Wildlife update

We have had some good wildlife sightings over the last few weeks with around 500 Pink footed geese flighting in to the wetland. Also here are some notable birds :-
Lapwing 76
Teal 101
Whooper swan 4
Shoveler 4
Wigeon
Mallard 40
Little grebe
Moorhen
Cormorant
Kingfisher
Reed bunting
Siskin
Redpoll
Skylark
Raven
Redwing
Fieldfare
Red Kite

The Dumfries & Galloway Countryside team have also been very busy cutting meadows over at Rockcliffe and we hosted an NTS Volunteer Thistle camp lately with various practical tasks undertaken during the week, including footpath maintenance. gorse control and assisting with an archaeological project at Threave.

Recent Wildlife Sightings at Threave nature reserve

Threave Wildlife seen on nature reserve

Our wildfowl numbers will begin to increase over the coming months, the water levels have been high recently and the river has a fast flow today, so most birds were seen fro the hides on the reserve and lamb island hide.

Pink footed goose
Greylag goose
Canada goose
Teal
Wigeon
Mallard
Heron
Lapwing
Kingfisher
Fieldfare
Redwing
Buzzard
Red kite
Raven
Jay
Bullfinch
Chaffinch
Redpoll
Willow tit
Tree sparrow

Excellent views of Roe deer and the Historic Scotland staff informed us of good Otter watching on the river near the castle. Why not come and visit and enjoy a visit to Threave wetlands and look out for some of the amazing wildlife.

Please do let us know of your sightings at any of our countryside properties in Dumfries and Galloway.

Tree climbing to put bat boxes Threave Bat Reserve

We have recently combined a training session tree climbing and putting up bat boxes in Kelton hill wood, we have more bat boxes to put up over the coming weeks so more fun with the ropes and trees. The rope access into the trees enables to check out any likely bat roosts, in our monitoring of the bat populations here at Threave and also to carry out any checks on trees for bat roosts and other wildlife if they require any tree work, this then guides our work and any mitigation we may need to consider as part of any planned works.

It has been interesting over the last week with the sunshine and warm temperatures we had Soprano pipistrelles out catching insects in Threave garden near the countryside centre mid afternoon last week in glourious sunshine with insects abundant in the air. This is a good indication of how our weather has impacted on the bat population this year with cold and wet prolonged periods. We have also had a Soprano pipistrelle bat which required feeding up due to the weather, and this was released successfully.

Osprey Update October

We are very sorry we have not put any news out recently. We have just heard that an Osprey was seen over the weekend, this may well be one our chicks, or simply a bird passing through. The last sighting of our birds together on the nest was Saturday 6th October. What an interesting season it has been this year in lots of different ways. The Dumfries & Galloway Countryside Team would like to thank all our Threave osprey volunteers, and everyone involved with Threave Ospreys especially Ciril Ostroznik and Andy Milligan.

Best Wishes
Karl