Loch Ken

It's a long time since I last visited Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway, 25 years to be precise, and all of my previous visits have been in winter. Since I was in the area, I decided to have a late afternoon / evening visit, and found it completely different to my memories. The most obvious change is the Red Kite, which is now present in good numbers due a re-inroduction scheme in the area, and Loch Ken even has a "Red Kite Trail". I saw at least five of these magnificent birds, including two in the village of Crossmichael. 

Even better, as I approached one of the hides, I heard a familiar call overhead, and looking up saw two Ospreys. I carried on to the hide and watched them for several minutes as they circled over the loch. Like the Kites, Ospreys have really spread in recent years, but unlike the kites, it's all down to the Ospreys themeselves, with no helping hand from Man (apart from the completely unessessary re-introduction at Rutland Water).

Osprey. There were a couple of birders in the hide who were trying to work out why the "Red Kites" that were circling over the Loch didn't have forked tails. I was pleased to be able to inform them that actually they were Ospreys, which was great news for them because neither of them had seen Osprey before! The weather has not beeen a complete washout this week, as you can see from this photo!

Cross Fell, North Pennines

I'm currently involved in research into morphological variation in the sedge Carex nigra, and since Cross fell in Cumbria is the highest place at which it grows in England, I decided to have a walk up there this evening. Although it was quite sunny at lower levels, the summit of Cross Fell was often shrouded in low cloud and it was quite an intimidating and eerie experience. At 893m (2930ft), Cross Fell is the 11th highest mountain in England, and the highest point in the Pennines. It's nearly as high as Great Gable, and higher than both High Street and Coniston Old Man. In ancient times it was known as Fiends Fell and believed to be the haunt of evil spirits. It's also the source of the Helm wind, which apparently is the only named wind in Britain and which I have first hand experience of from an earlier visit in May. Just to make the whole experience a little more surreal, while I was sitting next to the trig point eating a sandwich, I was joined by this little Dunlin, which stood quite happily close by and called every now and again! I could also hear the calls of Golden Plover and Curlew through the mist.


Pretty soon the cloud drifted away, revealing spectacular views across the Lake District and the Solway Firth. The Dunlin seemed a bit happier too.


Finally I was able to look for the Sedge, and eventually found it growing at 825m. It's said to grow at 870m on Cross Fell, but anything above 800m was a bonus as far as I was concerned. Superficially very similar to Stiff Sedge Carex bigelowii which is very abundant above 550m, Carex nigra seemed to prefer a much wetter habitat. I can promise that there is a lot of wet habitat on Cross Fell...... The flower is the beautiful Starry Saxifrage Saxifraga stellaris, found growing in amongst the sedge.

Spanish Pyrenees - botanising in Ordesa

I've just had a couple of weeks in Spain, the first of which was spent in the Pyrenees, walking and botanising in the Ordesa National Park. Of course I was also on the look out for other wildlife as well, especially birds, but before I get into all of that, I thought it would be good to put it all into context by showing a few photos of the truely jaw dropping scenery. The mountains here rise to 3348m or in old money nearly 11,000 feet, and there are cliffs with vertical drops of well over 1000 feet. The scale is vast.

We stayed in the village of Torla, just 4 miles or so from the entrance to the Ordesa Valley. The photos below are all of the Ordesa Valley apart from the last which is Torla. We also visited the adjacent Valle de Otal and Valle de Bujaruelo, which are both part of the Ordesa National Park, as well as a day trip to Sierra de la Pena near Jaca, which had a quite different flora and was probably the best birding site we visited. During the week, I estimate that we walked about 70 miles and climbed a total of around 11,000 feet, which is not bad considering the amount of time we spent looking at flora. A typical day lasted about 10 hours, from about 8am to 6pm.

Gentians of Ordesa

The Pyrenees is a gentian lovers paradise, with several species of these alpine gems growing in profusion at high altitude.


Trumpet Gentian Gentiana prostrata near Refuge de Goriz in Ordesa and Pyrenean Trumpet Gentian Gentiana occidentalis just below the summit of Punta Acuta. The latter is identified by its sepal teeth which narrow at the base and its pointed petal lobes.


Southern Gentian Gentiana alpina.


Spring Gentians Gentiana verna.


