brush with a hare

Remember remember, the 9th of November.
Well it was a couple of weeks ago now but it was such a FABULOUS day out I recall it very well. After all that complaining about how shit my life was of late, and the lack of anything to point a camera at, along comes a day that knocked my socks off. It wasn't handed to me on a plate, but I had a really good time!

The promising forecast got me out the door, but I can't have hurried as it seems to have been 11am by the time I disembarked at the Longniddry platform. I've done the L2NB run a few times and it gives a pleasing mix of sandy trails, beaches and a mile or 2 of tarmac, generally with the prevailing wind and going through Aberlady nature reserve, which often provides the wildlife. I ran the boring bits, stopping regularly to walk and photograph anything I came across. I run carrying my camera in one hand, hoping I don't trip and go headlong. In the two or three years I've had the larger camera I have fallen 2 or 3 times but so far avoided serious damage.

very bold considering temps

turnstone

the magic forest

There were LTTs on the trail before Aberlady and I took many photos

 but the jolly little birds refused to hold still and the pics were crap.

First port of call was the SOC clubhouse, Waterston House just this side of Aberlady. It was looking very well maintained as ever and I got a great welcome from a woman who was happy to tell me about the current (now finished) exhibition. It was the exhibition I was there to see. I knew it finished that Sunday and worried I'd not get another chance to see it. I have already bought a 2024 calendar from the RSPB featuring 12 excellent lino prints by Babs Pease, and here she was showing her fabulous prints. I knew there were 2 other artists, John Hatton and Helen Denerley, but I was mainly there for the Babs Pease lino prints.

Autumn Lapwings, John Hatton

Tufty, Babs Pease

The standard of work on show was brilliant. I was impressed by everything there and the quality was fantastic. Not just Babs's work but the other 2 were really talented too. I rarely get this enthusiastic about art. I used to be involved with making art and have a tendency to judge it with very critical eyes, but all these works were done to a very high standard and I possibly enjoyed walking round there as much as any exhibition I have ever been to. There was nothing shoddy or second rate (or that has no appeal), which is the usual story in any gallery selling contemporary work. I do wonder if it was to do with the subject matter. But I think it was more the skill of the three artists.

While John Hatton did prints as well, Helen Denerley was showing metal sculptures of animals and birds. Rather than block in the whole thing she drew them in lines of metal, often in recycled materials or using pre-existing parts of metal tools - pliers handles for a stoat's tail etc. A little of this can go a long way (building a whole bird out of the interior workings and cogs of a clock can look too folksy and chintzy) but she handled the works with a huge amount of restraint and craft. The price tags were pretty steep but I guess if you are good (and she is) then that is fair game.

The price tags suggested success. Which made me wonder if I had perhaps seen her work before now. Those 2 giraffes near the Omni Centre / Playhouse at the top of Leith Walk? They are done with the same light touch although I many times wondered what the relevance of giraffes to Edinburgh was. Sure enough same artist. I prefer her smaller pieces although the giraffes are very well handled and have remained vandal- and weather-proof. Long may she remain well outside my budget!

Loved this print of Eider Ducks called "Ooo"
after the very distinctive noise they make

you can probably buy a real kestrel for £3200
but it may not last as long
(love the trowel shoulder blades)

Picasso, a man I am not terribly keen on, was maybe at his best when fashioning a baboon's head from a children's toy car (Baboon and Young 1951) but the rest of that work is lumpen compared to the lightness of these pieces by Helen. It was a great exhibition and kicked off a great day out. I look forward to 2024 and being able to admire Babs's lino prints in the excellent RSPB calendar on a monthly basis! And well done the Scottish Ornithologists for hosting the exhibition. I spent £35 on cards and might have bought more if I wasn't going another 10 miles on foot.

I went into the Margiotta's shop at Aberlady looking for a Planet Kuku frittata. No such luck. Settled for a sandwich and bottle of fizzy water. It was still early so I pushed on and bagged the snacks for later.

Rather than go along the coast road I went Postman's Walk. I had only slim hopes of late butterflies (and there weren't any) but thought there might be something of interest. Curlews, lapwings and crows in the fields made for company. 

After checking out the corner near the water tower and abbey ruins I returned to the path that heads North across the fields to the reserve. In the last field a couple of deer failed to see me. That is until I started to approach them. They went from not bovvered to semi alert to fully alert as I got closer, then bam, goney gone.

not noticed

semi alert

alert

goney gone

little egret

high tides

Lots of stonechat activity. I wasn't going to let them drag me across the swamp. But then a kestrel appeared and headed left to the estuary. Okay you've hooked me. I can see it sitting on one of the large concrete tank traps. It is a long way off and although there is some cover - a couple of bushes between here and there - it will see me as soon as I break cover. I follow the thin damp paths. Just about the point I think I can take a photo it climbs into the sky and fucks off.

