As promised a series of somewhat belated postings giving the details of a week spent on the Solway Firth. In many respects it was a "memory lane" holiday given the number of winter breaks spent there in past years. There have been changes admittedly, but birdwatching facilities are much better than ever with a whole succession of new reserves in place.
May I mention the recent appearance of an absolutely stunning guide to the area. Published by the Buckingham Press "The Solway", written by John Miles, details the best birdwatching sites on both sides of the Solway Firth and is an indispensable aid to making a visit to the area. The details are concise and directions and likely sightings are precise and realistic. It enhanced the week and led to visits to areas I'd never encountered before when, somewhat immodestly, I thought I knew the best sites!!
The departure, nor the journey southwards, was encouraging with snow falling as I left home at 0530 hours to catch the early ferry. This mainly continued as sleet all the way to Dumfries, other than the Rest and Be Thankful Pass, near Arrochar, which was being kept open by a snow plough tooing and froing up and down each side! Given the conditions birds were virtually absent and, after meeting up with Matthew and Rose, we concentrated on getting all the necessary unpacking, shopping and such like out of the way in the hope the weather would improve.
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