01-Jun-2015 Threave Island

We follow the signs for the osprey viewing and not the House and gardens and found the car park down a little lane, small and seemingly on part of a farm. There are buildings being refurbished supposedly a visitors centre.

The wind was high and it was raining a little. Several swallows’ nests decorate the toilet block and one of the birds narrowly missed hitting me on its way there. We couldn’t hear young though so maybe he was just after flies. Apparently the bad weather has affected the number of swallows this year which is really down on the norm but nevertheless we were excited by the numbers we saw down by the river later.

 The path is well kept between fences and sometimes wall, through field, by marsh and then woodland bespattered with bluebells. We couldn’t see the castle till we were nearly there and then the Tower came into view. Threave Castle belongs to Historic Scotland and sits on a low grassy holm in the River Dee just outside of Castle Douglas.

 

At the jetty there is a bell hanging with which to summon the small ferry boat. We didn’t have to wait long as people were just leaving. The boatman seemed very happy in his job and luckily this bit of the river was protected from the wind making a pleasant crossing. Both he and the lady in the ticket kiosk were very friendly. It was under £4 each for OAPs including the little boat trip.

 

The fourteenth century castle was dark and cold as the wind whistled through the windows, tiny on the vulnerable walls but larger on the boggy side. We entered by wooden steps into the first floor where there would have been a kitchen. The ground floor was a cellar with a well ( in case of siege) (not looking very deep today) and a prison in a dark corner. We looked down into it from above and glimpsed a body, hopefully a dummy though this would be the only “prop” in this atmospheric edifice.

 

There were good views from the large windows. The osprey, which has a nest actually on the island, has been seen catching fish in the river here. It was very dark ascending the spiral staircase to the last surviving level as out of five floors two and the roof are missing, though the walls, in part, remain.

 

Outside are the remains of more fortification. Other buildings present on the site at the time of its heyday are marked by grassy mounds. Only a third of the island’s size today was above water but visitors are denied access to the grassland beyond the fence leading to the nest. Meanwhile on the shore an RSPB volunteer keeps a vigil. We enjoyed looking through her binoculars and telescope after the boat trip back across the Dee and were rewarded with a glimpse of the osprey leaving the nest.

 

We learnt later that the boat was cancelled the next day because of the storms, so we felt lucky. We went out to the hide (Not that for the osprey) on the way back and watched some gulls and ducks but the wind was too high for much. Swallows dipped and dived over the water but the best place to stand was at a gap in the hedge at the fork in the path. As they zoomed past from field to river they missed us by a hairs breadth.

 

The wind blew in earnest across the last stretch of exposed path and the rain came and we were cold and very wet by the time we reached the car. Castle Douglas was a short drive and we had soup for a very late lunch there. We had been driving all morning so we were pleased that our B and B was little more than 10 miles away, in Kircubright.

Here is the link to Bob's Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBl5wgjMHY0