I am now committed to the swampy grasslands paths rather than the main path. It is a glorous day but the grasslands are wet. Like soaky wet. I splosh about trying to keep feet dry but then one gets the cold inrush of frigid water and soon both are soaked through. There is a freedom to absolutely wet feet. You can happily wade through ankle deep stuff. I did a fair bit of this and was getting to within full zoom distance of where the kestrel had taken up residence in a tree. It waited till I was halfway across a pond nearly knee deep, before flying off with a snigger. I tried to steer back out the tussocky pond avoiding a fall and complete immersion. That would not be good. I headed to the nearest main path.

kestrel

as close as I got

bridges over the horizon

kestrel*
taking the michael

*Or at least I think it was a kestrel! I've seen someone posting a pic of a sparrowhawk that lives locally and this has made me wonder if I have got the right ID. Pretty sure I saw it hovering earlier but that could have been a different bird. 

geese

As I was on my way to hopefully dry ground I spooked up a hare. It had been (unseen) only a few steps away keeping still until I got within 3 metres. Then it shot up giving me a start, and ran off at a good lick. It probably realised fairly quickly it didn't need to utilise top speed. I didn't give chase(!) and didn't really get the camera up quickly enough to get any photos until it slowed and stopped, reviewed the situation and scored me off the dangerous predators list.

a gaggle of greylags

short eared owl

At this point the short eared owl did a circuit. It stayed a long way away but I pointed the camera at it and got some blurry pics and shoogly video. One usable photo (above). Which was one more than I anticipated. It is a regular in that area and attracts birders with long lens cameras. Some stand for weeks without joy, others turn up for 5 mins and it flies around them. There is no set time or way to entice it. So while I was pleased to see it, it also made me hungry for more. 

Occasionally a rare-ish bird will become a known target and a visitor attraction. This can become a problem. I think it was short-eared owls in Hunters Bog that were attracting small crowds a year or 2 back. I believe they fledged their offspring but I doubt they will ever return to nest there again as groups of a dozen people turned up to admire them daily. It is understandable that people are drawn to a rare spectacle and nobody sees themselves as the problem. Just the other folk.

Similarly the owls at Aberlady. Someone posted today on Lothian Birdwatch that he was concerned because he saw three photographers stalking the owl. And that we should "respect nature." Which was ironic as his fb profile picture was him holding a fish in his lap (a salmon I think) which he had just hauled out the river on the end of a hook. I cannot see how this equates with respecting nature. I had to leave the computer and go do the dishes before I waded into the argument and got banned from a site that is mostly about the joys of bird photos and alerting people to the birds that are flying locally.

And yet if it gets to the point where 30+ people are all over the savannah, hunting owls and kestrels, it will have an impact on the birds there, so there is a concern. It is a judgement call. It is very similar to any kind of group responsibility, such as climate change. We all cut ourselves a certain amount of slack, while condemning other people, saying well at least I only fly abroad this many times or I cycle and don't drive a four-by-four, or at least I'm not as bad as THOSE people. Casting the first stone is a high risk business.

stonechat

The middle section of what I call the savannah, (the grasslands between the estuary coast and the golf course) was fenced off. Dark brown sheep are kept in there as an ongoing grazing project and contained within an electric fence. I wondered about stepping over the fence to avoid a detour left or right to continue across the grazed area. I was wearing gloves which I reasoned would almost certainly have some insulating properties and gingerly touched the top cord of the fence. Nothing. 'You see' I told myself.

Exactly what I saw was rudely interrupted by what felt like someone taking their biggest swing with a baseball bat and connecting with my left hand. Luckily the jolt was limited to my hand and wrist as it felt strong enough to stop my heart, defrag my brain and totally fritz the camera in my right hand. It will be a cold day in hell before I touch another electric fence deliberately. And I was SO glad I didn't try to step over it. (Perish the thought!) Ten minutes later I could still feel the tingly reverberations. I also noticed a couple of steps on (once I'd straightened my metaphorical hat) that the battery was just there. I'm sure an electrician would know if a jolt nearer the source of juice is worse than one all the way across the far side of the field. Not for one moment was I going to test that theory. I have rubbed up against electric fences in the past and got a lively rebuke, but this felt considerably more robust. I think on a scale of one to ten it must have been set to Guantanamo Bay.

never again

2 minutes later and the highlight of the day, and the month. Maybe even the year. Just beside the electric fence, a young hare was looking a little agitated. It had heard me coming and was unsure how much to keep motionless and how much to make a run for it. It tried to do both by hopping off a few yards then hunkering down again. This let me know it was a youngster. An adult would have done as the one I saw earlier and put a hundred yards between us. I took a photo of it as it hopped off. And I might have left it at that, but then considered it would maybe stay close to the area.

