hawick.. scotland

[will@bill]

does anyone do any birding in this area. i love the place been going up for years but BB (before birding) seen osprey at alemoor loch last summer ...........anybody? going up for 2 days next month.

[Helenelizabeth2]

does anyone do any birding in this area. i love the place been going up for years but BB (before birding) seen osprey at alemoor loch last summer ...........anybody? going up for 2 days next month.

My parents live at St Mary's Loch which is not too far away and I've been to a few places around there while visiting. There are Ospreys based at Glentress near Peebles which hunt over St Marys and the nearby reservoirs, Talla and I forget what the other one's called. St Mary's itself is a bit disappointing - it doesn't do too well for wildfowl etc but does have breeding Goosander and I've seen Goldeneye and Pochard. There are Dippers and Grey Wagtail on the loch. Curlew and Oystercatcher breed in the surrounding fields. Stonechat and Wheatear are common at the Grey Mare's tail and Ring Ouzel are reported to breed there - but I haven't seen them. Have seen the Peregrines though which are quite easy there in the summer.

Over past Hawick, I've been to Langholm a couple of times where there are supposed to be both Grouse and Hen Harrier but I've seen very little there. Buzzards are very common in the whole of the Borders. My parents have seen Golden Eagle once or twice. In the forest near Talla I managed to find Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher last year which was nice.

I have a book of Birds in the Borders (came free from the Scottish Ornithology Centre near North Berwick) which says something like there is no one good site in the Borders but if you are prepared to travel you can pick up a lot of different birds in different places. Seemed pretty accurate to me.

The area around Kielder Water is also supposed to be good - I keep meaning to stop off there on the way up but haven't made it yet.

Hope you have a great stay - it's a lovely part of the world.

Helen

[will@bill]

My parents live at St Mary's Loch which is not too far away and I've been to a few places around there while visiting. There are Ospreys based at Glentress near Peebles which hunt over St Marys and the nearby reservoirs, Talla and I forget what the other one's called. St Mary's itself is a bit disappointing - it doesn't do too well for wildfowl etc but does have breeding Goosander and I've seen Goldeneye and Pochard. There are Dippers and Grey Wagtail on the loch. Curlew and Oystercatcher breed in the surrounding fields. Stonechat and Wheatear are common at the Grey Mare's tail and Ring Ouzel are reported to breed there - but I haven't seen them. Have seen the Peregrines though which are quite easy there in the summer.

Over past Hawick, I've been to Langholm a couple of times where there are supposed to be both Grouse and Hen Harrier but I've seen very little there. Buzzards are very common in the whole of the Borders. My parents have seen Golden Eagle once or twice. In the forest near Talla I managed to find Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher last year which was nice.

I have a book of Birds in the Borders (came free from the Scottish Ornithology Centre near North Berwick) which says something like there is no one good site in the Borders but if you are prepared to travel you can pick up a lot of different birds in different places. Seemed pretty accurate to me.

The area around Kielder Water is also supposed to be good - I keep meaning to stop off there on the way up but haven't made it yet.

Hope you have a great stay - it's a lovely part of the world.

Helen
thanks helen ..st mary loch and grey mares tail...i have been there a boat load of times planning to go next month like i say. been going up there since i was a kid in the 70s. we seen the Peregrines last year at the g/m/tail the 1st one for me and you are right about the buzzards you see one every 200 yards almost.thanks again for the info.

[rozinante]

Hello Will and Liam.

I have spent a lot of time in the borders over the years. Please keep it down how wonderful it is, I like it quiet. ;)

That Birds in the Borders booklet that Helen mentioned is really useful. It’s distributed by The Borders Branch of The Scottish Ornithologists' Club. http://www.the-soc.org.uk You should be able to find it in any Borders Tourist Information Office. You might also want to pick up "Walks Around Hawick" (£1) while your there.

