Wigtownshire Ramblers-Clints of Dromore Feb 2010

It's Saturday the 27th 0f February 2010 and todays walk is a six and a bit miles sculpture trail over the Clints of Dromore north of Creetown.
After a mix up of the walk start location,ten of us set out.
Heading north east past the converted Gatehouse of Fleet railway station,we enter the Cairnsmore of Fleet Nature Reserve at New Rusco.
The forest track at this point is along the old railway line towards the viaduct.
'Clints' in Scotland,Cumbria and certain other hilly parts of the UK refer to rocky outcrops.
This is a picture with a backdrop of the 'Clints' I took last April at a Birds of Prey show. Blog here
Birds of Prey

There are plenty of information boards about.At this point we leave the railway track and zig zag down towards Dromore.
A duckboard walkway gets us over a boggy section...
...and we reach the Nature Reserve Visitors Centre.
Inside is a very informative and well laid out display showing the history,geology and wildlife of the area.There's a comprehensive P.D.F available to download at The Story of Cairnsmore of Fleet National Nature Reserve

Now we're heading for the viaduct.As well as the Falconry display, I think I've blogged the viaduct before,but i've no idea what i tagged it as so i cant link to it.It's an age thing i think !
There's new additional diplay boards,and a carved seat in a drystane wall enclosure since i was last here.We came here one warm summer day when a couple of the grankids were in the river,and did not want to leave.There's a little sandy spot like a mini beach just back from the viaduct,and the kids just love it.
Now our walk leader directs us to some old ruins where we find the first of the sculptures.
There are five in total,and we see three of them on this walk.They've been created by the Sculptor Matt Baker with additional poetry by Mary Smith
This one's called 'Heart' with the location clue 'twix viaduct and forestry,we lived here once.
Now we're back on the rail track and heading south.
Up in the rocks in a cut out length of track,we come across another of the sculptures.This one's called 'Ocean'and the clue here is 'from the viaduct to where munitions trains thundered through the cut,you're on the right track !'

Now crossing over a stile we begin the climb up to the clints.
Gaining height we look down on the visitors centre,with the Gatehouse road snaking over the distant hills...
...and the viaduct looking much smaller from up here.
A zoom makes it bigger.

From up here now we can see the Cumbrian Hills in one direction,and the Mull of Galloway in another,which is quite a surprise since there's still a lot of cloud about.

Now atop the first of the clints we see our third sculpture.This one's called 'Hush'and the clue here is 'past Ocean,over the stile,venture up where the ravens call and look down upon the inbye'
Taking shelter from the wind,we have lunch here.

After lunch our walk undulates over the northern side of the clints.Our walk leader points out features of Cairnsmore looming above us.The going from now becomes tussocky and boggy.
These goats don't give us a second glance.
Heading onto the boggy lower slopes of Craig Hill,we now follow the forest edge until we reach a stile which will take us through a forest ride down to the forest road...
...with just a kilometre or so to go,crossing the Moneypool burn back to the cars.
My boots leaked today,but it didn't make this walk any less interesting.
It was more tiring than i expected,having been up the 'Clints' before.But that's probably down to the spongy terrain today.

A Day at the Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park

The Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park
Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park
at Kirkcudbright in South West Scotland has a variety of animals from all over the world and their birds and animals have large,natural and imaginative enclosures
I couldn't believe my luck when this wonderfully cute Red Panda stayed still long enough for me to get this picture.
In 2008 two of these adorable creatures,a mother and daughter escaped when a tree fell on their enclosure.Pichu the mother was recaptured close to the park after a few weeks.Isla the daughter managed to survive in the wilds of South West Scotland for 19 months.Unhappily she was found by the side of the road with fatal injuries after obviously being hit by a vehicle.On a happier note they've bred two cubs towards the end of 2009,and i believe this is one of them.The cub names are Cai and Liang.
All footage here was filmed and photographed on a bitterly cold 18th of February 2010.

Depicted in this video of clips and photographs are some of the animals and birds resident in the park.
The Red Pandas,Oriental Otters (On a seperate video) and the Meercats are amongst the most popular.
I'll be back sometime to film the Meercats.

The background music in the YouTube clip is Breeze Remaster from Bassic Audiology

This sleepy Heron was enjoying the warming sun.
I don't know much about Owls,but the one on the right here is the largest in Europe,and is the European Eagle Owl
I've a feeling this is the female of a pair of lynx.The male was pacing back and forth at the back of the enclosure.It was difficult to get any good footage of their enclosure,due to the close mesh of the fence.
The pack of wolves were waiting for breakfast on our first circuit.Second time around they were in their enclosures resting.

Another of the Red Pandas.
Thanks to No1 for the following pictures.

My grandkids loved these Oriental Otters.
Sorry kids,but you can't take them home.
This is Callum and Erin in front of some old codger with a video camera.
I think Callum named this one Snowy.
Without doubt this is a value for money, worthwhile,and environment friendly attraction and i'll be back.

Oriental Otters at the Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park

On the recent family visit to the Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park
Galloway Wildlife
at Kirkcudbright,we'd gone round once,and the Otters were away in their hide.


Another look and they still weren't about,but we kept looking and were eventually rewarded with a beautiful display from these delightful creatures.

The video camera had to come out then.

It's a shame their pond was frozen up though.

I've another video compilation of the other animals coming soon.
Once again i'd recommend a visit.This is a fabulous place.

A Grand (Kids) Visit

It's half term holiday for the schools in England.My eldest daughter,and her two kids Callum and Erin are visiting for a couple of days.
It's a very frosty but sunny morning as we head of to Kirkcudbright to take a look at the wildlife park.This turned out to be a brilliant visit,and i'll be doing another blog on the animals and birds that are resident here.Here's the link to their own website.
Galloway Wildlife Conservation Park

They're still in the process of opening up as we got there.We were first there.
This Robin looks like it's hungry...
...and Aleksandr was one of the favourite inmates.'You want cheap car insurance' Callum does a great impression,i should have made a recording.I've got him in the background,but the audio quality's poor,so it's not going on.

Callum and his mum got to handle the Polecat while it was out of it's cage.
It's a brilliant place to visit,we stayed at least three hours.The Oriental Otters were amongst the most favourite animals.Cal came away with a Badger mask,while Erin fell in love with a Red Panda.Is he still called 'Levi'?

The weather holds up as we take a look around Kirkcudbright.
There's quite a few boats in the Marina.They're posing by 'Isabella',because that's their mums middle name.It was also the name of my mum.
On then for a walk on the beach,and rock exploration at Nun Mill Bay before heading over to Carrick shore for a beautiful sunset.That was a good day.

Next morning we're up and out early enough.We'll be spending much of the day at the Cream O Galloway
It's open for the schools half term.

All the activities were very popular,but the Karts needed at least a couple goes.

This is one of the farm's very friendly border collies.Sorry we couldn't bring it home kids.
After a walk up to the Lochans (I managed a bit of a recce for my walk in June)the fox slide,the tower and the maze were investigated with lots of gusto and fun...
...where do you kids get your energy.
There's no escape from this high security structure.It's no wonder you're going mad.Ha Ha

We've had a great time,and enjoyed different varieties of lovely organic ice cream,but it's time to move on....

...to the beach and rocks at Sandgreen.
It's still mighty cold,but we couldn't ask for better sunshine.Any rocks that needed climbing were climbed.Oyster Catchers and the odd Curlew Sandpiper kept us company.

Nearly time to head back to Newton Stewart,but not before some artwork and writing in the sand.
A final stop at the Creetown Lay-By for the sunset.
Thanks for visiting kids.It was great to see you.(And you as well mum of course)