Sunshine on the River Nith

We're just back from a lovely break away in Dumfries, staying in our favourite hotel Frairs Carse,
 

 

which sits on the banks of the River Nith and has extensive grounds including riverside walks.

On our first day we spent all afternoon walking alongside the river, enjoying the sunshine and the wildlife. We saw a roe deer, which came right up to us though we didn't feel it would let us take a photo so we just enjoyed the moment!

One of the highlights of the wildlife of the hotel grounds at this time of year are the swallows. They traditionally nest in the hotel porch and the day we arrived these youngsters were waiting to fledge

and in fact the next morning they had left the nest, though we saw them sitting around in various places, waiting to be fed. Lots of swallows flying round the hotel building, lovely to see!

The hotel grounds are also famous for their bats. Daubentons bats come out at dusk and fly low over the river while pipistrelles come out after dark and fly higher up, including round the hotel building. On our last night a bat came into our room at 5am! We finally encouraged it to leave the room! It was from a natural history point of view a fascinating visit from a creature you don't often see at close quarters but it meant a very disturbed night's sleep!

I'll blog over the next few days about the rest of our holiday and the wildlife we saw, which included red kites and common lizards!