I have made a few trips up to Angus recently. Nicole sometimes works in Dundee and I take the opportunity to push further afield with the car, whenever I'm free to do so. Just east of Forfar, lie two nature reserves and I paid them a visit on successive Fridays.
The 100-acre site at Murton Farm was created within the grounds of a disused quarry and is run by a charitable organisation. The land was originally drained and developed for agriculture in the 18th century and flax for local mills was grown. The farm later produced grain and potatoes, along with rearing beef cattle. A quarrying operation began in 1990 and lasted for a decade. The area was then landscaped and a nature reserve created with a dual educational and environmental purpose. The animals live around the central pond and include rare poultry breeds, donkeys, ferrets and guinea pigs. A nominal fee is payable for entry to the farm and the kids can play on trampolines and in the sand pits. There is also a tearoom serving a range of home cooking and baking. The walking trail around the nature reserve is free to explore and a complete circuit is just over a mile. If visiting, note that the car-park gates are locked daily at 4.30pm. The territory is a mix of wetland, wildflower meadow and woodland. Three small lochs and the wetland area can be viewed from the bird hides and there is ample seating around the path network. I had stopped in Forfar for a traditional bridie and ate it for lunch before walking the short distance to the first hide. The wetlands were inhabited by mallards, geese and swans. Nothing unusual there, but it was nice to see them going about their business in a quiet spot. Walking past Buddy's Loch and Home Loch, I checked out another hide before heading into the woodland. Birch, willow and rowan are the most abundant trees. It was threatening to rain and I hurried past North Loch and into the meadow. Four sections of grassland were sown with wildflowers in 2003 and, where possible, native seed was used. The meadow is managed each winter by cutting different parts. The aim is to continually improve and extend the habitat but - as a text panel pointed out - this is a notoriously difficult process. A number of management strategies are required to have any hope of success. Britain has lost something in the region of 98% of its wild meadows in recent decades and it will clearly be a mammoth task trying to redress that balance, even on a small scale. I wandered over to a curious bulwark with drilled holes.
This turned out to be a sand martin nesting wall. Erected in 2006, it was funded by the Scottish Executive, with Aggregate Industries (who had run the quarry) supplying the materials and heavy machinery. Four feet of foundation was poured and the project required substantial shuttering to retain 16 tons of concrete in three layers. The wall is an impressive 12 feet in height and measures 38 feet across. Hundreds of tons of sand were packed behind in order to accommodate the sand martin burrows. Tunnels in the concrete slope upwards to prevent water reaching the nesting chambers. The birds can enter and excavate their own quarters in the sand behind the face of the wall. Both sexes work on this task and the nest is lined with plant matter and feathers. Sand martins are agile flyers and feed on invertebrates over water. They arrive on Scottish shores in April and leave for Southern Africa by the end of August. 400 breeding pairs were counted at Murton in a 2010 survey. Breeding starts in mid May and continues into June, with three to seven eggs laid. If a brood is reduced due to poor weather conditions, the female leaves the remaining chicks for the male to rear and moves in with another partner to try again immediately. The first male is then free to try his luck with another female once the young have fledged. It's the birdie version of the swinging sixties! Chicks are mature enough to fend for themselves after just 19 days. I witnessed a few residents flying in and out of the wall but taking a photo was nigh impossible, due to the rapidity of their coming and going. At this point the rain came on and I took shelter in a conveniently sited observation hut. The shower showed no signs of stopping and I had to bite the bullet and dash back to the car. It did ease off somewhat and I didn't get a soaking. I passed the tearoom and also noticed a large tepee which can be hired for a day. Murton is a pleasant place to visit if passing by or visiting Forfar town. The following week I pushed a little further along the same road to Balgavies Loch.
