The Spoonbill

We first took an interest in birdwatching around four years ago and have since logged a substantial number of different sightings. Of course you reach the point where new spots become fewer and further between. Increased travel is required to tick a few more species off the list. My sister emphasises that she is not a "twitcher" and driving many miles with the sole intention of seeing a particular bird is a definite no-no. She says you should only ever observe what happens to be around you. Nicole and I fall somewhere between the two schools of thought. We sometimes go to more out-of-the-way places where we know there is a fair chance of seeing an unusual bird, but we haven't taken this to silly extremes. That said, I had long (and only half) joked that all bets are off if the presence of a spoonbill is announced. If that equates to Cornwall here I come, then so be it. As it turned out, a far less arduous expedition was launched. Word came in that a spoonbill had been feeding at the tidal Montrose Basin on the Angus coast over the last few days. Game on!

The Scottish Wildlife Trust have a Visitors Centre at Montrose Basin - an enclosed estuary of the River South Esk offering 750 hectares of mudflats during low tide. Naturally, this attracts a wide variety of birds who come to feed and roost. We had been up there a couple of times before and as Trust members there is no admission fee to pay. Visitors can use the provided scopes to scan the surrounding area and there is also an informative exhibition about the history of the local landscape and the aims of the Wildlife Trust. Snacks can be purchased from the shop and it's easily possible to spend a few hours here. Today's visit entailed pre-booking a timeslot and we arrived at the appointed hour. There are always assistants on hand to answer questions about the reserve and tell you about recent sightings. The elevated glass-fronted viewing window looks out across the basin and wading birds are a common sight, along with ducks. A small garden in front of the visitors centre has feeding stations set up. Out on the mudflats we observed lapwing, redshank and eider ducks, while the bird tables below our noses were busy with sparrows and goldfinch. One of the guides informed us the spoonbill was still around and had been sighted further round the fringes of the estuary. We knew how to get to this point and access the waterside path. After a few purchases at the reserve shop, we jumped in the car and headed towards a small parking area just off the road to Bridge of Dun. We immediately encountered several eider ducks close to the shore, the males making their distinctive cooing noise as they floated upon the waters of the South Esk. A true sea duck, the eider is rarely found far from coastal regions where it feeds on molluscs. Weighing between two and three kilograms, it is Britain's heaviest duck and also the fastest flying. Over on the exposed mudflats, a great number of geese and assorted water birds were gathered. Suddenly Nicole exclaimed "there it is" and I tried to train my binoculars on the same path as hers. A solitary spoonbill was strutting around among the geese, busily foraging for food. The clue is in the name - the large spatula of a bill swishes back and forth in the water, scooping up crustaceans, worms, small fish, tadpoles and frogs. I observed the bird through my binoculars and managed to take a passable photo at maximum zoom.

Nicole and I high-fived each other. We had finally found this elusive relative of the egret and it was marvellous to watch. A trip to distant shores hadn't been required. Although the spoonbill is seldom seen in Scotland and only small, recently established and isolated breeding colonies exist down south, it was actually fairly widespread across Britain in medieval times. I'm not entirely sure why it largely disappeared. Most likely it was hunted as a game bird. Let's hope we see more of them in future years. Now that I've achieved my ultimate spot, what is the next most desirable bird to tick off? I'd probably say the colourful bee eater, another rare visitor to the UK. The chough is also on my hit list. Basically a crow with red legs and beak, they can be seen on rocky western coastlines. We almost certainly saw choughs on a trip to Anglesey around 6 years ago. They are known to inhabit the cliffs by the lighthouse we visited but this was before our fascination with birds began. We moved on from Montrose Basin, the day already a memorable one. Anything else would be a bonus. The next destination was Balgavies Loch on the way to Forfar. I made a brief stop at Bridge of Dun Heritage Railway. No trains were running due to continuing Covid restrictions but I had a look at the rolling stock from the car park. The line connects to Brechin where a fine station building remains intact. Passenger services ceased as far back as 1952 but a freight link was retained until 1981. The heritage railway initially operated within the station limits at Brechin but permission was granted in 1993 to extend to Bridge of Dun - a journey of 4 miles. The original branch ran on to a junction near Montrose but some of this trackbed has been built on and it's therefore highly unlikely that heritage trains will proceed any further along the old route. I visited the railway with my dad around 10 years ago and must make the effort to return once it's up and running again. As we continued the drive, I noticed a lot of abandoned railway infrastructure in the surrounding area. Angus was certainly hit hard by the Beeching cuts and the only survivor today is the coastal stretch from Dundee to Montrose on the the East Coast Main Line. County town Forfar was connected to Dundee, Brechin and Arbroath. A forgotten jewel in the crown is the high-speed Perth to Aberdeen Caledonian Railway which raced through Angus. This service was jettisoned after being deemed to "duplicate" the coastal route. Not if you live in Forfar it doesn't!

