Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Edinburgh Trip–10-12 Sept 2012

A couple of nights in Edinburgh to see a concert, travelled up late Monday so we could make the most of Tuesday.

1-aberlady

Up early for a nice walk at Aberlady Bay nature Reserve.

2-aberlady

Nice and quiet with only one other car in the car park, it can get quite busy here.

3-aberlady

It looks bright and calm but it was blowing a gale and cold and difficult to keep the camera steady. Not easy to take shots of birds but there were plenty of Lapwings and Curlews about.

4-aberlady

I love this walkway!

5-goldfinches

Large flocks of goldfinches feeding on the path and on the thistle heads

6-common-darter

Anywhere that was slightly sheltered from the wind there were dozens of Common Darters..

7-common-darter

I don’t think I have ever seen so many, one even landed on my hat and looked like one of my RSPB badges!

8-berwick-law

Berwick Law in the distance

9-pond

Couldn’t see any life on the pond today..

10-pond

…not even a Moorhen

11-vipers-bugloss

Vipers Bugloss, lots of this about but most of it over with

12-meadow-brown

A tatty Meadow Brown

13-fox-moth-caterpillar

Large Fox Moth caterpillar

14-aberlady-bay

Deserted beach

15-footpath-sign

Footpath through the dunes

16-dunes

Dunes constantly changing…

17-beach

…the sand was really blowing about today

18-log

The beach trying to swallow up a log

19-sand-ripples

Sand ripples

20-sand

 

21 on-the-beach

Pete, Mike and Kirsty…we had the beach to ourselves!

22-beach

Shifting sands

23-sea

Quite choppy out in the Forth, there were meant to be Pilot Whales about but conditions too difficult to see today

24-sanderlings

Sanderlings dodging the waves

25-sanderling

 

26-mushrooms

Mushrooms

27-aberlady-bay

Looking back on the bay from Gullane Point

28-view

View across towards Edinburgh

29-tank-traps

Tank traps…

30-tank-traps

…there are a lot of these along this coast

31-common-darters

More Common Darters seen on the way back

32-aberlady

Back to the car and lots of Mute Swans about, good to gt out of the wind but a great walk!

33-spider

Wildlife in our room (phone for scale!)

Back to the Travelodge for a rest before a meal at The Robins Nest (£2.99 before 5pm!) and a brilliant Marillion concert at The Picture House in Edinburgh.

34-Mennock-pass

Near Leadhills

Off back home the next day, decided to travel back through The Mennock Pass as we had come via The Dalveen Pass.

35-Leadhills

Great bit of countryside, usually Red Grouse about, but none today and a distinct lack of birds of prey, I wonder why!

36-viaduct-sign

Would have loved to have seen this viaduct!

37-mennock-Pass

Stopped at the Mennock Pass for lunch

38-Mennock

 

39-Mennock

 

40-sheep-pen

The musical sheep pen!

You have to go on a windy day to hear it!

41-sheep

Sheltering from the wind

42-sheep-pen

A beautiful spot, but used as a dumping ground by inconsiderate idiots.

43-Mennock

A tiring couple of days, but well worth it!

1 comment:

sandyg said...

Beautiful scenery, great commentary...thank you for sharing your trip. Loved the sanderlings... shore birds don't mind a bit of wind, not if they're hungry! And interested to know if the beach ever succeeds in swallowing that log.