Nature Walks around Lockerbie

Back in 2017, we discovered two nature walks near Lockerbie, and this year we repeated the experience. Lockerbie is only a few miles from Dumfries where we were staying, so this made a great day trip. In the morning we visited Castle Loch at Lochmaben. 

It's a lovely loch which you can walk round very easily, mostly through woodland. 

The weather was quite changeable, with dark clouds adding drama to the scene at times

There's lots of wildlife to enjoy on this walk.We saw good numbers of dragonflies, including this male Common Hawker - click on  the image for a closer look at this gorgeous insect! 

There were a lot of Whirligig beetles on the surface of the loch - it's fascinating to watch them as they spin around

We were intrigued by this plant below, which seemed to be a magnet for hoverflies of various species (mostly Banded Hoverflies (Syrphus sp) and Marmalade Hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus) - see if you can find any! 

At the end of the walk we came across a large area of ivy, which was also host to a lot of hoverflies, including this Batman Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

This Red Admiral butterfly was also enjoying the ivy (which is such a good source of food for all sorts if insects at this time of year)

The woodland walk has several wood carvings, like this heron 

and a children's play area which includes dens and these very useful magnification posts, which are a great way for children to get a closer look at insects 

After lunch in Lockerbie we went to Eskrigg Nature Reserve. 

 

This reserve has a lovely wildflower area that was full of insects when we visited. We were particularly delighted to see this Small Copper Butterfly  sharing a flower with a hoverfly that I can't recognise from this angle...

This Painted Lady

and this Small Tortoiseshell 

There were dragonflies here too including this male Common Darter

and a female Common Darter close by (she's much less red in colour) 

Elsewhere on the reserve we found this dragonfly, which looks like a Southern Hawker to me, but please correct me if I'm wrong

It was good to find a Footballer Hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) 

and this Bog Hoverfly (Sericomyia silentis)

We also saw this handsome Common Sexton Beetle

So it was a wonderful day of walks, and particularly nice to see so many dragonflies, butterflies and hoverflies. 

Shared for Nature Notes. 

Figgate Park and Portobello Beach

Yesterday we had a lovely walk, as we almost always do on a Saturday. We started off in Figgate Park, where the pond was covered in waterweed and there were few ducks in sight.  

The crab apple trees were a delight though, full of red fruit that look good enough to eat, but crab apples are generally too sour to eat fresh and need to be made into jelly or wine.   

 

We were amazed by the number of Speckled Wood butterflies in the park, they seemed to be everywhere, 

The wildflower meadows (which have been planted rather than being native meadows) are still vivid  

and supporting a reasonable number of insects, including this Common Carder bee

and this Red Admiral butterfly 

 

Our favourite sighting though was this incredibly well camouflaged Treecreeper

We were also happy to sight a Sparrowhawk soaring above us 

Just as we left the park, a bus turned up that was heading to Portobello so we jumped on for the short ride, had lunch in Portobello and then walked along the promenade to enjoy a sunny afternoon at the seaside. (Portobello was actually much busier than it looks in the photo below!)

 Shared with Nature Notes. 

A Small Copper Butterfly on Corstorphine Hill

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk around Corstorphine Hill. One of the highlights was seeing this beautiful Small Copper butterfly, one of my favourites. These are really tiny butterflies with gorgeous colours and markings. They're not uncommon but they can be very elusive, partly because they're so small. This individual was very happy to be photographed, first posing on Ragwort, which is an important plant for many insects

then the butterfly moved to the thistles

We also saw a Speckled Wood 

Buzzards nest in this area, and two were flying above us (not that you can tell they're Buzzards in the photo below!) 

A Raven also flew over, but too quickly to be captured on camera! 

Shared with Nature Notes.  

A Walk at Cramond

 Earlier today we had a lovely walk along the Firth of Forth from Silverknowes to Cramond, passing Cramond island

 The walkway was very busy with lots of people walking, a few people cycling and a lot of dogs. The walk is quite quiet at this time of year in terms of birds, there are lots of gulls and crows but few waders, as they tend to gather here in autumn and winter. We were, however, very happy to see a large family group of Goldfinches, you can see them in the photo below, feeding on the thistle seeds, the adults have red faces, the youngsters lack red faces, and if you enlarge the photo and look very carefully you may be able to recognise the Goldfinch with a partially red face, that is almost (but not quite) an adult). 

For Nature Notes. 
 

Easter Craiglockart Hill and Craiglockart Pond

 Yesterday we had a lovely walk around Easter Craiglockart Hill and Craiglockart Pond. It's quite a steep hill so it's nice that there are a few benches at the top where you can sit and enjoy the views. 

It was lovely to see several patches of Harebells, such lovely, delicate flowers 

We then walked through the pleasant meadow / orchard area 
 

which is in the grounds of Craighouse, which has a long and interesting history, starting from Old Craig House which was built in the 16th Century, through the development of a clinic which later became part of Napier University and is now a housing development, though with plentiful green-space surrounding it. You can see most of the buildings in the photo below 

From there we walked to Craiglockart Pond  

which is next to a lovely wetland area, full of bulrushes and other plants

There are three superficially similar but different flowers growing here, Rosebay Willowherb

the closely related Hairy Willowherb (also known as Great Willowherb) 

and Purple Loosestrife 

Always a lovely area to walk round! 

 

 

Moths and Caterpillars on Corstorphine Hill

 We had a lovely walk on Saturday, around Edinburgh's Corstorphine Hill. It was very misty, with a heavy haar (sea mist) hanging over the hill, which was very atmospheric.

 

Before we even got onto the hill, we saw this beautiful Magpie moth in a hedge

On the hill we were very happy to find plenty of Cinnabar Moth caterpillars munching their way through the Ragwort. I very rarely see Cinnabar moths themselves, but at this time of year, the distinctive orange and black striped caterpillars are easy to find on Ragwort.  

There were also several Red Soldier Beetles in amongst the Ragwort - I haven't seen as many of these beetles as I would expect to see at this time of year.

 This post is part of the Nature Notes meme

Woodland Walks

On Saturday we had a lovely walk around Blackford Pond (where we saw a Kingfisher, a first for the pond, at least in our experience) and into the Hermitage of Braid. Here are some photos:

The photo above shows Blackford Pond, the photo below shows the Braid Burn, which flows through the Hermitage. 
 

Yesterday, I carried out my weekly patrol, picking litter and recording wildlife along the Water of Leith, where I saw another Kingfisher (not uncommon along the river, but always lovely to see)! Kingfishers rarely pose for my camera, so here's a photo of the area where I saw the Kingfisher. If you look carefully you may be able to see a Grey Heron...

If you click on the image, you should get a larger version. Clue: the heron is in a tree.