying the nutrient rich waters downstream of the outfall from Dalderse Sewage Treatment Works (don't knock it until you've tried it..........only joking.......don't try it). Further up the river there was a family of Swans (adults and two cygnets) relaxing on the muddy bank:

Swan Family on bank of River Carron

On the other side of the walkway there was a nice row of Beech trees, which were bathed in Winter sunshine, these must look magnificent in the summer:

Row of Beech Trees

At the other side of the Beech trees was a meadow, which I took a photograph of before realising that there was a small group of Roe Deer grazing at the far end of the meadow about 100 yards away:

Meadow behind Beech Trees

I realised that my small camera would not have enough zoom to get a good photograph of the deer so I hurriedly got my trusty camcorder out. Although not perfect as I had no tripod, the results are not too bad I hope:

These deer seemed to be surprisingly tolerant of people walking back and forward along the walkway. They would occasionally lift their heads, their ears would twitch and then they would go back to grazing. Any of the Roe Deer I have encountered in the past would bolt for the cover of a woodland as soon as the saw you, they certainly would not linger in the open for too long.
As I walked further along the path I came across a pond in an adjacent field and I was hopeful that this may contain some interesting wildlife:

Pond in Field

 Unfortunately it had very little wildlife around it............a couple of Carrion Crows.......which left as soon as I got there. A little further along there was an interesting looking building hiding in the woods next to this field:

Doocot in Woods

It was an octagonal doocot (aka dovecote) built of red brick and I later found out that it was built around 1800 and belonged to the nearby Carron House, which has been a ruined mansion for as long as I can remember. The doocot looked in good condition for its age but had been subject to some obvious vandalism. I guessed it would no longer contain the doves/pigeons which the mansion house bred for pleasure (and food).
Shortly after this point I turned round and headed back towards Grangemouth as I did not think I would find much in the way of wildlife along the short stretch of walkway to Carronshore.
As I approached the outfall from the sewage works I noticed that not only was there still a collection of ducks and gulls, there was also a Heron on the bank beside the outfall:

I'm not sure what the Heron was hoping to catch but I presume it was some small fish which had been attracted to the nutrients from the outfall. I grew up in the Carronshore area and never thought that fish could ever exist in such a polluted river (as it was then); however a huge reduction in amount of heavy industry in the area coupled with major improvements in discharges has I'm sure led to life returning to the lower reaches of the River Carron.
Just downstream of the outfall, where the surplus water from the Forth & Clyde Canal discharges in to the river, I noticed that a group of male Teal where swimming about in a circular motion:

After circling around a bit they started to attack each other, with a bit of 'parallel swimming' thrown in as well. I wondered if this was some sort of breeding display such as male red deer do..............a sort of 'Teal Rut'..........if it was there were no females about to impress.
Normally on the banks of a tidal river (at low tide) you would expect to see some waders but all I saw was one Redshank under the M9 flyover which flew away before I could photograph it. This may have something to do with the very deep and very soft mud that makes up the banks of the River Carron.........as anybody brought up in this area knows, this mud is perilous. To illustrate this I took a photograph of this perfectly serviceable, modern bicycle which has been tossed into the mud only a few feet from the bank side...........and nobody has made any attempt to retrieve it!!!...........as far as we can tell!!

Anybody want a bike?

Well my walk was almost finished and I felt that I had a good day, some wildlife, some antiquities and some curiosities. I was just about to pack my camera and camcorder away when a small flock of birds swooped past and landed in a nearby tree. These were Yellowhammers, one of my favourite birds and surprisingly enough they were happy to sit in this tree and let me film them. Firstly there was a brightly coloured male Yellowhammer:

Unfortunately you could not hear him singing above the noise of the traffic on the M9 motorway.
Then there was the less colourful, but just as beautiful female Yellowhammer:

What a fantastic hour or so I had on this short walk...... and I cannot believe how accommodating the wildlife around this area was...........they just stood there and let me film them.............I definitely must return sometime.

Take Care,

TeddyEdward