Sunday, July 03, 2016

Ravenglass 29 June



By train to Ravenglass on the NW coast.

From the train Shelduck, Oystercatcher, little  egret and Mute Swan.

Ravenglass has an interesting history. It's sheltered harbour made it the Romans' supply route to the North West frontier of the empire (ie Hadrians Wall). They had a big camp here and the ruins of the baths building still stand, along with the earthworks around the main fortress which, intriguingly, has not been excavated.

The village had a second golden age in the 18th C as a trading/smuggling route to and from Ireland, before the harbour silted up. 

Walking along the estuaries and inland I saw BH, Herring and LBB gulls, curlew, spotted flycatcher,  crow, jackdaw, chaffinch, blue and great tit, house sparrow, dunnock, chiffchaff, swallow, house Martin, meadow pipit, kestrel, buzzard, common tern, goldfinch, grey heron.
25

In Glasgow, Yellow-legged full and wren.