I made a trip to SWT Falls of Clyde this morning. I got the train to Lanark, expecting to get a bus to New Lanark, but there was no sign of it - there was some sort of celebration going on in the town and it seemed all the roads were closed. So ended up getting my phone out and used the GPS to find my own way to it on foot. It's only about 1.5 miles so wasn't far, but the bus company could have at least put on a sign saying there may be delays.
Got to New Lanark, and the visitor centre there, and at the SWT behind it were both closed - they were supposed to be open at 10, but I think they were out taking part in that celebration too. I must say it doesn't give a good impression to visitors like me who have made the effort to get there and the visitor centres aren't open on time.
Enough moaning, there was an upshot - got the place practically to myself. I walked along the boardwalk by the Clyde - there is some stunning scenery here, I had no idea that there were large gorges and things like that on the upper Clyde. The birdlife at the start of the walk was practically non-existent, but as I got further up the trail it slowly came to life.
The first thing that caught my attention was a fledged Blue Tit - it was on the ground at the side of the path, but I noticed another in a branch, and the adults going in and out of a nestbox nearby, so I moved away and left it were it was.
Then, I started hearing the sound of a bird I'd gone there to see. I knew I was getting close to the location because there were large screens along the path facing the river. So I was really pleased to get fabulous views on an adult male Peregrine, and then five minutes later one of the young males that had only just fledged this morning. I've seen Peregrines before, but this was something else, the view was outstanding and looking through the SWT's (there were a couple of SWT staff here) scopes, I got really detailed views of them.
Amongst the other birds seen were Sand Martins, Swallows, Willow Warblers, Dippers, Blackcaps, Treecreepers.
On the way back there was a high level woodland path, so I took this - saw a Bullfinch. I then had to walk through a meadow which contained two ponies that are being used to graze the meadow - both of them were on the path itself, and one of them was sleeping, I tried my best to give them a wide berth, but the sleeping one woke up and made a noise to express its displeasure. I'm sure they're perfectly friendly animals, but it's still a bit unnerving to have to walk past them, especially when one of them is likely to be spooked out of its slumber!
I saw my final fledged bird of the day which was a Carrion Crow - I've never seen a young Carrion Crow before, so it's worth a mention.
