A Visit to Eskrigg

As it was half term school holidays I had arranged with Rick Taylor to take Hannah onto the Langholm Moor. Unfortunately the weather was not suitable for going up onto the Moor but we did visit the Moorland Feeding Station. There was loads of birds about including 2 Woodpeckers and Hannah was given a lesson in identifying them. We then headed to Eskrigg at Lockerbie to see Red Squirrels 

We knew there were Red Squirrels about as we soon came upon footprints in the snow. The footprints at the bottom of the picture are actually the Squirrels front feet 

We had a load of peanuts to give them and they soon came to us from all directions 

Despite the weather it was much better outside the hide and we watched them for about an hour.

Rick took the following three photographs 

A most enjoyable morning and we finished it off in style with pancakes back at Birkwood

The Red Squirrels of Eskrigg

John was delighted that this village was named after him. This weeks Wednesday walk took us to Lockerbie as I had to drop Gaye off at Lockerbie Station for a trip to Glasgow to see The Streamie. She was in this play at Langholm Music & Arts Festival in 1998 and she loved every minute of it during that summer of rehearsals. It was such a success they went to Annan for a performance as well in front of 400 people. We all met up at Lockerbie Station for a 6 mile circular walk that took in Eskrigg Nature Reserve.  

When we arrived at Eskrigg we had hardly time to sit down in  the Hide before the Red Squirrels arrived and in no time at all we were watching 6 of them.

This one had a very black bushy tail 

Just as I started to take photographs my camera battery packed in so these are all from my I Phone which has not got as good a zoom as the camera.  

They moved so fast it was difficult to get a clear photo. 

Great entertainment for 20 minutes and then we moved on. 

The route back to Lockerbie was extremely muddy. We ended our walk with Lunch in the Kings Arms Hotel.

Loads of Red Squirrels at Eskrigg

There was just 3 of us today and the original intention was to do a walk at Eskdalemuir but the weather forecast for there was not good (Mist) so we decided to go to Eskrigg near Lockerbie and combine a walk with a visit to the Red Squirrels

Within seconds of us arriving at the hide there were several Red Squirrels darting about plus loads of birds on the feeders including a Nuthatch and various Tits. 

This was the closest we got to the Red Squirrel

On the way back to Lockerbie we walked along Sherwood Crescent where in 1988 Pan Am 103 crashed.