don't flip your lid

 

Tethered bottle caps underline the futility of politics. Nobody wants them, yet they have marched into the world (hated by everyone) because why? Because an EU directive says it will somehow improve the littering and plastic pollution situation. Which is, at best, dubious. Hang on, didn't we leave the EU? Yes but manufacturers aren't going to make 2 products, one for Europe and one for the brave brexiteers of little britain. So stop whining and suck it up. And while you suck it up there will be a little plastic top clinging to the side of your face.

This morning as I opened a Tesco soy milk carton I noticed they too have fallen foul of this new misguided fashion. Tethered caps. You can unscrew them, then they are still attached by plastic tethers to the carton. They slightly get in the way of pouring and are a little less convenient to screw back on. This is just poor design and why the fuck are they becoming ubiquitous and the newest example of humanity shooting itself in the foot?

We had a thing that worked, then we tweaked it and now it is not as good. Nobody thinks it is an improvement with perhaps the exception of George Monbiot. The idea that untethered caps contribute significantly to plastic pollution is debatable. In my view, tethering caps is the equivalent of straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic. I can tell you right now the number of times in my life I have disposed of a screw-top off a bottle independently from the bottle. Zero. Or approaching zero. Whoever thought this tiny move towards papering over the cracks the size of the grand canyon was anything other than greenwashing lipservice was fooling themselves. Only a psychopath would dispose of caps without screwing them back on a bottle or milk container. Also, in parts of the UK, recycling bins ask you to seperate tops from bottles. ALSO there are greater problems with brightly coloured tops (which can get in with transparent recycled plastics) than with untethered tops. 

Here is an argument from some plastic bottle salespeople (clearly fighting the addtional costs faced with tethering caps) with logical arguments more in favour of collection and recycling than tethering. In case you can't be bothered to read it all I'll copy and paste the important bit...

We are absolutely convinced that focusing our efforts and investments on increasing collection rates of bottles and caps to 90 percent will achieve more effective and more efficient results than tethering caps to bottles. Looking across Europe, we already see well-managed, well-run and proven schemes such as those in Germany and Denmark, where collection rates of bottles and caps are already over 90 percent. Now, it’s not the same picture everywhere, but that’s exactly why we need to invest in both extended producer responsibility and deposit refund schemes to meet the standards we see working well. We have several concrete plans that can achieve this: upgrading collection systems to incentivize people to return caps; redesigning waste recovery fees; and introducing consumer awareness campaigns to help people dispose properly of caps. All of these will make a difference. Tethered caps won’t.

If you think I put all this at the top of the page just as clickbait and don't really care that much about any of it you'd be half right. Although it is a story that reflects the inadequacies of the current election and my indifference to the outcome. Yes I will vote. No I don't think anything of value will come of it other than the current incumbents will be put out of their jobs, not before time, and a new lot of shifty liars will take their place. Everyone will then shout about the importance of the environment and nobody will do anything much about it. Targets will be proposed, then at a later date they will be quietly dropped. In a couple of hundred years people will look back at this moment and wonder how materialism could have thrived so vigorously and with such disregard for available (limited) resources. I'm glad I won't be around to see it.

Meanwhile we went for a beautiful walk along the coastline of our plastic filled sea! It was the 23rd of June and one of the few days that merited being called Summer. Taps aff! We probably didn't even carry rain jackets! It was Sunday which brought the crowds out but they were mainly limited to the beaches with car parks and most of the trails from Longniddry to North Berwick were blissfully free of humans.

PB strolls through the carpet of cranes-bill

photo Mary

Nice to come across this large skipper just before Harestanes Burn. They are still sufficiently new to the area that I try to welcome each one I see and encourage it to live long and prosper. While the weather was a huge improvement on Summer '24 norms, the butterflies were still a little slow to appear. I reckoned this would change when we got to the SOC at Waterston House. To my surprise there was very little wildlife available although their plants and flowers are always worth a quick walkabout.

This female blackbird (one half of a pair) was sunbathing in the garden. It looked a bit wonky - beak open, almost gasping, and sat floppy on the grass like it was having heat stroke. However I have seen this behaviour from blackbirds before in strong sunshine - it seems to be something they do, so we gave it room to flop out, only taking a quick photo in passing.

