Ayr and Loch Doon

I have been carrying out a few Upland Breeding Bird Surveys on behalf of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) over the last couple of years, so I thought I'd share my experience earlier in June.
The area I survey is near Loch Doon on the Ayrshire/D&G border, and I usually  drive down to Ayr in the motorhome the day before the survey.
I spend overnight in the campsite at Ayr then head off to Loch Doon early in the morning. This normally gives me an afternoon in Ayr to explore the town and the surrounding area.
The campsite is near to the University of West of Scotland campus which sits on the banks of the River Ayr. There is a lovely walkway along the side of the river where you can either head East in to the countryside or West in to the town of Ayr.
On this occasion I took the path towards Ayr Town Centre (was he not a racing driver?):

River Ayr near UWS Campus

It was a pleasant afternoon and the birds were singing; I hadn't walked too far before I heard the tuneful sound of a Dunnock in the bushes, and it was happy for me to film it (for a short while anyway):

A little further along the river you come to a series of weirs; downstream of these weirs the river is tidal and upstream it is quite slow moving.

Weirs on the River Ayr

Water flowing over the Weirs

It was just upstream of these weirs that I managed to film this female Mallard with no less than 11 ducklings:

On the downstream side of the weirs there were even more Mallards (mostly males) busily feeding and a Cormorant drying its wings in the sunshine:

Seemed like this area of the river was a bit like a service station (time for food and a wash and brush up); in fact a little further downstream I caught this Oystercatcher having a good preen as well:

Moving on down the river there are several bridges including rail, road and pedestrian:

Pedestrian Bridge across River Ayr

As you get nearer to where the river joins the sea you can even see the remnants of an old stone-built bridge:

Remnants of old bridge

Beyond this is the harbour area, most of the current harbour activity being on the opposite (North) bank of the river from the town centre and beach.
On the South bank of the river there is still some evidence of previous industrial activity, including this old fishing boat (effectively in dry dock) and a sculpture in steel:

Old Fishing Boat in Ayr Docks

Sculpture in Steel (the art of oxy-acetylene burning)

Ayr (like many seaside towns) has suffered decline in recent decades and some parts of the town reflect this. It was refreshing to see that some re-generation is happening with the construction of some beach front apartments:

Fancy new apartments being built

Striking Beach Front Apartments

And what views they have out their windows!................

The Isle of Arran

Looking North along Ayr Beach

Looking South along Ayr Beach

Although quiet on this day a sunny weekend in the summer can see these beaches get very busy.
I then had a walk through the town before heading back to the campsite.
On my way back I was greeted by this singing Blackbird in the grounds of the UWS Campus at Craigie:

The next morning I got up bright and early and drove to Loch Doon on the Ayrshire/Dumfries & Galloway border to carry out my Upland Breeding Bird Survey.

Towards Loch Doon

I parked up the motorhome and made my way to the survey site which was about half an hour away along a farm track; where I had several gates to negotiate and some livestock:

Sheep on track towards Loch Doon

Belted Galloway Cows in field near Loch Doon

I reached the dam at the Northeast end of Loch Doon, which represents the starting point of my survey:

The Dam at Loch Doon

Now the hard work starts!
The first part of the survey is all uphill over moorland dotted with many bogs.............. luckily I had my wellies on............ but it is still rough going.
I have to record any birds I see, hear calling or hear singing/displaying whilst noting where they are in terms of the survey area. I also have to note the weather conditions and the different habitats within the survey area.
This does not give me a lot of time to get photos or videos of anything, but I like to capture what I can. Here are a few birds I managed to video; firstly some clips of a Curlew that was singing/displaying (you might want to turn the sound up!):

One of the most common birds I see/hear during the survey is the Meadow Pipit, however that doesn't make it easy to video them as they are always on the move or in long grass; here is one perched on a rock however:

Skylarks are also pretty common around here but I always struggle to get them on video as they just get higher and higher in the sky until I can barely see them never mind focus a camcorder on them.
After about 45 minutes I have reached the top of the hill and have completed the first part of my survey, time for a snack break and admire the views:

Loch Doon looking Southwest

Loch Doon looking South

Break over it is time to start the second half of the survey.
I have to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the starting point for the downhill part of the survey......... fortunately it is slightly shorter than the uphill part........ unfortunately it is over more boggy and more rocky ground.
Just at the start of the second part of the survey I saw a pair of Ravens taking off from the ground and flying towards the loch. I managed to capture one of them on video:

Towards the end of my survey, at a particularly rocky area near the edge of the loch I saw a small group of Wheatear on the ground, calling to each other. There were four of them, two adults and two juveniles and I managed to video some of them:

It got even better when an adult Wheatear hopped up on to a prominent rock and started to call:

I carried on down to the water's edge, which was effectively the end point for my survey. As I sat on a rock to have a short break before embarking on the 45 minute walk back to the motorhome I noticed that I had been joined by a juvenile Wheatear on an adjacent rock:

It must have popped over to say "bye bye!" or in Wheatear speak "chack chack!"

