Galloway Forest Park

Despite living just five miles from the south-eastern boundary of Galloway Forest Park, we’ve only seen the tiniest slither of this huge open space, namely Cally Woods. On Tuesday we rectified this by heading for the hills to take part in a Red Deer talk at the Red Deer Range near Clatteringshaws Loch. The talk was free and part of the Dumfries and Galloway Wild Spring festival. We saw seven red deer, mostly hinds but a couple of skittish young bucks were around too. At this time of year they are not very red and the stags were still in their winter feeding grounds. It was great to learn more about this native species and also about another deer we’re more familiar with – the roes we see in our garden and field!

After walking back to the car past some lovely wood anenomes, we headed for Kirroughtree, only pausing to admire the mountain goats and for a quick walk to the Grey Mare’s Tail fountain. The kids loved having a scramble over the mossy banks and the fountain was sparkling in the spring sunshine.

The new visitor centre at Kirroughtree was perfect for lunch and afterwards the kids spent a good hour in the play park before we headed home for a teatime barbecue. The first barbecue of the year is always a great event and although the wind was a little chilly, hovering by the flames or sitting on the freshly mown grass in the sun was perfect. After all that sunshine and gadding about, the kids were pretty tired but I think their favourite part of the day was actually just mucking about playing an elaborate Narnia-style game on the lawn!

Cousins!

Iris and Arthur’s cousins are visiting this week, something they have been looking forward to for ages. We were spoilt with the weather today so have spent all day outdoors tiring them all out. This morning was mainly spent in the garden with Mum and I planting up part of the border with Kester while the others went into the field and rigged up a tyre swing using a tyre and some rope we picked up during the beach litter pick last week. I didn’t get chance to take pictures of that but in the afternoon we headed to the beach.

As you can tell from the photos, Iris and Ellie have been near inseparable since Ellie and Jack arrived yesterday. In fact, I don’t think they have stopped talking except for the odd break to eat!

Jack and Arthur have slightly less in common, although they discovered a shared fascination with rock pools this afternoon. Jack had great fun climbing the ruins and looking for anenomes and starfish, while the girls paddled, drew on the sand and played in the tent. We also gave the kite an airing and then popped into Cream O Galloway for an ice cream. Tomorrow’s plans include red deer spotting and a trip to Kirroughtree.

Finally, I wanted to show off this photo which Jack took of the starfish he and his Granddad found under a rock. Very cool and tiny too!