Join us for an afternoon wander around three wildlife and community projects right on Moffat’s doorstep. We will start off with a gentle climb up Gallow Hill, once part of the Earl of Annandale Estate and a 19th-century pleasure ground.
Roe deer are a common sight around the hill and we may be lucky to spot a red squirrel
We walk through a mature beechwood and then a circular route around the developing broadleaf woodland planted by a local community project, offering fine views of surrounding hills. We can look out overhead for buzzard, kestrel or a skein of pink-footed geese – or at our feet for wildflowers, fungus and mosses.
We nip across town and the River Annan to our two adjacent nature reserves. First up is Dyke Farm reserve with its meandering paths through a mix of orchard, broadleaf woodland, ponds and wetland. It was reclaimed by the local wildlife club from a boggy patch of unused farmland.
The neighbouring community nature reserve (once the source of material to help construct the nearby M74) has different but complementary habitats, with a large expanse of open water and meadows fringed by hawthorn.
Across the two reserves, we will see a range of tree species, wildflowers, lichen etc. and likely see cormorant, ducks, geese, heron, a variety of small birds and maybe our ‘star visitors’ – great white and little egret.
We pass the recently installed COVID memorial and end our walk by crossing the fields back to Moffat.
