Mersehead RSPB reserve

Our next day out while we were staying in Dumfries and Galloway was to Mersehead, an RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve on the Solway coast. Like Caerlaverock (which I blogged about yesterday) it is a great place to see geese in the winter. It's also a great place for seeing smaller birds too, I remember the first time I visited in particular, the hedges all seemed to be packed full of songbirds.

The RSPB information centre on the reserve is small but welcoming

and there is plenty to see as you wander round

there are wildlife garden areas

lichens everywhere

woodland (where we saw a spotted flycatcher, but it didn't want to look at the camera so we couldn't get a photo).

the speckled wood butterflies were easier to get photos of than the flycatchers, thanks to Crafty Green Boyfriend for this shot

there's a beautifully decorated bird hide

which illustrates some of the birds you can see from the hide!

There is a wonderful coastal walk

Children had been making sand pictures of animals for a competition - this bee is I think my favourite of the ones we saw

 Mersehead is always a lovely place to visit, plenty to see and wonderful walks even if there aren't lots of birds around.