Musselburgh Lagoons from a different angle

When I walk around the John Muir Way and Musselburgh Lagoons, I usually keep to the coastal path, to get better views of the sea birds. That path also gives excellent views of many of the birds (such as skylarks, reed buntings and wheatears) that make the scrubby grassland their home.

However it's also nice to walk up into the grassland, keeping to the paths to avoid accidentally damaging the nests or young of ground nesting birds. (I wish more dog owners would pay attention to the signs asking them to keep their dogs properly under control in this area).

This area is part of what used to be ash pits from Cockenzie power station that have been allowed to return to nature, with a little help from sensitive wildlife management, tree planting and the creation of the Lagoons which host large numbers of wading birds, particularly in August and September when the passage migrants stop over on their routes.

Now Cockenzie Power station has been decommissioned and the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) is going to convert the ash piles in this photo into an extension of the nature reserve (the ash is the grey hill in the foreground, the darker, green and gorse-yellow hill in the background is iconic Edinburgh landmark Arthur's Seat)

That project will take years to complete and is still only in the planning stages.

A more immediate project from the RSPB is Scotland's Big Nature Festival, to take place here this weekend. The site is already filling up with tents....

The festival has an exciting programme of talks and events (which you can see here). If you want to find a greener way to travel to the festival, details are here. We'll be there, probably travelling by bus to Musselburgh and then walking along the John Muir Walkway.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.