Almost three hours after leaving the motorhome to carry out the survey I was back; slightly knackered but happy that I had completed the survey and also filmed some of the birds I had seen. Just a two hour drive home now!

Hoped you enjoyed it without having to do the walking!

Take care

Teddyedward

Mellow Melrose

I love Melrose in the Scottish Borders, its a pleasant, laid-back sort of town which is just great to stroll around........... unless of course you visit whilst it is hosting the Rugby 7's......... then it's bedlam. Luckily we visited it the week after the Rugby 7's and the locals were still recovering!
The great thing about visiting Melrose with the motorhome is that the Caravan Park is almost in the middle of the town. A short walk of about 100 yards from the Caravan Park and you are on the High Street with its shops, cafes and pubs, just brilliant.

View from Vannie at Gibson Park Caravan Site

For our first stroll we headed past the Parish Church to the banks of the River Tweed to enjoy the lovely riverside walk:

Riverside Walk in Melrose

Moira enjoying a walk along the Tweed

At the start of our walk there were some rapids (well a few stones and some rough water):

Upstream of the Tweed Rapids

Downstream of the Tweed Rapids

At was at this point I filmed a few Goosanders on the water near the opposite Bank. What I thought was an innocent gathering of male and female Goosanders looks more like a Goosander love-triangle when I saw the video! ......what do you think?

We carried on with our walk, enjoying views of the old Chain Bridge, Melrose Abbey and the Eildon Hills:

Chain Bridge over the River Tweed at Melrose

Melrose Abbey with Eildon Hills in background

We then headed back in to Melrose, skirting past Melrose Rugby Football Club, where the last remnants of the Rugby 7's stands, barriers and hospitality tents were being dismantled:

Heading back in to Melrose

Melrose Rugby Football Club

That walk set us up for a nice meal in the motorhome, a bit of telly, and off to bed ready for the next day's adventure.
Next morning after breakfast we took a short bus ride to Tweedbank (I know it is easily walkable) and then a ten minute walk took us to Abbotsford House. This was the home of well-known author Sir Walter Scott, famous for creating the 'romantic' view of Scotland that the Victorians loved, through his novels like Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Waverley, The Lady of the Lake, etc.
Abbotsford House was basically bought by Scott so he could retire and enjoy family life, however getting the house and grounds up to the standard he (and his wife) wanted cost so much he had to go back to writing novels and poems in order to pay for it.

Abbotsford House, Home of Sir Walter Scott

Moira at Abbotsford House

We started our tour inside the house, exploring each of the rooms, many of which were jam-packed with items of interest (or were at least of interest to Sir Wattie when he was on his travels). Here are some of the rooms and curios:

Inside the Drawing Room

Wattie and his dug

Might try and build a similar table?

Stringless Harp and Chinese Wallpaper

He was very keen on military memorabilia and in the aptly named armoury there were plenty of examples:

Gun Collection

Armour and Swords

Great Croc Gun

Say Cheese?

He also created some interesting features such as a window painted to look like stain-glass and a saloon-door entrance to a little 'snug' area:

Thro' the Arched Window

Entrance to The Snug

The view of the River Tweed from the Drawing Room was quite enticing so we had to head outside:

View from Drawing Room

View of patio from Drawing Room

Nice Tower

We headed out to the gardens, where we were greeted by a little Dunnock foraging for food:

As it was spring the gardens were not in full bloom but there were still a few nice plants to see such as some pretty Snake's-Head Fritillary and impressive Apple Tree blossom:

Snake's-head Fritillary

Small Apple Tree, plenty of blossom

We then headed round to the grounds at the rear of the house which afforded us a different perspective of this country house:

The Rear View of Abbotsford House

No Rapunzel to let her hair down

Moira, hair under wraps

Eddie, no hair to let down

We then made our way down to the River Tweed:

