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Hello everyone, Do you love the scream of swifts on warm summer evenings? I find there is nothing that evokes relaxed summer evenings with a cold G&T better, than the sound of their calls over the town. But swifts are in trouble. Fewer are returning to their nest sites and these secret places...

2 Ospreys were seen yesterday near the nest. One sitting on the nest, the other on the ground nearby. There was no interaction seen between them, so obviously not a pair yet..... Could it be the young male from last year? Or perhaps a bird from another pair in the area? Pop down to Wigtown Bay Visitor...

Hello everyone, Spring has finally arrived. The first swallows are swooping through Wigtown and the male osprey EP, is spending every morning at the nest, searching the skies and tidying, hoping a female osprey will take an interest. This weekend is the Wigtown Book Weekend - visit this website...

Great news everyone! Today the town bells in Wigtown rang to welcome back our male (leg ring white EP) to the nest. We'd had reports of an osprey since Sunday, but with the camera not working we could not see what was going on. Camera is fully functional again as of 4pm yesterday and straight away...

After 3 days of no electricity, I was MIGHTY glad when the lights popped back on last night. We even had our first barbeque of the year!! Wasn't the warmest but at least the sun was shining. The wind is still bitterly cold here but that hasn't detered some hardy ospreys returning to the UK. Reports...

It's with baited breath that I go into the Visitor Centre these days. Any day now an osprey could appear on the nest. Already there has been an osprey sighted at Annan. Could this be the Caerlaverock birds returning? We will just have to wait and see. 3 other opsreys have been seen further south...

It is with great sadness that I write to say that Mr Bill Campbell, one of our first volunteers in the Wigtown Bay Visitor Centre, sadly lost his battle with cancer on the 3rd January, at Dumfries hospital, with his family at his side. Bill started as a visitor interpretation volunteer in July 2011...

Just wanted to extend our best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2013. The next guided walk at the Crook of Baldoon is on Sunday 13th January - a perfect reason to walk off some of the Christmas excess and see what's around at the busiest time of year for wildfowl on the Crook. Peak numbners...

T The 12th of the 12th 2012 was an auspicious day not only for the couples getting married at the other end of the county at Gretna Green. We at Wigtown had our Volunteer Christmas party for the Crook of Baldoon reserve, Wigtown Bay Visitor Centre and the other Galloway Reserves. We had a great...

What a beautiful day! A crisp blue sky, long fingers of frost on the grass and large mounds of ice over the lower reaches of the merse and chunks floating out to sea on the tide. I would never have believed it was cold enough last night for ice in the sea at midday but there it was glistening in the...

If you go down to the Crook of Baldoon this week, take a close look at the ruins of old Baldoon Castle, on the road to Baldoon Mains farm. There you might see the lonely ghost of Janet Dalrymple wandering the grounds of the ruin in the early hours, her nightdress splattered with blood. She is said to...

Hello everyone, Below are details of a few extra events that I'll be running for families in the Wigtown Bay Visitor Centre during the holidays. So if you're looking for a way to keep the children occupied drop in to the County Buildings for some fun and games. What's for Dinner - Owl...

Wigtown in Bloom was this year's Winner of the Scottish Natural Heritage Biodiversity Award 2012 , sponsored by SNH and Beautiful Scotland (part of Keep Scotland Beautiful) It is wonderful to get recognition for the work of the community, RSPB and D&G Council Ranger service in keeping Wigtown...

Winter is coming the first 17 Pale Bellied Brents seen today on the southern half of the Crook and around 400 golden plover and tonight two sceens of geese went south east very high, suprisingly we still have swallows feeding as well. this has been a very strange year.

After the excitment of last Tuesday, we have not seen any sign of HJ or indeed EP visiting the nest. The local ravens have been regularly hanging about the nest, and have taken to removing all the twigs that were brought in by the ospreys last week. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed for...

Turns out blue HJ is a very young male bird. He was ringed at Caerlaverock in 2010 as a chick, so he is only 2 years old. Most ospreys don't return to the UK until they are 3 years old, but they have been known to return early to look for mates and suitable nest sites. So HJ is clearly hoping to...

EP our male from previous years, that has been hanging about in the area has just turned up on the nest. HJ didn't seem upset by this, so maybe he's a she?? A raven is flying around too. All go today!!

SUPER EXCITING NEWS!!! This morning we have an Osprey sitting on the nest!!! Blue HJ is the leg ring and it may be a male as there a few fresh twigs on top of the nest. He's a beautiful bird sitting having a good preen on the branches above the nest. Here's hoping he likes the look of the...

Have completed the WeBs count for wetland birds in July on todays high tide. A couple of note are the Bartail Godwits and Golden Plovers a 176 Curlew and the two types of Tern Cormorant 8 Grey Heron 4 Shelduck 8 ...

The Crook is a special place and most of the time it looks very ordinary but at certain times and conditions it is magical. I was closing down the moth trap on Saturday and looked up and saw this beautiful sight with the Curlew and Redshank calling and a slight mist rising the worries of the world...

Well Friday night and Saturday morning proved most worth while lots of Pipistrelle bats and some interesting moths the cold weather did not help the flight of moths and should imagine that the bats did not do as well as they might in this unseasonal weather. Actually saw bats in day light on the way...

Today we held our 2nd Remarkable Raptor days in Wigtown County buildings. These family events are running every week on Tuesdays - your chance to find out about our local raptors and for the kids to have some fun with arts and crafts. Today, children made their own prints with finger paints or made osprey...

Your chance to get the inside story on two of our local reserves, Wood of Cree and Crook of Baldoon. Join Paul Tarling on a guided walk about Woodland Pasture at Wood of Cree from 10 till 12; followed by a Walk on the Wild Side exploring the Crook of Baldoon from 2 till 4. Phone Paul on 01988 402130...

Next Saturday will see the start of Wigtown Community Festival - a buzzing week of activities for the local community. As part of Games in the Garden on Saturday 7th, local children will have the opportunity to help local insect populations by building a bug hotel. It is hoped that the hotel will find...

Apart from occasional views of an Osprey down on the Crook, our most regular bird of prey in the area is a Peregrine Falcon. Over the last few weeks we've been lucky enough to have regular views of the peregrine sitting on the bell tower gargoyles of the County buildings in Wigtown. This bird has...