In Hawick itself the SOC booklet describes a walk from the town taking in - Wilton Lodge Park, Martin's Bridge, Goldilands Tower, Willistruther Loch, Whitlaw Woods, Stillrig and The Motte. It also recommends the disused railway, Stobs Army Camp (abandoned), Grey Heron Hill, Hardon Glen, Newmill and around Cavers.

A riverside walk NE along the Abbeys Way towards Denholm passes through mixed parkland farm and woodland farmland and woods with some ancient oaks.

If you want to drive a bit further afield there is:-

Alemoor Reservoir (NT400155) good number of water birds, scope recommended.
Near Jedburgh:-
Folly Loch (NT640265) good number of water birds & waders, scope recommended.
Harestanes Estate (NT642244) Mixed woodlands, takes some walking.
Near Selkirk:-
Bowhill Estate, Ettrick Forest. (NT426278) Various walks, leaflets available. Woodland walk claims superb for birdsong March to May.

I would respectfully disagree with Helen and the SOC book about there being “no one good site" in the borders though. I would have to plump for the coastline between Burnmouth and Pease Bay with St Abbs as the jewel in the crown. I want to move into Fast Castle! :) You would need more than 2 days to do it justice though.

[border reiver]

Hi Will & Liam

Brilliant place all round. Newcastleton outside Hawick (on moorland is good for hen harrier and merlin. I'm with rozinante St abb's head is best place in whole borders good time of year with passage migrants. Check out SOC's website lots of good info there too.

John

[will@bill]

thanks for the info will be planning our trip with that in mind ..cheers

[Helenelizabeth2]

Hello Will and Liam.

I have spent a lot of time in the borders over the years. Please keep it down how wonderful it is, I like it quiet. ;)

That Birds in the Borders booklet that Helen mentioned is really useful. It’s distributed by The Borders Branch of The Scottish Ornithologists' Club. http://www.the-soc.org.uk You should be able to find it in any Borders Tourist Information Office. You might also want to pick up "Walks Around Hawick" (£1) while your there.

In Hawick itself the SOC booklet describes a walk from the town taking in - Wilton Lodge Park, Martin's Bridge, Goldilands Tower, Willistruther Loch, Whitlaw Woods, Stillrig and The Motte. It also recommends the disused railway, Stobs Army Camp (abandoned), Grey Heron Hill, Hardon Glen, Newmill and around Cavers.

A riverside walk NE along the Abbeys Way towards Denholm passes through mixed parkland farm and woodland farmland and woods with some ancient oaks.

If you want to drive a bit further afield there is:-

Alemoor Reservoir (NT400155) good number of water birds, scope recommended.
Near Jedburgh:-
Folly Loch (NT640265) good number of water birds & waders, scope recommended.
Harestanes Estate (NT642244) Mixed woodlands, takes some walking.
Near Selkirk:-
Bowhill Estate, Ettrick Forest. (NT426278) Various walks, leaflets available. Woodland walk claims superb for birdsong March to May.

I would respectfully disagree with Helen and the SOC book about there being “no one good site" in the borders though. I would have to plump for the coastline between Burnmouth and Pease Bay with St Abbs as the jewel in the crown. I want to move into Fast Castle! :) You would need more than 2 days to do it justice though.

I've been to the Bowhill Estate and can back up that it's good for bird song - there's a woodland walk around the lake which is beautiful in the morning. It costs to get in though (£5 a car, I think). Otter sightings on the lake are supposed to be possible too.

There's also a nature reserve over Ettrick way now - wetlands, I think but I can't remember the name of it and I never got round to going the last time I was up. It's probably in the book though.

Yes, sorry, I was forgetting about the Coast. St Abb's Head is lovely and lots of great birds. I don't know the rest of that coastal stretch well and will add it to my list of places to go.

Thanks for starting this thread, Will. It's helping me out too.

[will@bill]

There's also a nature reserve over Ettrick way now - wetlands, I think but I can't remember the name of it and I never got round to going the last time I was up. It's probably in the book though.

Yes, sorry, I was forgetting about the Coast. St Abb's Head is lovely and lots of great birds. I don't know the rest of that coastal stretch well and will add it to my list of places to go.

