The beautiful East Lothian Coastline

 Yesterday we decided on an impulse to go to Dunbar in East Lothian to walk along the beautiful coastal path there. The weather was perfect and the views were as stunning as ever. 

 

If you look across the water, you can see Bass Rock in the distance, famous for its large colony of Gannets (which are responsible for the white colour you can see in this zoomed in photo)

We only saw one Gannet during our walk, but we were very impressed by many of the other birds we saw. A decent sized colony of Kittiwakes nests on cliffs just outside Dunbar. These are lovely members of the gull family, who helpfully call their name: Kittiwake! In the photo below you get some idea of the colony 

and here is a close up of  three of the birds which gives you some idea of the messiness of the nesting area

Kittiwakes aren't the only birds nesting in good numbers on this stretch of coastline, we were delighted to find ourselves surrounded by more Sand Martins than we've ever seen before! These birds, related to swallows, nest in holes in the cliffs, you can see several nest holes in  the photo below - the birds themselves are much trickier to capture on film as they move so quickly! 

There is also a good variety of beautiful flowers in the area too, including Thrift (sometimes known as Sea Pink) 

Birds-foot Trefoil 

and Ribwort Plantain 

So if you're looking for beautiful coastal scenery or wonderful wildlife, Dunbar is definitely a great place for a day trip.