Friday, April 26, 2013

Pentland Hills Walk–11th April 2013


A few days away from home, this was our first days walk. Grey cold and windy but hopefully dry we decided on a long walk. Despite the weather the wildlife was abundant with over 35 species of birds seen, with one new tick for us.
1-pentlands
We parked near Harlaw Reservoir and checked out the visitor centre before heading up the path towards Glengorse.
2-pentlands
Although this stretch looks barren there were plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks singing
3-pentlands
Waterlogged fields, presumably from melted snow.
4-skylark
Skylark
5-gate
Glengorse Reservoir in sight!
6-stone-stile
Old stone stile
7-military-sign
Our peaceful day was shattered by gunfire, the red flags were flying today, didn’t affect our walk but the noise was unnerving
8-pentlands
Lone tree
9-pentlands
Still snow on the hills
10-no-fishing
No fishing!
11-glengorse
Glengorse
12-signpost
Nice signage!
13-dogs-will-be-shot
Good to see these signs, there were also farmers names and telephone numbers on gates!
14-dabchick
Little Grebe
15-geese
Plenty of geese flying over
16-goldcrest
There were several Goldcrests in this area, I spent ages trying to get a shot and this was the best I managed!
17-road
The path follows a metalled track for this stretch
18-kirkton-farm
The countryside would look a better place if all farms had interesting signs like these…
19-sign
…and a bit of history too!
20-pied-wagtail
Pied Wagtail
21-boats
Three boats with two men
22-reed-bunting
Reed Bunting come for a drink
23-view
The track follows the Logan Burn, we found a nice spot along here on a bridge to eat our lunch.
24-stretching-lamb
Stretching Lamb
25-sheep-and-lambs
With mum
26-pentlands
The Pentlands still looking bleak and wintry
27-pentlands

28-dam
Loganlea Reservoir
29-overflow
Water shoot
30-loganlea-reservoir

31-loganlea

32-from-loganlea
Looking back down the valley
33-loganlea-dam
At the dam
34-loganlea
Loganlea Reservoir
35-signs
Looks like a dangerous place to be!
36-mini-harbour-loganlea
Mini harbour for the fishing boats
37-loganlea-sign
Loganlea Reservoir
Drinking Water Supply
Built 1851, Capacity  117 Million Gallons
Depth 51ft, 850ft above sea level
38-by-the-howe
The path is now a grassy track
39-the-howe-loganlea
The Howe
40-dipper
Dipper
41 ring-ouzel-1
Ring Ouzel!
42-ring-ouzel-2
Yes this was our new tick, not seen one before, well chuffed!
43-pentlands

44-pentlands

46-waterfall
Waterfall
47-waterfall
I bet this was frozen a couple of weeks earlier!
49-pentlands

50-pentlands
Over the stile, this was the only point on the walk where the signposting was not great and we were unsure which way to go.
51-female-mallard
Female Mallard..
52-male-mallard
..and her mate
53-pentlands
We leave the hills now to go down through the Bavelaw Estate
54-horse
Pete found a friend!
55-sad-eye
Sad eye!
56-snowdrops
Snowdrops still in bloom
57-avenue
Beautiful avenue of trees
59-avenue

60-soft-ground
Soft!
61-long-tail
Long-tailed Tit
62-ruin
Old ruin
63-ruin
These huge trees were growing inside the walls
64-ruin
Next we took a detour around the boardwalk at Red Moss of Balerno
72-red-moss
SWT noticeboard
65-frog
At the pond there was a lot of croaking going on and dozens of frogs
66-frog

68-frog

69-frog

70-boardwalk
New boardwalk…
71-boardwalk
…snakes across the moss
73-pentlands
Threipmuir
74-threipmuir
Pentland Hills noticeboard
75-lamb
Lambs
76-lambs

77-lambs

78-lamb

79-lamb

82-lapwing
Lapwing, they were also displaying above us!
83-treecreeper
Treecreeper
84-daffodils
Daffodils
85-grey-wagtail
Grey Wagtail
86-thriepmuir

87-pier

88-fishermen

89-magpie
Magpie
90-biodiversity-trail
Part of the Biodiversity Trail
91-dirty-snow
Dirty snow!
92-grey-squirrel
Oh no a Grey Squirrel!
93-grey-squirrel

94-tranquility
We would recommend this walk, apart from the number of dogs near the car park and the mess in that area, this was a lovely, very varied walk with spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife. Oh and we were disappointed that the visitor centre was closed by the time we returned as it closed at 3.30pm!

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