Suddenly the vegetation along the Line is bursting into colour and the countryside is being transformed. The importance of the Line as a wildlife corridor becomes clear as mixed flocks of small birds, often finches and tits are now seen in the bushes and trees along the Line. The telegraph wires which still run alongside the track bed in many places are useful vantage points on which to perch. Close to Rathen station a blackbird was singing loudly from the top branches of the sycamores. A magnificent buzzard was sitting on a fence post close to the Line at Concraigs Wood, its partner could be heard crying as it wheeled high over the wood.
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| Flowering current (Ribes sanguinium) a garden escape which adds colour to the line in several places. |
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| Rooks were nesting in these Scots Pine trees in the Howe of Concraigs, rabbits ventured out of the gorse to the field, scurrying back as we passed. There is a mole run clearly indicated by fresh heaps of soil on the left of the picture. Grey Granite has also seen 'Concraigs' written as 'Corncraigs' and wonders if the name has changed over the years. |
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| This pond on Milltown of Craigellie land was dug out or enlarged in Spring 2010 and is now well established. The wet fields round it are a favourite haunt of lapwings. |
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Gorse by the bridge carrying the road to Strathellie over the Line. On the warm morning (16.5c) that we walked this stretch the air was filled with the coconut scent of gorse.
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It is good to know that Spring is really here as it certainly doesn't feel like it today.
ReplyDeleteWe had lapwings in the field behind us, but the farmer has begun to plough, so they have gone. When we lived at Longside, the old foreman farmer said when they saw a lapwing nest, they lifted it out of the way, ploughed and then put it back!
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