We parked at Balgavies Loch and made our way towards the small bird hide. Long recognised as an important site for wildlife, this inland loch is surrounded by reedbeds and willow carr, attracting water rail, great crested grebe and a number of wintering wildfowl, including goldeneye, teal and wigeon. The reserve is a haven for red squirrels and there is an osprey nest high up in the trees. We observed this magnificent fish-catcher through binoculars and saw a variety of smaller birds in the bushes between the hide and the loch. Today was all about travelling by car but I'd like to return sometime and do a circuit of Balgavies on foot (did someone mention an old railway skirting the northern shore?). The Forfar town loch is another possibility for combining wildlife and wandering. As we drove right through the middle of Forfar, it struck me that I had been here many times for the football but had never properly looked around the town centre. Actually I did take a bus up here from Dundee in my student days but just headed straight for the match at the fabled Station Park - which hasn't seen a train since 1967 and never will again. We took the road to Kirriemuir and again I spotted a disused embankment. This branch line was dismantled in 1965, having closed to passengers in 1952. We were bound for the Loch of Kinnordy Nature Reserve, about a mile outside the town. We had been up here before and had enjoyed a stroll around the centre of Kirriemuir, where I sought out the statues of its two most famous sons. The horn-blowing figure of Peter Pan commemorates the birthplace of author JM Barrie. The story of the little boy who never grew up and had the ability to fly continues to enchant readers to this day and Peter's adventures in Neverland have featured in several films. His creator died in 1937 at the age of 77 and now rests in the town cemetery beside his parents. It is thought Barrie based the concept of Peter Pan upon his brother who died in an accident aged 14 and remained a boy in the eyes of his mother and father. Barrie's childhood home is now a museum in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and is somewhere I'd like to visit, along with the Gateway to the Glens Museum.

Sadly, another legendary Kirrie boy did not achieve anything like the lifespan of Peter Pan nor indeed his inventor. Ronald Belford Scott - known as Bon - left his home country for Australia at the age of six. After an adolescence that included several brushes with the law, Bon Scott became a fixture on the Australian pop (and later rock) circuit, fronting a number of bands - one of whom, Fraternity, had a crack at the overseas market - and experiencing varying degrees of success. He supported himself by working a lengthy series of jobs until his big breakthrough arrived in the mid-70s. Bon had joined AC/DC, a hard-rocking outfit controlled by the guitar-playing Young brothers Malcolm and Angus. They too had emigrated from Scotland to Australia and older sibling George had achieved international success with the Easybeats before settling down in the producer's chair for the early AC/DC albums. By the time the 7th release Highway to Hell rolled around, the band were firmly established as a popular act in Europe and were now making a big noise in America. World domination seem assured however things were not well with Bon. His drinking had escalated to the point where it began to dog his onstage performances and indeed he looked older than his 33 years in final photographs. Bon Scott was found dead inside a car during the winter of 1980. He had been left there to sleep off a heavy session the night before but has succumbed to alcohol poisoning - as stated on his death certificate. That was the sole accepted version of events for many years. Bon was indeed an alcoholic and over-indulgence certainly played a major role in his demise. However British-Australian journalist author Jesse Fink (who wrote a biography of the Young brothers and their vice-like grip on AC/DC) kept picking away at the events leading up to Bon's death and presented his findings in Bon Scott - The Last Highway. Heroin use - most likely dabbling rather than any addiction issues - was revealed as the root cause of the tragedy. Now that may seem like sensational accusations made against a man no longer around to defend himself but Fink's evidence is compelling. The characters Bon hung around with were no strangers to smack and Fink managed to track down almost everyone who had spent time with Bon over those last few fateful weeks. The book firmly concludes that heroin killed the frontman. It probably didn't require a huge dose given Bon's relative inexperience with the drug and huge levels of alcohol already in his system. His death is unfortunately mired in the brown stuff.

None of which should detract too much from what Bon achieved during his glory spell with AC/DC. The band went on to enjoy monster stadium success and are still operating at that level today. Englishman Brian Johnson took over the vocal duties and Malcolm Young unfortunately passed away from dementia complications in 2017. I've long been a fan of Bon's lyrical shrewdness, always delivered with a nod and a wink. I'm often sceptical of the term "street poet" but his earthy tales ring true. Up at the nature reserve, it was mainly swans on the loch but I did get a cracking photo of one being buzzed by a gull. We had covered a lot of ground on our mini tour of Angus and I'll never forget my first spoonbill encounter. A refreshment stop at Starbucks on the way home would normally be a routine matter but it was our first time in a coffee shop for quite some time. We savoured the moment.

