Western Fife: My New Local Patch

 It's been a long time coming but we have finally made the move across the water to Fife. We moved to the village of Crossford on the west side of Dunfermline back in September, but I am only now getting the chance to explore our local patch.

So the first blog about my new local patch covers a walk from our house to the nearby Gallowridge Hill which lies to the south of the village. The road heading south of Crossford is known as Waggon Road and that's where my blog will start. I passed plenty of interesting habitats on this relatively short walk which leads me to think that I am going to enjoy walking around the Crossford area in the months and years to come:

Scrubland to the East of Waggon Road

What Wildlife lurks in this Scrubland?

Farmland to East of Waggon Road

Grazed Farmland, another interesting habitat

Old Gate Posts Frame the View

At this point the only footpath is on the west side of Waggon Road (as the story goes!) so I crossed over. However the path on the west side is short lived and you are faced with the choice of walking on the road or along a grassy area leading to a path through woodlands running adjacent to the road. No choice really, it has to be the grassy/woodland path:

Looking South down Waggon Road

Looking North up Waggon Road to Crossford

View to West from Grassy Path

There were some magnificent trees in this grassy area before we got to the woodland path:

View across farmland 

Magnificent Trees

Another Magnificent Tree

I then entered the woodland path running parallel with Waggon Road. It is not a large stretch of woodland, only a few hundred yards long and it is narrow enough to be able to see Waggon Road on your left whilst watching open farmland on your right. It does however contain lots of established native trees and sufficient undergrowth to make it interesting. I did a few woodland birds but failed to get any photos of them, so here are some views instead:

Start of Track through the Woodland

Track (and Waggon Road) crosses the Crossford Burn

View over Farmland to Crossford

Autumnal Colours

Track continues on through Woodland

A little further along the track you have to re-join Waggon Road, cross over the Lyne Burn then under the Railway Bridge. Then immediately on your left is the track that takes you to Gallowridge Hill:

Re-joining Waggon Road

Crossing Lyne Burn

Track to Gallowridge Hill

The railway line I passed under was now on my left hand side. This line was mainly used to deliver coal to Longannet Power Station was has been closed down and demolished over the last few years. The line can also be used to run trains between Dunfermline and Alloa but has never really used for this purpose (other than a couple of steam train excursions back in 2016). After passing a wooded strip of land I reached an area of scrubland:

Area of Scrubland 

It was at this point there used to be a branch line that ran down to Charleston Harbour, which was mainly used for freight. An earlier incarnation of this line was The Elgin Waggonway which featured horse-drawn carriages. The line is pretty well overgrown now but you can see the line it took from the track heading up Gallowridge Hill:

Line of trees to south of Gallowridge 
 indicates the old Charleston branch line

To north of Gallowridge is the
Longannet to Dunfermline railway line

Whilst I was at this junction I noticed a familiar farmland bird on the power cables running alongside the railway line, it was a  colourful Yellowhammer:

That was a nice bird to see in the Autumn sunshine, even if it was only briefly, before it disappeared into the nearby scrubland.

I continued heading uphill along the track, enjoying the views of the trees dressed in their Autumn colours:

Views towards Crossford

Trees in Autumn Colours

Views towards Dunfermline

If you look carefully you can see Dunfermline Abbey as well as other historic buildings:

Dunfermline's Historic Skyline

Moving slightly west is the less impressive skyline of Crossford, but it still looks attractive in the Autumn sunshine:

Crossford from Gallowridge Hill

Crossford peeking through the trees

You cannot see our house from Gallowridge Hill, even though it is on the side of the village pictured above, it is hidden behind a stand of trees.

I had intended to carry on up the track to the very top of the hill then head down the other side; however there is somebody's house there and I couldn't see an obvious path round about it. I therefore decided to turn around and walk back the way I came; which was quite fortunate as I might have missed the beautiful male Kestrel perched on a tree near the bottom of the hill:

Kestrel in a tree

Male Kestrel

Kestrel Preening in the Sunshine

It was having a preen and stayed there long enough for me to get a video of it:

It was quite far away but nice to see such an iconic raptor, even if it is on a tree preening rather than hovering above some unsuspecting vole.

I headed on home for lunch after this, a relatively short walk but a very enjoyable one. Hope to bring you some more blogs from my new local patch (or patches) over the forthcoming months.

Take Care

Teddyedward