Friday 29 April 2011

Craiglockart Hill and Pond

We went for a lovely walk today, up Easter Craiglockart Hill then down to Craiglockart Pond and then home along the Union Canal. There were lots of birds singing, we heard chiffchaffs, willow warblers and blackcaps, blackbirds and song thrushes. We also almost bumped into a pair of bullfinches that flew away from us muttering angrily! Plus there were loads of robins everywhere, including three who were all together on the path, normally three adult European robins together would be fighting but these three didn't seem as though they could decide what to do! On the Pond we got very close to a family of moorhens - this adult came right up to us in what seemed a friendly manner (look at the lovely pattern in it's side and tail and those funny little feet!)





There were three or more very young moorhens in the reeds, they hid very quickly when a crow called out. It was lovely to watch the parents feeding the young and leading them around the reedbed (though you can't see them in the photo below!)

There were a lot of mallards along the canal. They're very handsome birds, as I've said before, though the males are very aggressive to the females (you can see my video of their mating here, if you've not already seen it).
There were also a few patches of the cuckoo flower (or lady's smock), one of the prettiest flowers of this time of year.



as ever, text in red contains hyperlinks that take you to other websites where you can find out more!

12 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Lovely, watery reflections, Juliet! And it does look as though spring has arrived! Hope you have a great weekend!

Sylvia

Unknown said...

Great reflections! I agree, the cucoo flowers are very pretty:)

BTW you know me as Jeannette St. from Mysteries, but this is my new blog as Emille.

Suburban Girl said...

A peaceful find. Love seeing the flowers in the last photo.

Kay L. Davies said...

"Craiglockart" is such a lovely Scottish name, and your photos are wonderful.
It might be almost starting to look a little bit like Spring here in Alberta, too, because we had rain today instead of snow. All the weeds grew an inch or more, and the lawns started to green up.
— K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Larry said...

Moorhens are interesting birds-I'd like to see one.Nice images-looks like a relaxing area.

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Juliet,

Thanks for taking us along with you on your walk. Such a beautiful place and loved seeing the Mallard ducks swimming on the water.

Have a wonderful weekend
Hugs
Carolyn

Anonymous said...

That's quite a beautiful wall in the second shot, my favorite.

Anonymous said...

Sounds wonderful :)

'Tsuki said...

Oh Juliet, this place is such a treasurous one ! I love it !

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Wow...Wonderful!!!

genie said...

Beautiful reflection series. The colors, the scenery, and the water fowl are all wonderful. Lovely work. Very serene.

betty-NZ said...

Looks like a wonderful place.