I am employing supermarket tactics - you know, when you troop along to Aisle 7, halfway down and find not the teabags you were expecting but something completely different which looks very tempting and ends up in your shopping basket? It's just that I've managed to fit in a couple of visits to the Wood of Cree recently and need to let you know what you're missing.
As far as I'm concerned, the Wood of Cree has all the ingredients that a good 'witches' wood should have. There are masses of old, moss covered trees, fast flowing streams and little waterfalls, rocks, beetles, birds, flowers, spirits... It is certainly enchanted; the trees were moving and creeping up behind me, there were voices and music in the babbling burns - you can let your imagination run riot there. Sit near the burn with water rushing over the rocks and look out for a dipper. The sound of the water is so loud that you are closed off from the other parts of the wood and you've entered the dipper's world.
Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
I spent most of my time away from the burn, however, on a path in the middle of the wood, listening out for the recently arrived migrants. As you approach the entrance to the wood the birdsong is very loud: there are blackcaps, garden warblers, willow warblers, mistle thrush, wrens, tits, nuthatches all chiming in with energy, but I was listening out for some of the more unusual spring visitors. I hadn't been there five minutes when I heard a pied flycatcher singing but it took me a little while to find him as he was sitting very still on a lowish branch. Normally I find that they move around a fair bit and aren't too worried about being seen. The smile on my face just kept getting wider when I heard the unmistakable sound of a wood warbler singing - yes, they're back!
I did bump into some other visitors while I was there who said that no, they'd not come to look for birds, they just enjoyed the atmosphere and the spring flowers. The bluebells are still beautiful, but there are many other typical woodland species to be seen here in flower just now.
If you're tempted to visit the Wood of Cree, why not book on the Out of Africa guided walk that's coming up next week. We'll be able to help you spot all the wildlife that's hiding away there. Click here for booking details.