As you may have guessed from reading this blog, one of my favourite places to go birdwatching is Musselburgh, walking along the Mouth of the River Esk onto the
John Muir Walkway to the Musselburgh Lagoons.
Musselburgh Lagoons nature reserve is set up on three reclaimed ash lagoons. A couple of
lagoons are still in use as repositories for ash from
Cockenzie Power Station. The John Muir Walkway can see quite bleak at times (though in summer it's bright with flowers) and the old signs warning about lorries and dangerous land only add to that sense of desolation. But don't be fooled, this is a great place for wildlife,
skylarks,
meadow pipits and
reed buntings all nest here and
snow buntings visit in the winter. Then once you look over the sea wall, you never know what you might see, the Musselburgh coast is really fabulously rich for bird-life (and features quite heavily on this
constantly updated list of unusual bird sightings on Birding Lothian).
For
Signs, Signs
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It's wonderful to hear about the rich flora and fauna to be found on reclaimed lands.
ReplyDeleteI have similar feelings Juliet on the lead mining ruins in Swaledale - they stand as monuments to generations of men who toiled there under harsh conditions. Now they are just inhabited by superb wild flowers and a lot of different birds.
ReplyDeleteI will never forget the variety of birds I saw when I went to the West Hebrides, Harris. First time in my life I saw the gannets and guillemots and fulmars.
ReplyDeleteAnd at the Shetlands a solitary puffin. One only.
Signs are not the worst in a industrial past, I guess, cause they can still be seen (and removed). It is another story what is left in the soil for thousand of years...
ReplyDeletebirdwatching
ReplyDeletean old sign says watch out
for lorries
We usually think things only go the other way – nature gets paved over in the name of progress.
Ms Sparrow - yes it's a sign of hope!
ReplyDeleteWeaver - amazing monuments as you say
Tsuki - I didn't mean to imply that the signs were in themselves a bad thing as such, but they are well, signs of everything! And you're right about what's left in the soil.
Tommaso - amazing birds around Harris, strange you only saw one puffin on Shetland, but the birds up there are suffering.
Bill - yes its nice to know nature can reclaim things back!
When Mt. St Helens blew, tons and tons of ash came down the Toutle River toward Interstate 5 in Southern Washington. Huge mounds were piled along the road. Now totally vegetated with a wild variety of trees, shrubs, flowers.
ReplyDelete