Cygnus update and other stuff. July 2014

I've been taking a few short walks this week.

Here's a few of the pictures I've taken.

Over on Blairmount Pond  the cygnet's are doing fine.

The ducks get short shrift from the swan parents if they get too close.

A chaffinch poses for a picture.

Flowers bloom in the gardens by the memorial to Randolph,9th Earl of Galloway.

A young family by the riverside.

This one goes walkabout.

Liz Niven poetry

summer cree

river traffic buzzes

mayfly, dragonfly, dipper

ripple-arc surfaces

swallows water-pattern weave

Japanese Knotweed

kimonos the earth

spring cree

Galloway greens again

the river silvered with

white eggs, sharp scent of cucumber

sweet vernal grass

vanillas air

hope buds like catkins

The riverside.

A wren at the Wood of Cree.

The Otter Pool

(That looks like a heron at the far end)

A long zoom gets the picture.

Too late to photograph the otter that put in a fleeting appearance.

A quiet pool by the burn at the Wood of Cree car park.

Zoomed in and enhanced, the Cumbrian Mountains from Baldoon.

Another full zoom towards Workington and Whitehaven.

Yacht sails perhaps (they were moving around), strange how they appear to be floating above the shimmer.

Mochrum Loch.

The Old Place of Mochrum built in 1368.

Home until her death in 2005 of Miss Flora Stuart. president of the Belted Galloway Cattle Society. 

Penningham Forest.

Loch Eldrig 

Bumble bee on a thistle.

More of Loch Eldrig

A Common Blue butterfly.

A thrush in the forest.

Wednesday night's moon.

A couple of Machars hotspots.

Headed down to the Machars for a little exploration today.


My first stop was here at Druchtag Motte near Mochrum.I've passed it on numerous occasions,but never stopped till now.
See full size to read the information board.

Gazetteer:-A mediaeval earthwork in the Machars district of Dumfries and Galloway, the Druchtag Motte lies just north of Mochrum village. It forms a steep-sided mound and has a summit area 20m (65 feet) in diameter. Druchtag once formed part of the barony of Mochrum of Druchtag held for a time by the McCullochs of Druchtag.
There's a rope provided to get you up all of the 20 feet.
Next a look at these substantial ruins at Auchengallie.I'm not including 'Bully' in that statement though.
Now with walking boots on,I'm heading over the Fell of Carleton as I promised I would,to take a look from above.
I'm soon overlooking Carleton and the coast.On the OS map,there's a Machermore's Mill Stone,though I doubt whether this is it.

Now I'm overlooking Laggan Pond and Laggan Camp.
This is from Scotlands Places dot gov.

(NX 3976 3725) Laggan Camp (NR)
OS 6" map (1957).

Laggan Camp: Fort - This pear-shaped fort occupies a strong position on the summit of a steep-sided hillock, connected to Carleton Fell on the NW. It is defended by double ramparts and a medial ditch, drawn round the flanks of the hill. The ramparts were probably earth- works, now mostly reduced to terraces. The top of the hill has a well-defined margin which might be expected to have carried an inner rampart, though there was no trace of one in 1951. The entrance is on the W, where the terraces are 12' wide, one 8' below the other. At the E end, the ditch is 20' wide, 5' below the crest of the scarp, with the external rampart visible as a mound.
RCAHMS 1912, visited 1911; RCAHMS TS., visited 1951; R W Feachem 1956.

Generally as described. The enclosure area measures 76.0m NE-SW by 57.0m NW-SE. A slight stony scarp is suggestive of an inner rampart around the summit of the hill, whilst on the E is a possible internal quarry ditch. An old field bank crosses the site from N-S otherwise the interior is featureless.
Resurveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (DWR), 1 February 1973.
There's the thickest drystone wall I've seen going up the hill here.I wonder how many man hours went into the building of it.
The raptor in the middle was circling and I wasn't sure whether it was what I thought it was,but it's call was very distinctive.After looking at this page,Harrier Sounds I can confirm it was a Hen Harrier.
Now I'm heading back along the clifftop.Remember the flotsam and jetsam from the ramblers walk? This would be a great spot to watch for shoreline wildlife.I might do that in warmer weather,there's still a lot of features along this coast to explore.
The clouds and damp weather are moving in as I get back to my car at Craiglemine.Doesn't seem to bother this fella though.
More to come from this stretch of coastline.I'll be looking for a way over the clifftops to St Ninians Cave.