St Abb's Head
We took a short journey down the Berwickshire coastline today, to St Abb's Head National Nature Reserve.
The weather was overcast with a light drizzle but no wind. Ignore the rain which appears on the lens in some of the photos!
If you look really hard, you'll see Guillemots!
Once we'd arrived and parked the car at the visitor's centre, we decided to take the Discovery Trail which is 2 miles long. We could have walked the Lighthouse Loop as well (an additional mile), but we didn't want to exhaust Birdboy too much!
Noted along the trail: Guillemot, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Shag, Herring Gull, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. And still along the trail, but more inland: Chiffchaff, Robin, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Mallard and Tufted Duck (on Mire Loch), and calling and hooting male & female Tawny Owl.
Further along the trail, north of the lighthouse, Gannet, Razorbill and a small number of Puffin can be observed - a lack of suitable nesting sites means only a dozen or so pairs of Puffin breed there - but as we didn't walk that route today, they'll have to wait for another day.
In an area known as Kirk Hill, part of the land has been sealed off to stop the sheep grazing, which allows the wild flowers to establish themselves and provide a suitable habitat for butterflies - and in particular the Northern Brown Argus. And the best time to find those is June and July!
I called in at the over-priced gift shop (£12.50 for one mug???) and accidently trod mud all over their pink carpet. Stupid place to have a pink carpet, if you ask me :o) And we just had time to squeeze in tea and scones before driving back home. How civillized!
Noted along the trail: Guillemot, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Shag, Herring Gull, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. And still along the trail, but more inland: Chiffchaff, Robin, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Mallard and Tufted Duck (on Mire Loch), and calling and hooting male & female Tawny Owl.
Further along the trail, north of the lighthouse, Gannet, Razorbill and a small number of Puffin can be observed - a lack of suitable nesting sites means only a dozen or so pairs of Puffin breed there - but as we didn't walk that route today, they'll have to wait for another day.
In an area known as Kirk Hill, part of the land has been sealed off to stop the sheep grazing, which allows the wild flowers to establish themselves and provide a suitable habitat for butterflies - and in particular the Northern Brown Argus. And the best time to find those is June and July!
I called in at the over-priced gift shop (£12.50 for one mug???) and accidently trod mud all over their pink carpet. Stupid place to have a pink carpet, if you ask me :o) And we just had time to squeeze in tea and scones before driving back home. How civillized!
The weather was overcast with a light drizzle but no wind. Ignore the rain which appears on the lens in some of the photos!
Looking towards St Abb's village
If you look really hard, you'll see Guillemots!
Mire Loch
posted by The Bird Woman at 9:15 PM
5 Comments:
The sea looks very calm. Were there any divers (human) in the water? We're thinking about a dive just there very soon! You know, I've never seen a puffin!
There were lots of divers, Peggy! We saw at least four boats full of people with diving equipment.
drool, the scenery is gorgeous
Gorgeous scenery, one or two of them remind me of the Cornish coast.
Jan
lovely colours - especially the photo above the heading 'Mire Loch'
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