Thanks for starting this thread, Will. It's helping me out too.[/QUOTE] .................................................. ......................................do you mean the ettrick marshes its just been done in last couple of years .i know the place very well we were there 4 or 5 times last year and 1st went there in 1972 when i was 7 its next to the tushielaw inn. we were going there 1st like we always do! .great place..

[will@bill]

Hi all thanks for the info took advantage of the good weather last Friday and went up the borders and with the kids being on there hols there came as well. Well I did not want the make the birding too easy! My oldest daughter chloe volunteered to be bookkeeper she recorded 70 species over 36 hours .1st stop was hawick riverside park lovely place. plenty of birds to be seen kingfisher, goosander, treecreeper, nuthatch, g/s/woody, dipper, swallows, heron, grey wagtails, and a buzzard soaring high above. We then moved on to alemoor res goldeneye, g/c grebes, and 1 whooper swan on the water. siskin, mistle thrush, pied wags in the forest but no sign of the crossbill.next stop was hopehouse in the Ettrick valley seen our 1st wheatear of the year and seen 6 in total plenty of buzzards and a few oystercatchers sitting on nests if that what you can call them. We camped in a forest and seen a crossbill just before sundown also 4 smooth newts was found in a puddle don’t see many of them these days Up at the crack of dawn to see other buzzard fly over low and headed to the grey mares tail waterfall stopping off at st marys loch redshank reed buntings and snipe seen next to the loch .had our breakfast at the grey mares tail while the kids knocked the ranger out of bed asking if the peregrine falcons were there yet! They were there but not nesting as yet as the ranger keeps an 24 hour watch on the nest via a camera. During our egg and beans we heard the unmistakable cry of a peregrine falcon and there it was soaring high above the waterfall. We climbed the mountain up to lock skeen stonechats, wheatears, dipper,and the star of the show the peregrine chasing meadow pipits also ravens seen on the peaks. We also seen mountain goats next to the falls All too soon it was time to head back home a mute swan in a large pond in someone’s front garden/field (its actually the place I am going to buy when I win the lottery as I have had my eye on it for about 20 years) was our 70th bird. it would have been 71 if we had seen a robin heard but not seen
Thanks again we are going back in may to beat 70.
as i do not own a £2000 camera the pics are not the best only one bird pic taken of a pied wag

[Helenelizabeth2]

Hi all thanks for the info took advantage of the good weather last Friday and went up the borders and with the kids being on there hols. they came as well. Well I did not want to make the birding too easy! My oldest daughter chloe volunteered to be bookkeeper she recorded 70 species over 36 hours .1st stop was hawick riverside park lovely place. plenty of birds to be seen kingfisher, goosander, treecreeper, nuthatch, g/s/woody, dipper, swallows, heron, grey wagtails, and a buzzard soaring high above. We then moved on to alemoor res goldeneye, g/c grebes, and 1 whopper swan on the water. siskin, mistle thrush, pied wags in the forest but no sign of the crossbill.next stop was hopehouse in the Ettrick valley seen our 1st wheatear of the year and seen 6 in total.plenty of buzzards and a few oystercatchers sitting on nests if that what you can call them. We camped in a forest and seen a crossbill just before sundown. Up at the crack of dawn to see other buzzard fly over low and we headed to the grey mares tail waterfall stopping off at st marys loch. redshank reed buntings and snipe seen next to the loch .had our breakfast at the grey mares tail while the kids knocked the ranger out of bed asking if the peregrine falcons were there yet! They were there but not nesting as yet as the ranger keeps an 24 hour watch on the nest via a camera. During our egg and beans we heard the unmistakable cry of a peregrine falcon and there it was soaring high above the waterfall. We climbed the mountain up to lock skeen stonechats, wheatears, dipper,and the star of the show the peregrine chasing meadow pipits also ravens seen on the peaks. All too soon it was time to head back home a mute swan in a large pond in someone’s front garden/field (its actually the place I am going to buy when I win the lottery as I have had my eye on it for about 20 years) was our 70th bird.it would have been 71 if we had seen a robin heard but not seen
Thanks again we are going back in may to beat 70.

