Teddy Edward: Spring Visit to Melrose

Back in April we took the motorhome down to Melrose for a few days, however it's taken me until June to pull together the photos and videos to produce this blog posting, but it's here now.

We travelled down on the Monday afternoon and basically spent that first day getting the motorhome set up having a stroll around the town and having a relaxing evening. The next morning I went out for a walk down to the nearby River Tweed whilst Moira stayed in the van and chilled out:

Lovely pitch at Gibson Park site

Moira chillin' in the van

Just across the road from the campsite is the ground of Melrose Rugby Football Club (The Greenyards) which is the home of the Melrose Sevens tournament. Fortunately for us the tournament had been held the previous week and everything was now nice and quiet:

Home of Melrose Rugby Football Club

Path alongside the rugby ground

MRFC Ground and the Eildon Hills

As you can see you get a grand view of the Eildon Hills from this spot; well you can see two of the peaks, there are three but the third is hidden from this angle. The Romans had a fort near here and they called it Trimontium, for obvious reasons.

I carried on up the path towards the Tweed:

Path towards The Tweed

Approaching the River Tweed

At this point on the Tweed there is a "cauld" (and no it doesn't mean it's freezing or you have a dose of the sniffles). A cauld is an old Scottish term for a weir of a partial dam in the river, sometimes used to deflect water to feed a mill or as a means of trapping fish.

The Melrose Cauld is no longer in use for it's original purpose and looks more like a natural feature:

The Tweed upstream of the cauld

The Melrose Cauld

The video below probably gives you a better idea of the power and volume of water flowing over the cauld, even though it had been a particularly dry spell back then:

Upstream of the cauld there were a few birds messing about on the relatively still waters of the river; including this Mallard Drake:

There was also a pair of Goosanders:

Male and Female Goosander

These Goosanders were doing a bit more than "messing about" in fact they were going through a courtship display; which involves a lot of chasing about and some synchronised preening:

Slightly further downstream nearer to the cauld I spotted more Goosanders, including a pair of females (redheads) on the rocks and a male in the water trying hard to impress them:

Redheads on the rocks

Male Goosander trying to impress

The male seemed to favour the female on the right, or perhaps she gave him an 'interested' look:

Female Goosander might be interested?

Is she interested?

The male definitely thought he was in with a chance as he got out the water to join her in some synchronised preening:

Could be in here?

Maybe not!

I decided to move downstream from the cauld, sticking close to the grassy river bank; here you got a good view back upstream towards the cauld:

View Upstream from the Cauld

View Upstream from below the Cauld

There were lots of lovely wildflowers growing on the grassy bank downstream of the cauld, including Cuckoo Flower (aka Lady's Smock) and daffodils:

Cuckoo Flower on the River Bank

Lovely Daffodils at the Melrose Cauld

More Cuckoo Flower at the Chain Bridge

I had moved far enough down the river bank to get views of the Chain Bridge; a pedestrian bridge which was built across the Tweed in 1826 to link Melrose with the village of Gattonside on the opposite side of the river.

Chain Bridge across The Tweed

Looking back towards the Melrose Cauld

Directly across the river from where I stood was a large peeble bank, formed from thousands of stones washed down by the river over hundreds of years. It is quite an impressive structure and I was sure I could see something bright yellow bobbing up and down amongst the pebbles:

What is that on the Pebble Bank?

I zoomed in with my trusty camera to discover it was just as I thought, a Grey Wagtail:

Grey Wagtail on Pebble Bank

Colourful Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

I know that it is predominately yellow, but not as yellow as the Yellow Wagtail and it does have a grey back, hence it is a Grey Wagtail. You nearly always find them next to water, whether it be a small stream or a raging river. The video below will also confirm that it does in fact wag its tail:

After this short but enjoyable visit to the river bank I decided to head back to the caravan park. At the lane that runs passed the rugby club I stopped to enjoy the views:

Melrose near to the Rugby Ground

Melrose Parish Church

I moved further along the path and crossed the road to Gibson Park, which is where the caravan park is situated:

Gibson Park, with Eildon Hills in the background

Caravan Park, Vannie straight ahead

I got back in time for lunch, with plenty of time to get ready for our visitor.