Alva Branch Railway

A new addition to the Scottish Rail Network in 2008 was the reconnection of Alloa to Stirling. I travelled on this line not long after the re-opening and have since gone all the way from Alloa to Glasgow on a couple of occasions. The service is now firmly established and reports suggest an imminent extension eastwards to Clackmannan and the proposed Talgo train factory at Kincardine. The route originally ran all the way to Dunfermline but passenger services were withdrawn in 1968 and freight reduced in stages until stubs remained at either end. A little-known branch once served the Clackmannanshire town of Alva and this left the main line at Cambus. Closure to passengers was announced in 1954 but a freight connection to the Glenochil Distillery and yeast plant near Menstrie ran until the late 1980s. This trackbed now forms a pleasant flat walk with the Ochil Hills looming high.

Cambus is a small village with an excellent tea room. The River Devon is a tributary of the Forth and the two watercourses join here. Also in the vicinity is a huge bonded warehouse complex and cooperage. A nice riverside trail follows the Forth back to Alloa and you can also wander down to the Cambus pools which are a haven for birds. The trees around the cooperage are all stained black due to vapours emitted from the whisky barrels. This apparently causes a fungal growth on the tree bark and the phenomenon can also be observed at many rural distilleries - the angel's share leaving traces on the landscape. A quarter of a million casks are serviced at Cambus every year and the aroma of wood and liquor is palpable as you stroll along the path beside the boundary fence. The Diageo bottled drinks complex is massive and contains a staggering nine miles of roadway within. There are storage facilities for four million casks of whisky - approximately one fifth of all the Scotch maturing in the world right now. We followed the River Devon and passed by an elegantly arched iron bridge which has been restored but is currently fenced off. One of the oldest examples of its kind in Scotland, the bridge dates from the early 19th century and is now an A-listed monument. It was built to carry horse-drawn traffic across the river and a busy distillery was in operation here long before Diageo moved in. Eventually the slender crossing became redundant and fell into decay. A restoration programme was launched in 1997 and one hopes the ancient bridge will be open to the public at some point in the future. We spotted a swan sitting on its riverside nest and it didn't seem too perturbed as we crept by. They may be extremely common birds but it's magnificent to witness them in flight. We continued along the bank then dipped below the bridge carrying the Alloa to Stirling railway over the river. At this point we picked up the trackbed of the branch line and diverged from the Devon. A straight course stretched ahead of us and the surrounding landscape was as flat as the proverbial pancake, with the bluff facade of the Ochil Hills rising to the north.

A partially ruined dovecote stood lineside and made for an atmospheric photo. As part of my Postcrossing project, I received a message from a French lady asking if I could forward her some pictures of Scottish dovecots. I'll be sure to include this one. The path passed under the A907 and I made a little detour to check out the historic Tullibody Old Bridge that carried the original course of the road over the Devon. Constructed in the early 1500s, this crossing fell out of use in 1915 as it was deemed inadequate to cope with the emergence of motorised transport. It was repurposed as part of a public footpath in 2003 and also allows cyclists to stay off the modern highway. Back on the trackbed, a gentle curve appeared and we crossed the river on the original steel bridge. I also noticed the remains of a level crossing for agricultural vehicles, along with a fading sign warning of the penalties for trespassing on the railway! Obviously this didn't apply today but it's worth bearing in mind that the "right to roam" never extends to a working line. British Transport Police can - an do - prosecute, even on stretches of iron road that see little use. A family of mallard ducklings were out for a swim and I managed to grab a few nice photos. Unbelievably cute! As we swung towards Menstrie, we left the railway path and wandered into the village centre. The trail does actually continue towards Alva but a Diageo plant straddles the trackbed, necessitating a detour along the A91 pavement. Menstrie Castle on the lower slopes of the Ochils had been clearly visible during our walk. A three-storey manor house, it was the early 17th century home to Sir William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, who was instrumental in founding the colony of Nova Scotia. The castle had fallen into a severe state of disrepair by the middle of the 20th century. Fortunately it hung on until the implementation of the Listed Building legislation, whereupon it was designated Category A. Four flats now occupy the premises and the National Trust looks after the building, granting limited public access. In the village centre, I liked the Fox Boy sculpture in Midtown Gardens. Erected in 2008, the figure depicts a young lad with a fox's head sitting on a water wheel. Representing both past and modern life, the boy is dressed in contemporary style complete with trainers and hoodie, while the fox head and tail tell two stories - there are wild foxes around us in the countryside, but in days gone by the village children also kept the animals as pets. Included in the sculpture is a buzzard symbolising the pair who inhabit the local woods. Under the boy's right hand is a maple leaf - a comment on Menstrie's connection with Nova Scotia - now a Canadian Province.

