Weekend in Perth

We had a lovely weekend in Perth, the weather was perfect for late Spring - warm and sunny with a light breeze. Perth is a nice small city with lots to do, especially nice nature walks! We went on several walks along the River Tay. It was beautiful to watch the swallows and house martins diving low over the river, while the swifts did their aerobatics higher up and the gulls glided by, some of them even trying to copy the more acrobatic birds by swooping down after flies. We followed part of the Perth Sculpture Walk which showcases several pieces of modern sculpture along the banks of the Tay. We also wandered into a more wooded part of the riverbank where we heard whitethroats and saw a flock of long tailed tits, several blackbirds and a very good number of song thrushes (song thrushes were once a really common species in the UK but have declined badly in recent years and it was lovely to see and hear so many of them).


We also wandered up Kinnoull Hill, which, on the lower slopes, is beautiful woodland, full of birdsong (especially the descending trill of the willow warbler) (see photo above) and more open at the top, with steep cliffs falling down to the plains below.

a ruined tower
beside perilous cliffs -

a peregrine hunts

It was wonderful to see this bird of prey as it glided past and dived near us several times. They're quite uncommon and certainly I've rarely seen them anywhere. On the bus home we saw three deer in the woods just outside Perth.