For the second day of our staycation in Edinburgh, we caught the train to the coastal town of North Berwick. We wanted to catch some sea breezes to cool down as the weather is so unseasonably hot at the moment. And the bach at North Berwick is beautiful.
Views towards the harbour at North Berwick are dominated by the Bass Rock, which is a huge gannet colony. Although avian flu is decimating seabird populations across Scotland, gannets are not being as badly affected as many bird species. Large numbers of gannets now have black eyes, instead of blue, after having survived bird flu (read more about this on the RSPB website here). From a distance, the Bass Rock is still white from the many gannets.
There are quite a lot of small islands off the coast here
and the beach is beautiful
A lovely place for a late summer walk.
We also, for the first time, visited the old St Andrew's Church, now a ruin.
We were also impressed by this floral display near the railway station, which is maintained by North Berwick in Bloom.
So sad that Avian flu has hit so many birds. I’d read about the Gannets’ eye colour..how very strange! It makes you wonder if that is happening in other bird species!
ReplyDeleteHi Sal, Avian Flu is tragic. I haven't read about any other birds showing immunity or having their eyes change colour, it would be interesting to know. But gannets are amazingly hardy birds...
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