I couldn't resist these two photos, the first is a Spring Gentian with a Ladybird in the centre, and the second is a white gentian, which I think is Spring Gentian, but it was a lot smaller than the others.

Orchids of Ordesa

We didn't see as many orchids as I expected, but still a nice selection.


Black Vanilla Orchid Nigritella nigra in Valle de Otal. I never tire of seeing this little beauty!


Butterfly Orchid Plathanthera bifolia and Elder-flowered Orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina.


Burnt Tip Orchid Orchis ustulata. Also, White Helleborine was quite common, and we saw lots of marsh and spotted orchids.

Other flowers of Ordesa

The Pyrenees are famous for their flora, many of which are endemic. Here is a small selection of what we saw.


Pyrenean Saxifrage Saxifraga longifolia and Yellow Saxifrage Saxifraga aretioides.


Vitalonia Vitalonia primuliflora and Entire-leaved Primrose Primula integrifolia. I found these two species of alpine primrose growing at 2200m on Punta Acuta.


Two species of Pyrenean lily, Dipcadi Dipcadi serotinum (photographed at Sierra de la Pena NOT Ordesa), and Pyrenean Hyacinth Hyacinthus amethystinus.


Another species of lily, Tofield's Asphodel Tofieldia calyculata, a very close relation of the Scottish Aspohodel T. pusilla which I found growing in Teesdale last year. Echinospartum Echinospartum horridum, is a close relation of Gorse Ulex europaeus.


Pyrenean Rockrose Helianthemum nummularium pyrenaicum. This beautiful plant is a sub species of the yellow Common Rockrose which grows in the UK.


Globeflower Trollius europaeus growing in profusion in the Valle de Otal, and Erect Clementis Clemantis recta. Valle de Otal was an excellent site, and well worth a visit with lush, wet alpine meadows, and lots of species which I didn't find in the Ordesa Valley


Two Pyrenean specialities, the insectivorous Long-leaved Butterwort Pinguicula longifolia and Ramonda Ramonda myconi.


Pyrenean Columbine Aquilegia pyrenaica and Pyrenean Rock-Jasmine Androsace pyrenaica.


Asphodel Asphodelus albus in the Valle de Otal and Rock Snapdragon Antirrhinum sempervirens on Punta Acuta.

A few other creatures from Ordesa

We saw Chamois in several places at high altitude, including this one at the head of the Ordessa valley.


There were loads of Little Blue butterflies, so many that they were swarming almost like midges in places, and it seemed not matter how hard we tried we would inevitably stand on one. Other butterflies seen but not photgraphed included lots of Clouded Yellows, several Swallowtails and most spectacularly, a single Camberwell Beauty.


We saw quite a few lizards, most of which appeared to be Pyrenean Rock Lizards. The individual on the left was photographed at 2000m on Punta Acuta. I think that the other lizard is a Common Wall Lizard.

We also saw lots of Marmots, a few Red Squirels and a single Wild Boar.

Birds of the Ordesa

Most of the time I was looking at the ground or the scenary, and in truth I did find the birding quite difficult. I wouldn't say that it was an easy place to bird. However, after an intial struggle, we did eventually see Lammergeier, the number one species on my and most other birders wish list. Four were in the Valle de Bujaruelo adjacent to Ordesa, but most spectacularly, two adults flew right over our heads as we approached the summit of Punta Acuta. They were probably only about the height of a two storey house above us. I suppose I could have taken a photo, but I was more interested in savouring the moment than messing about with the camera.

Other birding highlights included Black Woodpecker, a few Egyptian Vultures, lots of Griffon Vultures, several Black Kites, Ortolan Bunting, Golden Eagle, Citril Finches, Red-backed Shrike, Bonelli's Warblers, Bonelli's Eagle, Firecrests, Crag Martins, Alpine Swifts, Crossbills, Serins, Cirl Buntings, Alpine Choughs and Black Redstarts. Although we got to over 2200m, I don't think that we got high enough for Snow Finch and didn't get lucky with Alpine Accentor. As for Wallcreeper, well I had a look at several likely looking places, but Ordesa is a huge canyon with immense cliffs, and given that I spent a lot more time looking at the ground than at the cliffs it was always going to be a longshot.