Lovely. Made me feel very homesick (even though we were there only a week or two before you). We didn't manage to make it to the Grey Mare's Tail as we were only passing through so I still need Peregrine for the year list - hopefully I'll get to see them in May if not somewhere else before. One of the Ravens you saw might have been the one that's nesting in my mun and dad's back garden. Loch Skeen is fantastic, isn't it? The surprise when you turn the corner at the top of the path and suddenly there it is is just brilliant.

Which is the house that you have your eye on then? Better not be one of the ones I want! ;)

Helen

[will@bill]

Lovely. Made me feel very homesick (even though we were there only a week or two before you). We didn't manage to make it to the Grey Mare's Tail as we were only passing through so I still need Peregrine for the year list - hopefully I'll get to see them in May if not somewhere else before. One of the Ravens you saw might have been the one that's nesting in my mun and dad's back garden. Loch Skeen is fantastic, isn't it? The surprise when you turn the corner at the top of the path and suddenly there it is is just brilliant.

Which is the house that you have your eye on then? Better not be one of the ones I want! ;)

Helen
hi helen i have put a few pics on and that house is just over the border

[Helenelizabeth2]

hi helen i have put a few pics on and that house is just over the border

Nice pics. Seems funny to see the Grey Mare's Tail in someone else's family photos. It's not a widely known spot, is it?

Ah well, if it's an English house, you're ok. ;) All the ones I want are firmly on the North side of the border.

[souterman]

Just back from Hule Moss and the geese were just falling out of the sky. it was a great sight in the beautiful sunset. F

[Peewit]

I've been to the Bowhill Estate and can back up that it's good for bird song - there's a woodland walk around the lake which is beautiful in the morning. It costs to get in though (£5 a car, I think). Otter sightings on the lake are supposed to be possible too.

There's also a nature reserve over Ettrick way now - wetlands, I think but I can't remember the name of it and I never got round to going the last time I was up. It's probably in the book though.

Yes, sorry, I was forgetting about the Coast. St Abb's Head is lovely and lots of great birds. I don't know the rest of that coastal stretch well and will add it to my list of places to go.

Thanks for starting this thread, Will. It's helping me out too.

Hi Will and Liam/Helen

I agree with St Abb's Head. It is a great place for all types of birds and some great walks with view you can dream of until you are there. Lots of high cliffs and big waves to hear, and views across the sea for miles and miles.

Another place worth a visit is John Muir Country Park, It getting closer to North Berwick. It is a bit more hidden, and less known than St Abb's Head in my opinion. The beach area with all the sand dunes are out of this world. The beach stretches for miles and it is just a lovely place to visit for the day. Lots of Flora and Fauna there too. Lots of forestation too, so it is possible to see all types of birds/wildlife in all habitats. Plenty of walking to do here.
It has such a vast area of a sandy beach, it is although you feel you are the only person there. Plenty of Terns there (breeding colony that I have known about in the past), and all the shore birds you can think of.
Worth a visit with a thumbs up, and 10 out of 10 from me. :t:

Again Aberlady Nature Reserve. It is another area for shore birds, as is with St Abb's Head and John Muir Country Park. It has an area of water which makes it easy to see them close up. A bridge goes over a river, and it makes things easy for birdwatchers. I remember seeing my first Egret here a long time ago.

All these places are on the East Coast line close to the borders, and definitely worth a visit or two.

Just a thought. :t:

Regards
Kathy

[souterman]

Here's another place that I believe is over towards the coast. Dowlaw Dam which might be worth a visit. F

[rozinante]

Just back from Hule Moss and the geese were just falling out of the sky. it was a great sight in the beautiful sunset. F

What sort of geese where they F? I hear that good numbers of pink footed often visit.

