birds on the beach

 

06-01-24

A good forecast and a day off for Mary, so we caught the train to Longniddry to walk the beach trails East to North Berwick. We've done it before and we'll do it again. It goes with the wind and makes 15 miles of beach views and waders along the coast. Aberlady, Gullane, Archerfields, Yellowcraig, NB.

the sea was Baltic blue, the sky fairly clear

widgeon

curlew

bar-tailed godwits

redshank showing its married
(wearing a ring)

teal (m)

teal (f)

kangaroo in the savannah

Mary photo

I was carrying the G9 camera today so asked Mary to capture as much of the scenery and selfies, saying I'd nick those photos later for my blog as I didn't want to change lenses while outdoors. I also carried the TZ100 compact, to try and offset this, but couldn't be bothered to get it out. I maybe need to wear a waist belt or something that means I can access the compact camera without the hassle of taking off my backpack etc which seems like too much work.

little bunny foo foo

When we reached the beach there were dozens of birds but they were strung along the high water mark most of the way towards the singular mini-sub that was just uncovered. Mary asked did I want to bother traipsing all the way up there? I weighed it up and said yes and we set off a half mile out our way, Mary uncomplaining. It was a lovely morning for walking, and there wasn't too cold a breeze. I wondered if the birds would bugger off as soon as we got close. 

In order not to chase them further up the coast we walked inland and parallel to the beach before a slow pincer movement. We moved slowly once close to the coastline and I hunkered down maybe 30 yards from the water. The sanderlings were making their high speed sprints West and almost oblivious to my presence. Some of the other species flew off, some were hunkered down themselves and apart from distant photos we let them be.

sanderlings and an oyster catcher

the G9 is excellent for focussing on birds in flight

godwit

Mary photo of me sacrificing a knee

There was sufficient light to crank the shutter speed up to 1/3200 at iso400. Which stopped these amazingly swift movers in their tracks. Again the auto-focus was really good at seeking their eyes meaning I only had to keep them in frame - not easy. Almost all these images are substantially cropped - we weren't really that near but the G9 images are so much better than the bridge camera's for being able to crop an image and still not start to look pixilated or blocky.

photo Mary

I think these might be dunlin (or knot)

we stopped for lunch (bought in Aberlady) at the picnic table at Gullane,
it marks just beyond the halfway point

there were still loads of fieldfares around Gullane
but we didn't manage to get that close to many

the tree troll is "in"

Mary was not encouraging me to rely on her for landscapes and wide shots. I tried to take a few but was limited by the long lens, often only getting the bay beyond the one we were in. I could only do close-ups of Driftwood, the wooden patio and bench halfway between Gullane and Archerfields, where someone had left a memorial to their dog Shiloh.  

To avoid a large sprawl of walkers (not the first large group we encountered) we took a line more inland than the usual one we take along the coast. We were crossing the grassy ridge of a dune when I noticed on our left about 25 yards away there was a young doe looking at us very curiously. Mary had not noticed and I tried to stage whisper her name. She didn't hear and I had to increase the volume without chasing off the deer. We both took almost exactly the same photos. The deer gave us a long look before bounding off through the grass. 

The deer was initially looking at me before Mary's phone gave her that Samsung 5 tone annoying message that means "you haven't looked at me for 15minutes; please note something really trivial I'm calling to your attention." I laughed as it was the antithesis of everything a wildlife photographer should be doing. We both joke about Fieldcraft which is mentioned by birding nerds online with a view to scolding newbies who might be inclined to walk towards birds in an effort to take their photos. Pshaw! (In other news, I have been pricing hides and camo-type clothing online and seriously considering buying an outfit for sneaking up on birds that looks like a cross between bigfoot and a wookiee.)

I found a bird-skull no doubt manky with birdflu and allsorts and put it up on this post to take a photo of it. Just as I was doing that a couple walked down the trail towards me and I was thinking I best let them past before I take more photos. Instead, they recognised me and Lynn gave me a hug. Lynn and Dave moved to Gullane a while back and have been greatly enjoying their new surroundings. Mary had walked on ahead and I was a bit worried she would be wondering where I'd got to. I chatted briefly then ran to catch Mary.

Lynn, former coach at PRC

Dave

Fidra

As I was going down the hill to the propeller cone memorial, I saw some people deftly ignoring the several signs that ask folk not to trample the marram grass round the monument while they are letting it recover from people trampling it. They didn't seem to be aggressive rebels, so much as just a little bit ignorant or maybe not very good at reading, it is hard to know for sure. Anyway they were having fun looking through the eyepiece of the monument, which is aligned with a the view of the lighthouse. 

Craigleith, the Bass Rock and the rugged coastline
in the setting sun

lots of sea buckthorn bushes full of baked beans

There was something of a sting in the tail here: the field that the JMW goes across. About halfway (once you've gone too far to turn around) it deteriorated into a right quagmire of 4" deep mud. If you are crossing I'd advise you go round the perimeter as there is no way to get over the middle without taking a considerable amount of topsoil away on your shoes!

a last deer encounter

how did he get here?

Okay I took a couple of photos in the pub with my compact camera. When I uploaded them I found a few shots I'd forgotten about of this owl - an eagle owl I believe - who is regularly displayed up the top of the High Street during holidays and weekends, by Falconry Borders. For £5 you can meet them personally and get them to sit on your arm. They also had a golden eagle but he was in a box and not coming out for any less than £20. We wondered why one was four times the price of the other and what that signified - market forces or some intangible improvement on an owly experience. Frankly I don't believe there is anything 4 times better than this owl, although you can see an expression of fucksake in that steely-eyed glare. Incidentally there was something of a queue, so we didn't bother standing in line to pay and take photos on this occasion, although we have done in the past. Often we will re-route our run if going near that end of town because they are totally amazing creatures to witness, even if surrounded by a moronic gaggle of selfy-tastic tourists oohing-and-ahhing. Still worth it.

ahh the call of the samsung
(BTW I left my iPhone at home deliberately.)

We had not long missed the last train and so decamped to the nearest acceptable pub halfway along NB main street. Mary wanted a Guinness so I got one too. A bit like pork pies, I tend to get one every few years and sometimes they really hit the mark and other times by the last mouthful you are making a mental note to leave it 5 years before having another. This one was really cold and really delicious, which was a pleasant relief. Well worth missing the previous train for. It passed the 40minutes in great fashion and we scooted back to the station to get the next train to Edinburgh. Superb day out.

15 miles, 5hrs30ish