Latest sightings
Wetland Word of the Week 9
This week's wetland word is...soggy meaning wet and soft. It comes from an old English dialect word, 'sog' meaning swamp or an obsolete verb meaning to become soaked. Either way, when it rains here at Caerlaverock, wellies are definitely needed to avoid g
29 April 2024
Finally it feels like spring!
As we near the end of April, we are finally feeling the spring weather! It is getting warmer here and the sky stays blue for more than a few hours. There is even warmth when the sun goes behind the clouds.The Peter Scott Trail is alive with birdsong: the
28 April 2024
Reminiscent Reflections
As I wander out onto our wild side meadow trail, I have mixed emotions and reflect on my time working here. Passing the now vacant Whooper Pond, where we fed the swans and I saw my first wild otters, I continue along the path. It follows the Back Pond,
28 April 2024
Spring explosion on the Peter Scott Trail: The Wilder, Wetter Caerlaverock Diaries no.2
Working on The Wilder, Wetter Caerlaverock project can be varied at times. Sometimes I’m working large amounts of the site all day to prepare future project work. Other times I’m sat at my desk working on maps, contracts and other admin based work. It
25 April 2024
Wetland Word of the Week 8
This week's word is... ... fen. A fen is the kind of wetland that is characterised by having alkaline or neutral water and peaty soil. They have lots of dissolved minerals. What we know as 'the Fens', an area of East Anglia, has largely been drained for a
22 April 2024
Holy moly, it's holy grass!
You may be asking “why are you so excited about a kind of grass?” but as the name says, holy grass is pretty special. Found across Eurasia and the Americas, Hierochloe odorata, or holy grass as it is known in the UK, is a marshland species, particul
19 April 2024
What has Hippocrates got to do with Caerlaverock?
Although I work at a nature reserve, as a member of the visitor centre team, I find myself spending most of my time indoors in the office. My main daily interactions with nature are watering the office plants and gazing out the windows at the trees and bi
17 April 2024
Wetland Word of the Week 7
This week's word is...scurvy grass. It is a plant found out on our saltmarsh. They are low and creeping plants with white flowers. It has a high Vitamin C content meaning it used to be valued for its help in preventing scurvy, which is where it gets its c
15 April 2024
Goosey Goosey Gander, a review
Murder in the marshes! No – not a marsh harrier catching its dinner but a conservationist shot on the edge of the River Severn. Is nobody safe?Goosey Goosey Gander by Frank Edwards is set on a wetland reserve not far from WWT Slimbridge and has illustra
13 April 2024
Goodbye to the geese
The last weekend of March was jam-packed with events centred around saying goodbye to one of our favourite winter migrants, the beloved barnacle geese. The weekend started with a dusk Wardlaw walk, where lots of geese were seen flying into roost, despite
10 April 2024
Wetland Word of the Week 6
Our 6th wetland word is... ... petrichor meaning the pleasant scent that occurs when it rains on dry ground. I don't know about you but for me, it evokes the feeling of a summer sky, pregnant with heavy clouds when suddenly a drop at a time, the downpour
8 April 2024
Seasonal Sights
With a fresh spring breeze in the air, I head towards Sharp's Lookout to try and get a glimpse of the black tailed godwit in breeding plumage that has been showing well recently on the Folly Pond. Binoculars up, scanning the horizon with sunlight sparklin
6 April 2024
A spring walk
A wren calls from somewhere, as yet unseen. It seems to be yelling at me to pay attention and I eventually spot it, on a little branch shouting with all its tiny might. A loud voice for one so small.Then there is the drone of a bee, a queen most likely. S
4 April 2024
Wetland Word of the Week 5
For week 5, the wetland word is our name... Caerlaverock. It is the name of our reserve, the neighbouring NNR, a local castle and the parish we are all in. The word comes from 'caer' meaning castle and 'laverock' meaning skylark. We love knowing the origi
1 April 2024
A clattering of jackdaws
As part of Words for Weltands, our team have been turning their hand to nature writing in whatever form that takes. So in the spirit of that, here is a poem about jackdaws.One voice followed by another followed by dozens.Shouting, yelling, cawing.Look up
31 March 2024