Biggar Birds & Bridges

Yesterday we had a lovely day in Biggar, a small market town in Lanarkshire. Our main reason for visiting was to see the Biggar Poetry Garden, where two of my poems are currently on display. You can read my post about that here.

We also enjoyed birdwatching! Under this pretty bridge, which is near the centre of Biggar, we saw a dipper, flying around the edge of the stream. We also walked round the golf course, where we were delighted to see how much of the area is set aside for wildflowers to grow in, as you can see from this photo. We heard yellowhammers calling here.
Beyond the golf course is a caravan park and a boating lake. There were swallows and house martins flying over the lake, diving low to catch flies (and there were plenty of those about!) and swifts flying higher up. There were plenty of cygnets on the lake, and I think that at this stage, they can be referred to as ugly ducklings...
unlike the mallard chicks! Actually there were young mallards at various stages of development, some almost adult but these ones particularly caught my eye, still fluffy with down lower down their body but with adult feathers at the head and upper back.
We had tea and cake overlooking this view (and a second bridge!), surrounded by birds.

As well as the other birds I've already mentioned, we heard willow warblers calling from the scrubby trees near the boating lake. Most exciting of all, we saw spotted flycatchers! I've only ever seen this species once before and they're declining quite badly across the UK. Yet here they were nesting in the caravan park and flying around quite unconcerned about being surrounded by holiday makers!

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks which take you to other webpages where you can find out more.

For Sunday Bridges

We're off on holiday tomorrow! Back soon!