We had been here a couple of years ago and had spotted an osprey high up in the trees. I hoped for more of the same today. The reserve is run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the inland loch is surrounded by reedbeds and willow carr, attracting water rail, great crested grebe and a number of wintering wildfowl, including goldeneye, teal and wigeon. The reserve is also a haven for red squirrel and features an osprey nest. The first recorded hatching occurred in 2012 and a trio of chicks have ringed by experts this year. The news delighted local wildlife enthusiasts, who had rescued a young osprey from the loch the previous summer. Searing heat caused a supporting branch to crack and the nest collapsed. The reserve warden fed the youngster on a diet of sea bass and constructed a makeshift nest from an old potato basket. The chick survived to fledge and depart the country on the arduous journey south that all ospreys undertake. The adult breeding pair returned to the loch this year and everything has worked out well so far. The reintroduction of the osprey has been a great success in Scotland and this magnificent bird of prey has now spread to England and Wales. Around 350 pairs are based across the entire island. I entered the small hide and instantly spotted an adult bird on a high branch, the same position we observed on our previous visit. Another birdwatcher was present and he pointed out the two chicks in the nest and another one on a lower part of the tree. This bold youngster had been making a few test flights while the siblings remained in the nest. However, the flapping of wings from the unfledged pair indicated it wouldn't be long until they were airbourne for the first time. I had an excellent view of the activity through my binoculars and then I spotted the other adult returning to the nest with a fish in its talons. The female parent is usually the first to depart, while the male hangs around a little longer, making sure the young birds are able to hunt indendently. Dad then leaves on the perilous migration, followed shortly thereafter by the young, guided purely by instinct. No need from them to ask Siri.
Ospreys spend the winter on the west coast of Africa. They migrate alone and stop at several feeding sites along the way, sometimes for a week or so. There are several potential hazards: exhaustion, habitat loss, persecution and the grisly fate of becoming entangled in fishing nets. I spent a good half hour in the hide, also noting the small birds buzzing around the feeder just outside. Let's hope the ospreys return next year and raise more offspring. Nests sometimes fail but this bird has bucked the trend of declining numbers and is a welcome sight on our large bodies of water. I had also planned to walk the mile and a half circuit around the loch. This allowed me to get a little closer to the tree favoured by the ospreys and I was able to take a few decent photographs, whereas in the hide I'd been right at the limit of my zoom. The path then climbed away from the water, bringing me to another car park before returning to shore level. As I rounded the far end of the loch, I was treated to the rather comical sight of a Highland cow paddling while geese swam by. I already knew the path on the far side occupied the course of the old Perth to Forfar railway but I didn't expect to find the remains of a station. Auldbar Road was a halt on the Arbroath and Forfar Railway, opened as far back as 1838. Part of this line - including Auldbar Road - was absorbed into the trunk route between Perth and Kinnaber Junction near Montrose, the gateway to Aberdeen. This high-speed corridor closed in 1967 but passenger services at Auldbar Road had ceased 11 years earlier. Today the platforms can easily be spotted, covered by a light layer of vegetation. A brick building survives by the road bridge. Beyond stands the station house and signal box which are now privately owned. I had a fun time poking around the station remains before taking the path along the old trackbed, back towards the bird hide.
It may seem hard to believe, but I was walking along the old West Coast Main Line. Nowadays we consider this key route to start at London and end in Glasgow, while the east coast counterpart runs all the way to Aberdeen. But until 1967, you could work your way up the western side of the country as far as Forfar, then on to Kinnaber Junction - the famous meeting point from which one set of tracks proceeded towards the Granite City. Indeed, a well-publicised "race to the north" was conducted between two trains in 1895, with the west emerging victorious. I imagine it was decided in the 1960s that only one route to Aberdeen made sense, but it meant towns such as Forfar were cut off from the national network completely. Axing railways on such a grand scale would be unthinkable today, but they were seen as yesterday's technology in the post-war period and the decaying network needed huge investment to bring it up to modern standards. The prevailing political mood was that some lines had to go. The path was in a shallow cutting which obscured views of the nearby loch. I did however pass reasonably close to the osprey nest and a couple of guys had moved round to this point from the hide. Back at the car, I headed back down the road to collect Nicole. From the M90, we cut across to Dollar where culinary delights awaited. Troy-Ann's Caribbean Kitchen opens on selected days and serves a range of takeaway Jamaican cuisine. I opted for the goat curry while Nicole ordered fried chicken. Being less than half an hour from home, the foil containers kept our food warm and we ate heartily.
Comments