Back from Dumfries

We're just back from a lovely break in Dumfries in the south west of Scotland. It's one of our favourite places for a holiday as there is so much to see and do. We travelled there by bus and then hired a car, as it's not an easy region to get round by public transport. This trip we visited a number of places we'd never visited before and saw lots if interesting wildlife, including more butterflies than I've ever seen anywhere!

We stayed at our favourite hotel Friars Carse,

which is set in it's own extensive grounds, home to cattle, lots of bunnies (though inexplicably we have no photos of any of the many rabbits we saw!) and a small flock of guinea fowl. The grounds  include lovely wooded walks along the river, which is home to kingfishers and Daubenton's bats, which come out in early evening and fly low over the water. (We sat by the river for a while every evening to watch the bats).

There's unfortunately a lot of Himalayan Balsam here at this time of year. This invasive non-native plant crowds out other summer plants (though spring plants can still do well when it's around) and can undermine riverbanks. I personally don't like it because it smells horrible. It is however very pretty

and the bees love it

I'll blog about our various day trips over the next few days!