I think I may have seen many of them on route to Hule Moss over the past 5 days. Having spent most evenings by the Tweed anywhere between Coldstream and Peebles I noticed that they were flying North in long strung out formations rather than the smaller "V's" I am more used to.

I have tried unsuccessfully to find Hule Moss in the past. I am sure I found the correct stile onto the Moss from the Greenlaw to Polworth road but then got lost in a maze of indistinct sheep tracks through the heather.

[souterman]

Hi
I take it they are pink foots but not being up with the geese not sure. But they arrived in huge flocks and seemed to get great pleasure being back at the Moss just by the way they seemed to tumble from the sky. Sorry to see you did not find the Moss. But if you parked in the rough car park marked by big red stones its just about a 10 min walk across the heather. That's on the Greenlaw/ Duns road. If you can't see them then you will certainly hear them. As you arrive straight in front in the distance is the Twinlaw Cairns, and to the right the 2 Dirleton Hills. hope you find the site and enjoy. F

[rozinante]

Thanks F.

I will give it another go next visit.

Do you know the area well?

[souterman]

Hi
If you visit the Hule Moss you will look over onto the countryside that saw me fulfilling my youth and what a great experiance it was. Freedom to roam but I got into a lot of trouble for my efforts. F

[rozinante]

I envy you that childhood F.

Though I was lucky to spend lots of holidays in the Borders, back in my own local environment, we had to go 3 streets away to find a tree. A stomach pump was required if you fell in our local drain and our football pitch was made of slag from the gasworks.

Happy days. :)

[souterman]

Hi
You did make me laugh with your reply. But please enjoy your stay while up here on your hols or working in the area. Have you seen or heard about the little book called BIRDWATCHING in the Scottish Borders. This booklet was compiled by the S.O.C. and well worth getting a hold of and best of all it's FREE. F

[rozinante]

Hi
You did make me laugh with your reply. But please enjoy your stay while up here on your hols or working in the area. Have you seen or heard about the little book called BIRDWATCHING in the Scottish Borders. This booklet was compiled by the S.O.C. and well worth getting a hold of and best of all it's FREE. F

Glad to amuse you F, I asure you though, it is all true.

I have got the S.O.C. booklet and as you say it is excellent and although a free guide has been more usefull than some I have bought!

Another place nearby I have also managed to get lost in is Gordon Moss. Once inside there are hardly any discernable paths and the trees look the same in every direction. Do you know it? It is a very strange place indeed. Acres of scrubby trees dripping with lichen growing out of a bog.

Despite looking like an unusual habitat and expecting a few unusual sightings, we failed to see much birdlife there at all. In fact the most notable sighting was a row of 1930's ish cars slowly decomposing back into the bog!

[souterman]

Hi
Gordon Moss was the local dump when I was a boy and yes a lot of story's are told about the place. It was turned into a wildlife place not long after the dump closed. A few rare plants have been found there over the seasons. It's a place I have steered clear off frightened away as a boy. I believe that there is a new wildlife reserve at the bottom of East Gordon hill which is getting good reports. It's a community run reserve have a look sometime and so will I.

[will@bill]

