Kilpatrick Hills, West Dunbartonshire

This week we experienced the deepest snow-fall in over 20 years - waist-high in parts of the Kilpatrick Hills!

Keen to look for tracks and trails - my dad and I took a circular route up to the Greenside Reservoir and back.

Above the layer of fog which lay across Glasgow and the Clyde valley, the sky was clear azure-blue and the snow sparkled brilliantly in the sunshine.

The hills were transformed by the snow, mist and sun, into an almost lunar landscape - our footprints were the first human ones on this unfamiliar terrain.

Further into the hills, the snow proved a real challenge to walk through.

Walking up the Cochno Hill towards the Greenside, a foraging flock of Reed Buntings (Emberiza scheoniclus) alighted on the snow ahead of us.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) female

The view from the Greenside was spectacular! Duncolm is a volcanic plug - at 401 metres it is the highest point in the Kilpatrick Hills. Covered with snow, it somewhat resembled a huge dumpling, dusted with icing sugar! Yum!
*now craving mum's home-made dumpling*

...EXACTLY the sort of high energy food you should bring with you on a hike like this!

View of Duncolm

Greenside Reservoir

The snow really brings out the textures of grasses and reeds:











In the snow, even shy and reclusive animals cannot help but leave a record of their movements.

These footprints (at Little Round Top) belong to a Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus):

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) footprints

These tiny footprints (below) most likely belong to either a Bank Vole or Field Vole (no tail drag - unlike a Wood Mouse's footprints).

Vole footprints

We found these much larger tracks near the Greenside Reservoir - they belong to a Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus). The distance between strides was over 2 metres!! These graceful long-legged gallopers have a very different gait from rabbits.

Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) footprints

Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) footprints

These large, long-clawed footprints belong to a Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis): note the lack of tail drag.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) footprints

Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve & Mussleburgh to Prestonpans, East Lothian

We took a walk along the Musselburgh sea wall, past the ash lagoons and with the use of a scope, we were able to spot a male Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) and a Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus) far out to sea.

A male Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) landed on the path ahead of us and flitted about briefly.

At Prestonpans we visited the Prestoungrange Gothenburg, a beautiful Swedish-style pub built in 1908 to encourage sensible drinking in the local population (mostly employed as miners and brickworkers) with a policy of putting money being put back into local community causes. Real ales are brewed at the back of the premises.

Just outside the Gothenburg we could see some black ducks far out at sea and on closer inspection (the scope was very handy!) these turned out to be a flock of Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) and a lone male Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca).

We visited the mixed woodland around Gosford House and the boating lake. In the woods were some very kitsch shrines that were built by previous owners of the estate. Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) were the only flowering plants.

Beech Tree (Fagus sylvatica)

At the boating lake there was a flock of Greylag Geese (Anser anser), a Coot (Fulica atra) and a few Mute Swans (Cygnus olor).

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

We visited a bird hide in Musselburgh near the ash lagoons. Here we saw many birds including flocks of Wigeon (Anas penelope), Teal (Anas crecca), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), Knot (Calidris canutus) and a Snipe (Gallinago gallinago).
All along the coast, near Aberlady Bay, Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) formed impenetrable thorny thickets, heavily covered with golden-orange berries.

This shrub is dioecious (individual plants are either male or female) and is able to fix Nitrogen through a symbiosis with bacteria. The soft acidic berries can be eaten raw or made into jam and are high in vitamins A and C. Oil obtained from the pressed fruits and seeds has been shown to aid the healing of burns and wounds (taken both externally and internally). Hippophae means 'shiny horse' in Latin (Hippo = horse, Phaein = to gleam/shine) because in the past this plant was supposedly fed to horses to make their coats shine. Rhamnoides is Latin for 'buckthorn-like' (rhamnos = buckthorn).

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)