Thursday 10 February 2022

Catkins and Snowdrops on The Annandale Way


Today my walk with Mike took us to Annan for a walk on the Annandale Way up one side of the river to Brydekirk and then back down the opposite side. We soon arrived at the spot where the first of 2 pedestrian bridges were washed away in the November floods.


The broken bridges still lie in the river, hidden from view today but the townsfolk hope they will eventually be replaced

Further up river is the second bridge.

As on all walks with Mike I learn a lot about the Flora we meet on our walk. Today we passed loads of Catkins of various varieties. The flowers are not out yet and the pollen is not quite ready to do it’s job.


The river Annan from the bridge in the town.

The Coll just up from Annan. This photo was taken on the way back from the opposite bank. There were 5     Goosanders fishing just below the Coll so there must have been plenty of small fish about. 
A Male Goosander
A Female Goosander
The 2 of them together. There were another 3 fishing but getting them all together in the same camera shot was impossible.

Further along the river on the way back we came upon this great hole in the bank where a tree had been.
And this was the tree. A huge Oak blown down by the November gale.
There were loads of Snowdrops about and Mike spotted a very special group of them.
This is a double Snowdrop and it really has a beautiful head that you don't notice until you look under it.
Near Brydekirk there is a small hut beside the river and a wire that stretches to the other bank. I have seen the same thing on the Esk near Canonbie. When we were returning on the opposite bank we saw this guy working with a devise that was obviously going to be swung across the river in the water. We waited for ages to see what he was doing but he was in no hurry so we went on our way. We think it is a way to test water samples but we remain still a bit unsure. 



1 comment:

tootlepedal said...

Good goosander pictures

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