River Tweed at Abbotsford

Abbotsford House from River Tweed

Pond next to river at Abbotsford

I was impressed by the amount of birds in and around the river at this point, including a Heron fishing in the ponded water next to the river; which then flew off and landed in an area being colonised by noisy Black-headed Gulls:

Those Black-headed Gulls were not happy; in fact nesting/feeding sites must have been in great demand along this short stretch of river as we saw Oystercatchers, Goosanders, Sand Martins, Jackdaws and even a Pied Wagtail vying for a position:

That almost concludes our visit to Abbotsford, on our way out we went past some old workshops and I took a photo of something that might intrigue those of you with an interest in engineering:

A fully-manual pillar drill

It was used for drilling holes in fence posts before electricity was invented............. ah the good old days!!

We walked back to Tweedbank, stopping for a spot of lunch at Herges on the Loch:

Herges on the Loch

Fountain on Gun Knowe Loch

This restaurant is named after another author (cartoonist), this time a Belguim whose most famous character was Tintin. Was he associated with Tweedbank in any way? ............... answers on a postcard please! Plenty of Tintin memorabilia inside the restaurant, including a brilliant painting of Tintin and Snowy drinking alone in a bar?
After a tasty lunch we decided to burn off a few calories and walked back to Melrose along the riverside path:

Riverside path from Tweedbank to Melrose

Gattonside Bridge thro' the trees

Spring Buds on the Trees

We spotted some wildlife on this walk beside the Tweed; including a Buzzard flying over from Gattonside and some Sand Martins resting on a wire across the river:

The views on this walk were not too shabby either:

River Tweed Upstream

River Tweed Downstream 

That evening we treated ourselves to a delicious meal at Burt's Hotel, followed by a 'quiet' drink in the Ship Inn watching the football.
The following morning we chose to stay local and visited a few places in Melrose itself, starting with Priorwood Gardens:

Bird Sculpture at Priorwood Gardens

Melrose Abbey from Priorwood Gardens

This is a peaceful little garden run by the National Trust and is right next to Melrose Abbey. It was a lovely sunny morning when we were there although it was still a bit cool in the shade, so we lingered in the sun for as long as we could.
It has a bit of a wildlife walk which leads to a little orchard area, where we watched this Song Thrush rummage through the dead leaves looking for insects, snails, slugs........... breakfast basically:

After this we grabbed a spot of lunch at Abbey Fine Wines (no not a liquid lunch, they do have a cafe) and then we decided to visit Melrose Abbey:

Melrose Abbey

The Abbey is obviously a ruin......... but it is steeped in history (which I won't bore you with this time) ............however what I did find interesting was that in its current state you get a really good impression of how it was constructed. Basically it is like looking at the skeleton of a building; there are massive walls supported by flying buttresses:

Flying Buttresses supporting the Walls

Buttresses and Pillars

Although there is no glass in the windows, the skeletal structure of the window frames is just as impressive:

Sunlight through Window Frame

Melrose Abbey Main Window Frame

Arched Window and Door

Very impressive, however the best was yet to come!!......... you are allowed to climb up the (many) stairs to the rooftop.......... although there isn't much of a roof left:

Looking down on Melrose Abbey

Melrose Abbey Rooftop

View towards Newstead

View towards Melrose

The following panoramic video probably gives you the best idea of the view from the Abbey roof:

Melrose Abbey has some characterful gargoyles up on the rooftop:

Mouth Wide Open

The most famous of these being the Flying Pig with Bagpipes (I am not joking!):

Just what you'd expect on a religious building?
Melrose Abbey's other claim to fame is that it has the heart of Robert the Bruce buried in its grounds.
The story goes that before he died he requested that his heart be carried in to battle during the crusades in the Holy Land before being returned to Scotland. It was then alleged to be buried in a casket in the grounds at Melrose Abbey.
In the 1920's an archaeological dig found the heart in its casket and it was reburied at an unmarked spot within the grounds. In 1996 another archaeologist rediscovered the mummified heart, which was placed in a new container and reburied, this time in a known location which is now indicated by a stone marker:

Resting Place of Robert the Bruce's Heart

Amazing!
Melrose Abbey is well worth a visit!

That concludes our trip to mellow Melrose, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did (go during the Rugby Sevens if you want it more lively!)

cheers

Teddyedward