I left Mary taking photos of all the blooms in the front garden area while I went round the back of the building to check the pond for dragonflies. Just a few damselflies and these moorhen chicks - comically ugly little vultures! The whole place was looking marvelous, just a little short on butteflies, moths and dragonflies.

pigeons on the roof

shaded broad-bar moth was the only lepidoptera

back out past Mrs. B still doing a gasper on the lawn

meadow brown

Black-headed gull at the bridge to enchantment

We stopped off at Magiotta's, Aberlady to get sandwiches for later. We have also slipped into the dubious habit of having a (lamb) samosa snack to keep us going. Naughty but nice. They can be quite greasy so care has to be taken to contain that and not contaminate the camera equipment. Talking of cameras - and you know I like to - I swithered between the long lens and the macro today. I love the macro but for days like this when you're more likely get distant birds and flighty butterflies, the 100~400 is a better bet. This was confirmed when we saw common blues and DGFs just past Marl Loch. Neither would have accommodated the proximity the macro lens requires. Plus stonechats and meadow pipits.

damselflies near Marl Loch

Great to see a few common blues near the golf course. There weren't a huge number but they popped up more regularly today than last visit where hours would pass between sightings. Then Mary saw what she reckoned was a Dark Green Fritillary. It did not stop for a photo but its presence was enough to lift spirits and make us scour the landscape for anything orange. Shortly after, I saw one as well (maybe the same one) and chased it over several fields without it stopping. The game was on!

small heath playing tricky buggers

fritillary avenue

bingo! DGF: first pic of the year!

We saw another DGF and it was stopping extremely briefly on purple clovers and marsh orchids, presumably on the hunt for females. The first few days they appear, they zoom around like crazy, especially in sunny weather, before calming slightly. They favour the 2 plants above, as well as flowering thistles and lower lying thyme if the wind is very strong. Knowing their foodplants really helps to get close for pics as they fly far too quickly to chase unless you are wearing a jetpack.

common blue

unusual to see a pheasant in the dunes

more usual to see and hear skylarks

Another dune resident that appears almost instantly the sun comes out are the nudists. I really can't understand their behaviour, that somehow being naked should be so much more fulfilling than wearing a pair of shorts. They have developed this ritual where they hide individually in the long grass of the dunes overlooking the beach. It has been sanctioned by the council or whoever makes those rules and I don't know if they are obliged to hide in this waist deep very jaggy grass as punishment or just because nobody wants to see their leathery purses. I would find them much less dubious if they sat round campfires on the beach chatting in a group. Rather than that solitary lurking in the dunes which just makes them seem like flashers and perverts. Also just dudes, no females. Is it just a coincidence that all the enthusiastic nudists here are males. Like the majority of sex offenders. Is there something I'm not getting? Is it a gateway drug to then becoming a sexual predator or does it quench the need for exposure if you do it under sanctioned conditions? 

very attractive tiny flowers, centaurium

We were just near Gullane Point when Mary spotted this DGF sat prominently on the sea buckthorn. I got one quick photo before it saw us and took off sharpish, sitting on the grass momentarily then disappearing towards the beach. It was a cracker and we were disappointed not to see it again. Mary failed to get a decent photo (my camera and its autofocus and animal detection giving me an advantage) but I feel I could have got a much better image had it sat still on the buckthorn for another few seconds.

hotting up on the beach

We sat at the picnic tables not far from the new Gullane toilet block to have our lunch sandwiches. The toilet block wasn't fully open and there was a queue for the 3 maybe 4 cubicles that were open.

I took a photo of the sandwich wrapper as it was the best to date. Mary had had that one last time and said it was too sweet. Of course there's no such thing, and I suspected I'd like it. I am interested to see it boasts a "first for animal welfare" badge and can't help questioning this, given this is a meat sandwich that clearly features a dead animal. I'm surprised they don't claim it is vegan friendly because they know some vegans who are friendly. Which they often aren't. They often like to tell you about their choices, and how you should be more like them. One particular group on facebook, Plant Based News, were extremely unfriendly. I thought it was going to be about "plant based news" (I eat 90%+ plant based plus some other things as well) but if they had been honest it would have been called Rabid Vegans Lay a Trap for Anyone Who Eats a Little Meat Then We'll Lynch The Fucker in Public. 

Mary was saying how she loved the white of the gulls against the blue of the sky. I told her I was going to steal her idea and reminded her every time a gull few over and I took a photo. Gulls are the seaside equivalent of pigeons and a lot of the time I don't consider them worthy of photos, however as Mary noticed, they were looking great against the blue sky.

 the least interesting section of the day out

photo Mary

Just past the East end of Gullane Bay things improve dramatically and I was sure there was going to be loads of blue, burnets and DGFs along the next section. It was perhaps a bit on the early side as the thistles were only just starting to open their purple flowers. But I was surprised there was virtually nothing here and it was round a couple of corners before we came upon the next blue. It was not very helpful and kept disappearing into the grass. Just as we decided it had gone for good and we should move on, it would reappear and lead us on a merry dance again. This happened far too often and to come away with only one photo shows it got the better of us by far. Sometimes it can be extremely frustrating. But then again, we were out in beautiful countryside in the best weather of the year, photographing wildlife. So, hey-ho it could have been worse.

photo Mary

Just round the next corner we found - lying up against a small log - a large glass bong. Which was great because I'd forgotten my crack pipe.

I know I am often unsympathetic to the habits of young people; it goes with being over 60 and well into grumpy old man territory. However if there's one fashion I am pleased to see the younger people adopt it is getting into the water outdoors. It doesn't have to be miles swum along the coast or indeed much more than a splash and paddle but it does far more than the sum of its parts when you do this, and it is good to see people of any age get into water that is (mostly) unpleasantly cold.

common blue on bird's-foot trefoil, a favourite foodplant

been through the washing machine a couple of times

stonechat (m)

herring gull

I think this is a meadow pipit (left) and offspring

driftwood

Fidra (and behind, the Isle of May)

stonechat

stonechat

I was hoping the chinese privet bush by the propeller cone monument would have lots of DGFs in residence. Not even a yellow shell. Oh well, saves spending time here taking photos of amazing orange butterflies. I was glad we'd seen 5 in total earlier, most around the golf course at Aberlady, and got a couple of photos. However I'm still waiting for a rematch, as soon as the sun comes back out. In fact there are a few species I have been waiting for suitable weather so I can chase. Unfortunately the season has past for the Pearl Bordereds and Small Pearls. And they may have escaped my camera for this year. And NBAs are very thin on the ground. Good to see a few blues this trip although they are dragging their feet in Holyrood and elsewhere. It is all very difficult to describe without seeming to moan or complain all the time. I hope it is just a blip and doesn't carry too many ramifications. Interesting video here by someone wiser and more qualified than myself on the current absence of UK insects.

Eyebroughy beach

oyster catchers

eider, out to sea

whitethroat

ringlet

round the trail at Archerfields to Yellowcraig beach

cross channel swimmers

I turned the long lens towards Fidra and the seabirds there and saw a couple of wet-suited swimmers on the beach.  Having, I presume, swum across the short channel between Yellowcraig and Fidra. I have long considered doing this and it is one of the few things on my bucket list. It just looks so do-able. But also quite long. That said, I have been very lax about doing any open water swimming in the last 2 years and the desire to complete this challenge may now be dead in the water. Also the 2 swimmers looked like they weren't having an easy time walking up the bouldery beach. And much as it would be fun to explore the small island you'd be distracted by the thought of the swim back to the mainland. Tidying some stuff at home I recently came across my inflatable orange tow bag. It looked very unused and dusty.

Having done this hiking route a few times we are aware of the last 3 miles and how long they take. Mary had checked the train times before we left home that morning and said there was one at 4.37. She wasn't very interested in running but also felt we could manage to catch the 4.37 if we walked swiftly. I was pretty sure with 2 miles to go there was no way, but wasn't that bothered as a cold pint in a North Berwick pub was more appealing than catching a particular train and so we were in a win-win situation.

Several things transpired: we arrived at the station only a couple of minutes after 4.37 - surprisingly near given we were mostly doing a brisk march rather than running. There was a feeling the train might be running late so it was worth keeping going. However, Mary had almost certainly got the train time wrong and the next train was 5.20ish implying the 4.37 was maybe 4.27 or 4.20, but not 4.37.

All this became inconsequential compared to getting into North Berwick to the nearest decent looking pub (The Golfers Rest? we've been there before and they don't judge you for wearing stinky running kit) and buying 2 pints. Each. One is soda and lime so you don't race the cider and risk spilling it running back to the station to catch the train. Both pints were delicious, and I tipped the remains of one into the other. Mary had Stella, I had draught cider. Suddenly eveything was outstanding and I can't even remember how we got back to the train and home but I suspect we were smiling.

aaah, that's better!
Photo Mary

15 miles, working 10 till 5