Strathy

Whie we were up in the far north of Scotland, we stayed in Strathy, a tiny settlement right on the north coast. We stayed in the lovely Strathy Inn, which is a bed and breakfast as well as an inn offering delicious evening meals and an excellent selection of real ales and other drinks.

Strathy is most famous for Strathy Point, which offers stunning views. The day we visited the point, the wind was wild in the extreme (though apparently this is normal for the area and we were told 'wait until the wind really blows!').

Here are some photos of Strathy Point

Strathy also has a wonderful beach, set in amongst a giant dune system, covered in marram grass

 The dune system is also a huge rabbit warren

though we only saw one rabbit, their holes are everywhere, even in the graveyard overlooking the beach

The cliffs by the beach are amazing

and the waves were high and white when we were there

A few days in the far north

We're just back from a few days up in the far north of Scotland! The holiday started as soon as we got on the train, as the route through the Cairngorms took us through the most amazing winter wonderland of snow covered mountains with red deer and red grouse on the hills and buzzards and ravens soaring overhead.

Then we got a hire car and drove up to the north coast. On this section of the journey, the birding highlight was a red kite!

As we drove around for the rest of the week, we saw lots  more birds from the car, including hooded crows, rock doves (the wild version of the feral pigeon) and lots of flocks of rooks and jackdaws, geese (mostly greylags, but possibly some whitefronts) and starlings. Plus a golden eagle!

We also had our closest ever encounter with red deer as a small herd stopped at the roadside and watched us as we drove past! 

I really enjoy birdwatching from a train or the passenger seat of a car. And now there's somewhere I can share my sightings as #TravelTwitching has become a hashtag on Twitter, set up not surprisingly by the Twitter user @TravelTwitching.

We had a lovely time away, even the weather was fine! That far north, there was little snow except on the higher ground and it was often sunny, though the wind became extremely wild at times! I'll blog over the next few days about the wildlife we saw once we got out of the car, the beautiful beaches, the abandoned flagstone quarry and workers' village and other things.

Mosses and Liverworts of the Water of Leith

Last Monday evening, I went along to a fascinating talk at the Water of Leith Conservation Trust Visitor Centre. Dr Chamberlain, Research Associate, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh talked about the survey he and his colleagues have recently made of the bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) along the river as part of the Urban Flora Project.

208 species of bryophytes are found along the Water of Leith. Their distributions vary depending on the altitude, underlying geology and the degree of urbanisation along the river. There are some very interesting species found along the river, including rarities such as Hennediella stanfordensis which is found in Dean Billage, one of only three records from the whole of Scotland and the very rare Physcomitrum sphaericum which is found at Harperrig Reservoir. Tetraplodum mnoides seems to be a bit of an oddity, the only plant of this species along the river hasbeen found growing in what seemed to be an old owl pellet!

Bryophytes have fascinating life cycles, for example Didymodum sinusosus has curly ends to its leaves which snap off and fall into the river to float somewhere else and propogate the next generation!

Some species, such as Orthotrichum puchellum, have become more common since the Clean Air Act of 1993.

Last Tuesday when I was walking round Colinton Dell, I took these photos of mosses and liverworts, though I haven't identified the species!

This was a very interesting talk and enthused me to try to find out more about this, admittedly quite tricky group of plants.

Plantlife has produced a handy leaflet on identification of UK mosses and liverworts. You can see it online here (and you can zoom in on details).

Water Rail and other birds!

 

I found out via Birding Lothian that a water rail had been seen over the past few days on the pond in Inverleith Park. So I wandered over there this morning to check it out. Water rails are notoriously elusive birds, the only time before today that I'd seen one, I'd only had a brief glimpse as it disappeared into the reeds. I hoped for a better view today and I wasn't disappointed! The water rail is a beautiful bird and this one was happy to show itself on the clear water, or should I say the clear ice. It was moving quickly most of the time though so was very difficult to capture on camera, though I did try. 

I've added this sighting to my list of birds for the year, which you can see here.

There were lots of other birds about too, this mute swan was skating over the ice

while this one was asleep on the ice

and these two coots were preening

Inverleith Park is proving an excellent place to see redwings this year, and today was no exception, there were about 15 flying round in the trees and running across the grass.

Later I saw two mistle thrushes in the grounds of the cathedral and a robin was eating literally at my feet while I was watching the thrushes.

For Nature Notes

and 

   

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

World Wetlands Day

Today is World Wetlands Day so I celebrated by visiting my favourite wetlands at Musselburgh lagoons. The photo above shows the boating pond, which today was hosting several wigeon and a couple of goldeneye.

Three bird hides overlook the lagoons themselves. In the photo below, taken from one of the hides, you can see Cockenzie Power Station in the distance, which is actually responsible for the lagoons being here at all.

 
The lagoons were originally used to store waste ash from the power station, but when they were no longer used they were made into lagoons for waders.

Now that Cockenzie Power Station is closing the current ash lagoons are to be made into lagoons for waders too! This will be a very exciting development for both the birds themselves and for birdwatchers.I have tried to get more information from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) but they didn't say much, other than the plans will be available to see at the next Scotland's Big Nature Festival, which will take place 23-24 May at Levenhall Links just near the lagoons.

Today there were huge numbers of oystercatchers and good numbers of wigeon, curlew and bar tailed godwits on the lagoons, though none of them were close enough to show nicely in the photo.

This area isn't just wonderful for waders, there are good numbers of sea ducks on the Firth of Forth in the winter months, today I saw a few velvet scoters as well as lots of goldeneye.

Also the rough grassland by the side of the John Muir Walkway is great for small birds, today I saw four reed buntings and three stonechats. (I hope that in the general enthusiasm for creating vital habitat for the waders and other water birds that the little birds don't lose out. This area is vital for skylarks and reed buntings in particular, which are both specifically protected in the Edinburgh Local Biodiversity Action Plan but losing their habitat as areas like the fields at Cammo are marked for housing development.)

I was delighted to see the first pussy willow emerging, a lovely early sign of spring.

Scottish Snowdrop Festival

The Scottish Snowdrop festival started yesterday and continues until 15 March. You can find out more here and search for events happening in your area.

This is a wonderful way to celebrate the coming of Spring by admiring one of our earliest blooming wild flowers.

(I took the photos on Friday in Cammo Country Park.)

Beaded Curtain tie-backs

I have a lot of beads in my stash of crafting supplies and as I mentioned in a previous post, I have some hoops left over from the two necklaces I recently upcycled.

I used these hoops and a variety of beads from various old necklaces and bracelets to make these curtain tie backs.

They are now available in the Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop here.