Hi all thanks for the info took advantage of the good weather last Friday and went up the borders and with the kids being on there hols there came as well. Well I did not want the make the birding too easy! My oldest daughter chloe volunteered to be bookkeeper she recorded 70 species over 36 hours .1st stop was hawick riverside park lovely place. plenty of birds to be seen kingfisher, goosander, treecreeper, nuthatch, g/s/woody, dipper, swallows, heron, grey wagtails, and a buzzard soaring high above. We then moved on to alemoor res goldeneye, g/c grebes, and 1 whooper swan on the water. siskin, mistle thrush, pied wags in the forest but no sign of the crossbill.next stop was hopehouse in the Ettrick valley seen our 1st wheatear of the year and seen 6 in total plenty of buzzards and a few oystercatchers sitting on nests if that what you can call them. We camped in a forest and seen a crossbill just before sundown also 4 smooth newts was found in a puddle don’t see many of them these days Up at the crack of dawn to see other buzzard fly over low and headed to the grey mares tail waterfall stopping off at st marys loch redshank reed buntings and snipe seen next to the loch .had our breakfast at the grey mares tail while the kids knocked the ranger out of bed asking if the peregrine falcons were there yet! They were there but not nesting as yet as the ranger keeps an 24 hour watch on the nest via a camera. During our egg and beans we heard the unmistakable cry of a peregrine falcon and there it was soaring high above the waterfall. We climbed the mountain up to lock skeen stonechats, wheatears, dipper,and the star of the show the peregrine chasing meadow pipits also ravens seen on the peaks. We also seen mountain goats next to the falls All too soon it was time to head back home a mute swan in a large pond in someone’s front garden/field (its actually the place I am going to buy when I win the lottery as I have had my eye on it for about 20 years) was our 70th bird. it would have been 71 if we had seen a robin heard but not seen
Thanks again we are going back in may to beat 70.
as i do not own a £2000 camera the pics are not the best only one bird pic taken of a pied wag

we going back next week school hols again anyone been that way lately(helen maybe)
ps got a better camera this time
thanks

got 70 species last april anyone want to guess how many this time do not think as many not this time of year going for the same 36 hours ..............do not forget got the kids with us!!!!!!!!!!

[souterman]

Hi
i would agree with every word about the Borders. I drive throughout the Hawick area every day an example of whats been seen by me. 6 Herons and 2 Buzzard in a grass field and just across the road a flock of about 500 finch's feeding in a field of Rape with Kale mixed throughout. Not bad for a mornings trip. F

[will@bill]

Hi
i would agree with every word about the Borders. I drive throughout the Hawick area every day an example of whats been seen by me. 6 Herons and 2 Buzzard in a grass field and just across the road a flock of about 500 finch's feeding in a field of Rape with Kale mixed throughout. Not bad for a mornings trip. F

500 finch,s i could not have passed without looking to see which ones maybe a brambling or 2;)
are you not going to have a guess you should be close with it been your local patch

[barnowlgirl]

i live and work in scottish borders its great bit for birdwatching i live a mile away from peregrine and osprey nest! i have barn owls and buzzard and sparrowhawk and goshawk breeding around my house. I do websurveys with guy i work with on local lochs and ponds. we always counting birds that we see and putting on bordersbird news to go on the BTO atlas as we do squares for that. i also go up on langholm moor lucky enough to work with the team up there doing the peregrines, ravens and merlins and hen harriers its wonderful just seeing so many birds about the scottish borders. I go up to the tweed valley alot to see ospreys and the eagles up there just amazing to see.

barnowlgirl

[will@bill]

i live and work in scottish borders its great bit for birdwatching i live a mile away from peregrine and osprey nest! i have barn owls and buzzard and sparrowhawk and goshawk breeding around my house. I do websurveys with guy i work with on local lochs and ponds. we always counting birds that we see and putting on bordersbird news to go on the BTO atlas as we do squares for that. i also go up on langholm moor lucky enough to work with the team up there doing the peregrines, ravens and merlins and hen harriers its wonderful just seeing so many birds about the scottish borders. I go up to the tweed valley alot to see ospreys and the eagles up there just amazing to see.

barnowlgirl

anything you see please stick it on this thread:t:we have been unable to get up there this year:-C

[barnowlgirl]

i had just yesterday about 100-150 common snipe on a small pond near Boncherster bridge i never seen that many before!! The osprey that someone saw at almoor near craik actually nested this year and fledged chicks!

[will@bill]

i had just yesterday about 100-150 common snipe on a small pond near Boncherster bridge i never seen that many before!! The osprey that someone saw at almoor near craik actually nested this year and fledged chicks!

Remember following a badger down the road from hawick to bonchester bridge one night 1st live one I had seen and we seen the osprey at alemoor glad its doing well:t:

[barnowlgirl]

had 250 odd swans (mute and whoopers) and few greylag geese on field near jedburgh today.