When I visited Fiona recently she told me about the 2 leverets being raised in her garden. The mother hare had dropped them off there for safe keeping. She went off during the day leaving them to look after themselves. They employed sitting motionless as a defence and I could only see the tiniest glimpse of them through the flowers when I visited. Her online updates showed them being visited by mum at night (via trail cam footage) feeding them, and the 2 leverets becoming quite quickly much bigger and nearly the same size as the parent. But without all the instincts and skills of an adult hare. This was early October so I wasn't surprised to see this hare acting in a similar fashion. The one I had spooked earlier may well have been the parent. 

While I was conscious of the needs of the hare (not to freak it out or chase it miles from a parental drop off spot) I also wondered if I could very quietly and inconspicuously approach it for photos. I let it wander off and settle a few yards away in long grass then took an indirect line heading away from it in a large circle doing maximum stealth and no sudden movements. The hare sat quietly keeping an eye on me but surprisingly comfortable with me crawling forward slowly. I was on all fours by now and holding my breath. A few yards away I stopped and took photos and video. We sat there together for a few moments before I moved away to give it some peace. When I looked back it had moved on, but again not far. I was totally elated to get close to this magical beast. It is not an encounter I expect to repeat often, if ever again. 

Hares look a little like rabbits but are an entirely different kettle of fish. Rabbits are like rather dim, soft toys by comparison; cute, but without as much prestige. When a predator appears they dive into a rabbit hole. (A stoat, polecat or pine martin could follow a rabbit down a hole.) Hares however, head for open ground knowing they are our fastest land animal and can outrun everything, at speeds up to 45mph. Now that is cool. 

Getting close to a hare was like getting close to something very special. It is easy to understand why they are associated with pagan and mystical folklore. Sadly their numbers have been in decline since the 1960s. Usual story: farming methods changing their environment etc. Unlike rabbits, hares are resistant to myxomatosis and have suffered no equivalent cull.

magical!

who did he say looked like a soft toy?

There are regularly some bunnies just near the shore - they have burrows in the dunes before the beach and are often out feeding nearby. After the intensity of the meeting with the hare they seemed even more flopsy and mopsy than usual. There were also a pair of stonechats in the long grasses refusing to pose for photos in more accommodating vegetation.

Down on the beach there was a godwit poking in the sand for edibles. It was quite oblivious to me keeping it company which seemed to give confidence to a small group of hyperactive sanderlings. Often they fly off if you get too close but they were all very busy going up and down the high tide line hunting in the kelp remnants for goodies, that they didn't bother (too much) with me tagging along. I really had to crank the shutterspeed / ISO to catch them without motion blur. I shot some video but was too closely zoomed in and it looks like the keystone cops in fast forward zipping along and back the beach.

At the far end of the sand there were a couple of small birds - a pipit or similar and a wagtail. The pied wagtail let me get quite close then peeped out a long tail of all it had been doing. Or maybe why I should put my camera away and leave immediately. It did seem to be very vocal and have a lot to say. I didn't bother it for long as the sun was going down quickly and I had spent way more time up to here than intended. I also knew that usually after this point there is more running than photos. However I kept my camera out and hoped I'd bump into more than just scenery between there and North Berwick.

I also felt I could forgo the lunch sandwich and water and maybe push on. I would appreciate it more later. Also I couldn't be bothered with the faff of taking my back pack off and fiddling with wrappers. I wondered if I could manage to the train before "lunch". And enjoy it on the return journey. I was already pretty hungry but the effort of running made me put that to one side.

razorbill near Gullane Point

crow

chaffinch in the low sun

squirrel lording it over the locals at the far side of Gullane

willow catkins out already - is that early; seems very early?

 round robin

driftwood catching the last of the sun's rays

across the water to the Pentlands and Arthur's Seat

Isle of May and Fidra

Craigleith and Bass rock

Bass Rock in setting sun

Somewhere about Yellowcraig Beach I checked my watch. I had about 3 miles to go and less than thirty minutes to the next train which was something like 20+ past the hour. I would have liked more time. However if I'd had 50minutes I would have taken a leisurely 50minutes. This encouraged me to sprint the last bit and I have to admit to enjoying the challenge of a deadline over the last stretch. It keeps you focussed. I seem to have done the last 2 miles in 17minutes which would never have been a sprint a few years ago but taxed me sorely as the final 2 of 15 today. I only just had time to catch my breath as I took a couple of photos of the setting sun, crossing the farmers field (2 miles to go) before the tarmac miles along the main road to the station.

I made it with about 30seconds to spare before the train pulled out. (The sandwich and fizzy water five minutes later were astonishingly good. If you want to REALLY appreciate your lunch leave it till 3hrs after lunch time. And run 15 miles. Even the fizzy water was unbelievably good! I'd had nothing to drink all day.) It was a great finish to a splendid day out and I felt really pleased with all the delights I had in my camera, and in my heart.

perfect finish to a perfect day

15 miles, 5hrs 20m
Plus the extra 2, to and from Waverley