Caerlaverock Bioblitz 17th July 2018

Today Chris Packham was coming to WWT Caerlaverock as part of his UK Bioblitz. For 10 days Chris and his team are visiting 50 wildlife sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. He wants to highlight the extent to which the nation's wildlife is under threat. The results of the audits will be recorded to create a benchmark that will then help measure the rise and fall in numbers of different species in the future.
WWT Caerlaverock was therefore holding a bioblitz in an attempt to record as many species on site as possible in one day. We, with other moth-ers, had been asked to set moth traps the night before and record our findings as part of the day. Other experts were there too and there was a board ready to record findings.
What numbers would be on it later??

Chris was not due to arrive until later in the day so we made a start on the 7 moth traps that had been set. This took quite a time and we kept some specimens in a fish tank for the public to view during the rest of the day. We also talked to them about the moths and answered any questions they had.
During the morning other activities were ongoing - insect walks, butterfly walks, bird-ringing demonstrations, bird counts etc etc.

The day passed quite quickly and then suddenly he was here.

Interviews were conducted with the press and various experts and Chris came to base camp to see what everyone had been doing. He was very interested in an owl pellet that was being dissected at the time!

While Chris was busy with interviews etc a member of his team was recording something from every location - in a water colour painting. What a talented man - he just drew some moths and painted them in a very short time - and the result was fantastic.

A short speech by Chris outlining what he was doing today followed -  and then he was gone again!!

By the end of the day over 300 species of plants, birds, moths, butterflies, mammals, bugs and fish had been recorded.

The most amazing find of the day however was two saucer bugs (llyocoris cimicoides) - never recorded in Scotland before!

A wonderful day enjoyed by everyone with, hopefully, a good contribution to the overall picture of the wildlife in the UK.

Greenock 13th-15th July 2018

Setting off for Greenock we decided to drive up the Ayrshire coast. We always enjoy the views and scenery on this route and today was no different.

The first sighting of Ailsa Craig is something we always look forward to.

A little further up the coast is a memorial to a Russian cruiser, The Varyag.  A famous ship that sank - for the second time - just off the coast of Lendalfoot in 1920. We enjoy this as a picnic spot overlooking the water and usually see some sort of wildlife while there. Cormorants and gulls were on the rocks along with seals.

We had a short wander as well while there before heading further up the coast.

A lovely day for a ride up the coast -

- until we got nearer to Troon. President Trump was due to arrive tonight so we passed numerous coaches and mini-buses full of policemen and almost every road near Prestwick airport was blocked off  and guarded by policemen! We were glad we didn't run into his cavalcade actually arriving.
As the weather was absolutely beautiful the next morning we decided to go across the water to Bute. The ferry goes from Wemyss Bay and we were not the only ones thinking of crossing the water. Most were going as foot passengers but we took the car.

Rothesay welcomed us to Bute.

We took our time touring the island seeing what it had to offer - including its own airport!

Never having been here before we didn't know what to expect - but what a lovely place, especially on a sunny day like today.

A lovely way to spend a Saturday.
Sunday meant we were homeward bound- via the National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride. There was a Heavy Horse Show advertised for today. Heavy horses are always worth looking at in our opinion.
It was only a small show with a few horses in each class.

There were other animals to see besides the heavy horses ...

... love their faces!

... aah

... not quite as big as the heavy horses!
There was also an Equestrian Stunt Team there on the day performing incredible stunts on horseback.

Plenty to see, but unfortunately the weather changed and the drizzle began to come down, soaking everyone after just a short while. We decide it was therefore time to go home!