The visitor in question was David, an old friend from my time at Kailzie Wildlife. He stays in the Galashiels area so we try to meet up if we are down in this neck of the Scottish Borders. David had very kindly offered to take us out in his car for a run around the area and we gladly accepted.

First stop was a short trip uphill to Bowden Loch just outside Melrose. This small loch belongs to a local fishery group, but they don't object to peaceful visitors:

Bowden Loch near Melrose

David and Moira at Bowden Loch

It was very quiet with only a couple of anglers there and ourselves, which made for a very peaceful walk around the loch. The wildlife was relatively quiet as well, but there was some action on the loch including this pair of Coot in display mode:

Parallel Swimming

Coot Cuddle

Synchronised Preening

Not Synchronised!

Not sure that was very successful, but what do I know, I'm not a Coot.

A little further along a male Tufted Duck seemed to be getting ready to display, but I couldn't see any female?

Male Tufted Duck Display?

Tufted Duck just minding its own business

It was a lovely afternoon and the little loch was looking its best:

Bowden Loch

Nice View with Iris in foreground

More Iris on a tranquil Bowden Loch

View from top of Bowden Loch

At the top end of the loch there was a channel which fed water in to the loch and this was attractively lined by Marsh Marigolds:

Channel with Marsh Marigolds

We carried on along the path heading through a wooded area and back down the other side of the loch:

Path through the woods

From this other side you had a good view over the loch to the Eildon Hills:

Across Bowden Loch to the Eildon Hills

We could even spot a couple of people walking their dog up near the top of the Eildon Hills:

Dog Walkers on the Eildon Hills

Rather them than me, a long way to walk your dog and a fair hike uphill.

Meanwhile back on the loch, a Coot slowly drifted passed the Irises:

Irises at top end of loch

Coot drifting passed

Still drifting

Further down the loch a pair of Mallards broke cover:

Pair of Mallards

Looking through the trees I could see a strange object moving on the loch; was it a duck, a fish or even a radio controlled amphibious vehicle?

I don't know if it was a clever way of depositing fish bait or if it was just a toy, but it was being controlled by one of the anglers at the side of the loch.

We completed the loop round the loch then headed back to David's car. He kindly took us for a guided drive around the countryside to the south of Melrose. It was great being able to enjoy the scenery without having to do the driving.

We stopped for tea and cake in a cafe within the Bisley estate which was very nice, and it also afforded us a view of the Eildon Hills where we could see all three peaks:

View of Trimontium from Bisley Car Park

David then took us back to the caravan park before heading home himself. Thank you David for a great afternoons drive.

It had been a very busy day but we still found time in the evening to go out for a little stroll down passed Melrose Abbey:

Two peaks of Eildons

Melrose Abbey from Annay Road

Moira on Annay Road, Melrose

Eddie on Annay Road

It was a pleasant stroll and we even seen a bit of wildlife (sort of):

A pair of Bunnies

A pair of Cuddies

We slept well that night.

The next morning we were a bit lazy and apart from a stroll down Melrose High Street we did very little. We did however venture out in the afternoon with a walk along the Tweed, this time however we headed upstream from the cauld, taking the 'high path'.

The High Path

The Rear of Melrose Parish Church

This path took us along the back of the parish church and gave us some commanding views along the River Tweed:

River Tweed upstream from Melrose

Looking downstream with Gattonside on other bank

After a while the high path returns to a low path running alongside the river bank. We continued along this path for a little while:

Path alongside the River Tweed

Here we saw some lovely trees, Some Goosanders on an island near the opposite bank and a pair of Mallard mucking about on the river:

Lovely Tree

Goosander Island

Mucking About Mallards

We saw another Male Goosander, this one was fishing, it followed the flow of the river downstream and kept sticking its head under the water to see if there was anything worth catching

Male Goosander in Fishing Mode

We carried on along the path for a little while before turning round and heading back to the caravan park. On our way back we saw some Cherry Blossom, a Rabbit and yet another view of the Eildon Hills:

Cherry Blossom

Rabbit in a bush

Eildon Hills from Gibson Park

That was basically it for our relaxing trip to Melrose. The next morning we packed up Vannie and headed home, we did stop at Peebles briefly on the way home, so here is some pics from there: