meh 002 (gullane / aberlady)

 

18-10-25 Another below par day. How could a walk around Gullane and Aberlady possibly disappoint? It wasn't raining and nobody broke an ankle, there was money enough for coffee and cake (though we didn't) and the car worked just fine. What is wrong with you? What are you complaining about now?

eider ducks (m)

All valid points. Maybe I just slump into a depression anticipating the annual guff-months when the butterflies disappear and I mentally brace myself for weeks of crap and crapper weather. I (mostly) swap shorts for long trousers and we have to turn the heating on. This year those two markers only happened in the last week of October so I suppose I should be grateful. But I feel low. Thank the baby jesus for a holiday in a month's time, which I cling onto with the grip of a drowning man. 

My mum, when she was alive, underwent some chemo. Seemed to be very successful but made her feel awful. She was brave about it but hated the hospital visits as they made her sick. By the last visit she was puking before they hooked her up to it, in anticipation of how it would feel. Like getting seasick going up the gangplank. I think I get a similar dread and depression about this time of year knowing I will be wasting days and weeks (of a finite future) just kicking about, waiting for the sun to return. Not just so the photos will be better but because my mood seems to dip and rise in tune with the barometric pressure. A physical response to the great grey whale of winter.  

This is a weird sign. Nobody in their right mind would make and place a sign like that, were there not (at least) some knee-deep sinky sand which could swallow a child or small dog. Otherwise you might as well put signs near the buckthorn saying Caution a Bit Jaggy. And taller signs saying Caution Sky Blue. And yet I have never experienced anything remotely quicksand-like in 20+ years of exploring this area. I fully expect to drown in a tiny patch of quicksand next visit after jinxing myself by saying it doesn't exist, but the signs seem to me more like a leftfield art project or maybe an optimistic scare tactic to discourage people from the nesting sites of curlews and skylarks. I am truly baffled. If you know the reason they are there, do let me know.

oyster catcher

you know things are bad when you resort to photographing the driftwood

devoid of wildlife

pentlands disappearing into the haze

At the far end of the beach beside the savannah, where a short eared owl has been known to fly, there was a photographer. After I went by, I took the following photo and thought it could be John. We haven't spoken since the amazing waxwing invasion of 2023 when they flocked to Dalmeny and Iona Streets, areas of urban Leith where wildlife is low on the totem. I know because I live in Iona St.

When I later saw John post a heron shot on Lothian Birdwatch fb group, I asked was it himself sat in the long grass. It was! And he sat for 2.5 hrs after seeing the SEO descend beyond the electric fence. Sadly it did not reappear. When I see courage and determination of this order I do wonder if that is the missing component and the reason I am not posting beautiful owl photos. I was also impressed with the size of his lens. I have a tendency to wonder if that might improve my portfolio - that if I had a big long lens on a full frame camera, my low-light Winter photos would go up a notch.

However unless he has an extender that lens is most likely a 600mm job and mine is not only much smaller, lighter and easier to transport (especially through airports, over rough terrain and while running) but is 800mm ff equivalent - meaning 30% greater reach, albeit not as good in low light due to the half sized sensor. On reflection I was glad of my choices today, while a little jealous of the shot John showed me of the owl before it knocked off for the afternoon. John regularly posts excellent photos of waders and shorebirds. I was amused to hear him say they come to investigate his prone form when they see him lying flat on the beach (which gives the best angle to photograph the birds). Sadly no sanderlings or plovers today. No idea where they go when they aren't along the beach as usual.

Rather than do the circuit we used to do regularly (over the bridge at the reserve car park and along the JMW back into Gullane) we went up through the golf course (past the concrete blocks) heading back to Gullane Point. This was a great place for butterflies and stonechats during the Summer but was now a bit desolate.

Mary grabbed my arm and the look on her face said don't make a sound. She pointed into a clump of sea buckthorn and to the brown face behind it. There was a big daft roe deer looking straight at us but by the time we'd raised cameras it had turned and trotted off. I could see it heading towards the path we were on and caught it bounding across in front of us. It wasn't very timid (young and silly) and stopped a short distance beyond the path. Amusingly it wandered behind a bush until it could only just see us but with insufficient self awareness to realise only its head was hidden by buckthorn and the rest of it stuck out in plain view. We stiffled our laughs and took photos of its arse.

you can't see me!

the car has since got through its MOT without requiring work!
a triumph! (well a Citroën actually)

Gullane Bay: people were swimming at the beach
also this large buoy has been washed ashore

Video of male eider ducks trying to make the females laugh. Unfortunately I didn't really catch the excellent noises they make - kind of a curious / scandalised ooh-hhh. Worth googling it to hear this charming and unusual call. At courting time (ie currently) the males gain a lovely pink chest and their green colours accentuate and they make the surprised wowing sound while doing a bit of head bobbing (backwards onto their wings) in the presence of females, not dissimilar to male goldeneyes' amusing mating dance. Worth looking out for esp as they should be around the WoL estuary. Here's a couple in courting/mating outfits I shot there a while ago. They weren't close enough to the shore to get decent photos today.

male

female

4 miles in 2hrs