There are some great walks up and down the steep Ochil Glens, Menstrie being one of them. Such exertion wasn't on the agenda today and we began the return amble to Cambus. The path was busy with walkers and the smooth level tarmac surface ensures people of all abilities can enjoy the experience. This does come at an expense to wildlife though, as overgrown abandoned railways often harbour all sorts of creatures in both urban and rural settings. The more you clean up these forgotten transport arteries, the less wildlife will survive. It's a balancing act between the physical and mental wellbeing of humans and a desire to protect flora and fauna which faces ever decreasing space in which to flourish. The butterflies were out in force today however. I saw many examples of the orange-tipped species, the pattern under the wings being spectacular. The old papillon isn't easy to photograph. A great deal of patience is required - along with a healthy dose of luck! A very pleasant outing across the Great Plains of Clackmannanshire. Fresh air, winged creatures and tales of trains. Excellent ingredients!

Korean War Memorial

I'll often say I was motivated to visit a certain location by spotting it on Google Maps. In this case I had randomly been scrolling across West Lothian literally the night before, looking for a destination of interest for the following morning. My eye dropped south of Linlithgow and the phrase "Korean War Memorial" stood out. I had no knowledge of such a place anywhere in Scotland, let alone just half an hour's drive from my home. Furthermore, the site backed on to the Bathgate Hills - a range I wasn't familiar with either. To this end, I decided to head across and see what I could find. Google Street View showed a large lay-by next to the memorial for parking purposes and I pulled up here and entered through the gate.

The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953 and remains something of an unknown quantity. The remote location and the fact the outbreak occurred in the aftermath of WW2 probably explains why comparatively little is known about the bloody conflict among the general public today. 1113 UK military personnel lost their lives in Korea and many National Service recruits fought alongside seasoned professional soldiers. The overall death toll is estimated to be around three million war fatalities plus a higher rate of civilian casualties than WW2 or Vietnam, which bookended the Korean War. Virtually all of the cities on the peninsula were destroyed and the political aftermath was the creation of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which divides the vastly differing political regimes of North and South Korea today. Despite Donald Trump and "Rocket Man" weirdly dancing across the border, there appears to be no serious prospect of a reconciliation. The memorial is dedicated to all UK soldiers who died and is the only one of its kind. The quiet location on an obscure back road is somehow poignantly apposite. The site is entered via a set of elaborate wrought iron gates and a footpath leads to a pagoda which has the names of the fallen inscribed upon its walls. The pagoda is set between earth mounds which - when seen from above - represent the Yin and Yang symbols on the Korean flag. The mounds are planted with 110 Korean firs - one for every ten British servicemen killed, while the wider landscape has been planted with 1100 native Scottish trees. I sat on one of the benches and took a few minutes to reflect upon the futility of the whole conflict and war in general. My great grandfather John Fraser was killed in WW1 at the age of 40. His five young children - my grandfather included - grew up in poverty and had to cut short their education in order to find work. One small example among many, but a reminder that we should never seek to romanticise life on the front line.

Immediately behind the memorial stands a small hill called Witch Craig. I followed the path up to the summit and this opened up fantastic views of the Lothians, Stirlingshire and Fife. The main body of water visible in the middle distance was Lochcote Reservoir. The Bathgate Hills barely top 1000 feet but an accessible climb is often all you need in order to unlock a sweeping panorama of the countryside around you. I rested at a stone monument known as Witch Craig Wall. Built in the form of an enclosure, the structure reflects the agricultural heritage of the area with its circular sheep fanks and many dry stone dykes. The wall incorporates 43 separate rock specimens from nearby locations and thus illustrates the geodiversity of the local area. I didn't have time to perform a circular walk today and I descended Witch Craig by a different route and made my way back to the car. I paused at Beescraig Country Park on the way home. It must be a popular spot as the main car-park was full and I had to use the overflow facility. Various walking trails are available here and there is also a small loch. I made a mental note to return on a quieter day. Just outside Linlithgow is Donaldson's School for deaf children. The modern purpose-built facility opened in 2008 and replaced the grand castellated mansion in the centre of Edinburgh - now being converted to luxury apartments. The original building was funded by the estate of printer and bookseller James Donaldson. From 1856 onwards, it served as an educational centre for the hard of hearing. The outbreak of WW2 saw the old Donaldson's School serve as POW camp for captured German and Italian troops. Links to the period that changed everyone's life forever can be found all over the place. You have to dig a little deeper to unearth connections to the Korean War.