Sunday, May 17, 2009

From Portpatrick to Dunskey Castle 2nd April 2009


A beautiful evening, so we decided on a short trip down to Portpatrick to catch the sunset. We parked in the carpark by the lighthouse and took the steps towards Dunskey.


A rock pipit was seen on the garage roofs below the steps. When we reached the top we stopped on the wooden bridge and watched the gulls, fulmars and shags on the cliffs.


A short walk further on and we could hear the distinctive sound of stonechats and quickly caught site of one nearby. I took a lot of photos but most pretty fuzzy.


We then stopped and took pictures of Dunskey Castle ruins. A beautiful location on the edge of the cliffs and very atmospheric, changing so much depending on the light but looking most eerie in the evening or during inclement weather.
We carried on walking around the edge of the campsite and spotted Oyster catchers and jackdaws in the field feedng. In the scrub we spotted several more pairs of stonechats.
We carried on until we reached the bridge over the Craigoch burn. The evening light on the hillside was reflecting in the water leaving lovely orange patterns. We took several photos then decided to tun back as the light was now fading.

The sky was beginning to colour and the castle had become silhouetted against the orange sky and birds were gathering on the tower.

A few people had walked up just to sit and watch the sun go down, much more satisfying than watching the television!


The light was fading fast and the sunset dissapearing into the mist when we returned down the steps. As we desended, we spotted the Portpatrick lifebout returning to the harbour, which rounded off a lovely evening.


Thursday, May 14, 2009

New article on Squidoo

I have just created my first article (or lens) on Squidoo!