Wildlife through the seasons

While you are enjoying the countryside in Kirkmahoe, Look around you and listen carefully. There are interesting things to see and hear all year round. March – May

Watch for hares chasing and boxing in the fields. In damp fields, when pink ladies’ smock is in bloom, you can see orange-tip butterflies laying their eggs on the biggest flower heads. Why not keep track of your first dates for summer migrants? Chiffchaffs call their names from tree tops, from late March; listen for the sweet descants of willow warblers, and twittering of swallows, from the beginning of April. Where there are still wild tangles of vegetation, rough corners and thick hedges, enjoy the increasingly rare ‘little bit of bread and no chee-eeese’ song of yellowhammers.

Orange-tip on bluebell

June-August

On Dalswinton Loch, greylag and canada geese will have goslings. This is one of the best lochs in Dumfries & Galloway for moorhens, all year round. During July and August, recently fledged buzzards mew noisily overhead. Look out for red kites around Duncow and Newlands. When brambles begin to ripen, enjoy the melancholy song of male and female robins, which have been silent while moulting.

Greylag goose on her nest at Dalswinton Loch

September-November

From mid-September, listen for skeins of pink-footed geese, migrating down the Nith Valley after breeding in Iceland. During October, flocks of thrushes pour in from Scandinavia. Look for these redwings and fieldfares raiding rowans and hawthorns for berries. Notice the heavy scent of ivy flowers, an important source of late nectar for moths and hoverflies, and for red admirals and small tortoiseshells as they get ready to hibernate. Jays are usually furtive, but in October they suddenly become conspicuous, flapping from wood to wood as they gather their winter supply of acorns.

Red admirals on ivy

December-February

From Christmas onwards, listen for the drumming of great spotted woodpeckers on dead branches. The sound carries a long way on calm days. On sunny days, skylarks will sing above rough pasture. Rooks are already building, carrying long twigs to their nests. Now is the time to see flocks of whooper swans (with yellow bills) mixed with resident mute swans in fields near the Nith.

Rook in snow

What, Where, When, Who

If you would like to send in sightings from your walks, please note what you saw, where you saw it, when you saw it and who saw it. Records can be submitted through the online recording form at https://swseic.org.uk/ and to discoverkirkmahoe@gmail.com or www.kirkmahoe.com