Tag: Sea Birds

Scotland 2021: Wildlife Cruise

An account of a wildlife cruise on the afternoon of my birthday.

This post describes the main activity of the day of my birthday (Monday), a wildlife cruise. The route of the cruise was from John O’Groats harbour past Duncansby Head to Duncansby Stacks beyond and then back. There were a variety of sea birds on display, including guillemots, razor bills, shags and various breeds of gull. There are sometimes puffins in the area but I do not think we saw any that day. Also supposedly resident in these waters are seals and otters, but I saw neither. However it was a very enjoyable cruise.

OUTWARD BOUND

The walk to the harbour starts along an open road with no footpath before one comes to the path that leads to the John O’Groats hotel, at which point you can access various locations, including the harbour. We boarded the boat with no problems, and by the time we set out on the cruise it was very full.

Although there were some signs of life in the open water it was only when we got level with the head and then the stacks beyond (for an explanation of what a stack is in this context visit this article which explains how they form) that we saw creatures in huge number. The guillemots predominated (they look a little like tiny penguins, although unlike the Antarctic’s most famous bird they can fly), but a few razor bills were in evidence, as were a number of shags (they look similar to a cormorant).

The boat arrived back at the harbour and after waiting for things to clear a bit we made our way back on to terra firma.

HOMEWARD BOUND

We took an exploratory route home, attempting to locate a route back which would eliminate the main road. This was unsuccessful, and we reverted to the route we knew. My mother’s shoes were causing her trouble by this stage, so my father went to fetch the van to the point where the path joins the road and I accompanied my mother to that meeting point. The problems with the homeward walk notwithstanding it was a very enjoyable day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have loads of photographs to go with this post and I hope you enjoy them:

  • These birds love the mill wheel.
  • An oystercatcher.
  • Back on land – this oystercatcher was in the grounds of the John O’Groats hotel.

Scotland 2021: Castle Sinclair Girnigoe

An account of a visit to a ruined castle that nowadays doubles as a wildlife haven.

On the morning of my birthday we travelled to Wick to do some essential shopping, and on the way back as a warm up act to the main event of the day, a wildlife cruise which I shall write about in due time we called in at the ruins of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.

RUIN AND WILDLIFE HAVEN

In it’s heyday this castle would have been an imposing sight (it was very obviously built to intimidate, and had little in the way of style), although its location is testament to the absence of any kind of field artillery – even Ballistae and scorpions as used by the Romans hundreds of years before it was built could have caused mayhem by targetting the rock formations around the castle and effectively subjecting those in the castle to a hail of rock fragments – in Scotland in that period. Nowadays it is an impressive ruin, and also home to many kinds of wildlife, both fauna and flora. There are some stunningly good views out over the sea. If you ever happen to be in this corner of Scotland it is worth a look, though it would not be the main event of one’s day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My photographs begin with a few from before we got to the castle, cover the walk from the parking area to the castle and the castle itself:

  • The Girnigoe pics start here.
  • Places on a similar latitude.
  • This is NOT part of the ruins – it is a natural rock formation, one of many such in the area.
  • The most terrifying looking ladder I have ever seen – and this part of Scotland can get seriously windy as well.

Penzance

An account of the time I spent in Penzance on the Saturday of my Cornish holiday.

INTRODUCTION

I have finally edited all the pictures from my recent Cornish holiday and have now at last got time to get back to blogging about it. My last post described my journey down to Penzance, and this post provides the story of the rest of the day.

GETTING MY BEARINGS

Having arrived in to Penzance pretty much bang on schedule I visited the local information office, purchased a detailed and very cheap souvenir map (I will conclude this series of Cornish posts with one featuring all the publicity materials that I collected while down there), and set out on the first part of my exploration of the town. An early necessity was finding somewhere to eat lunch (although I am not entirely inflexible on the matter I generally aim to eat lunch some time close to 1PM), and having walked past the Harbour and the Chapel I found an establishment suited to my needs. The Turk’s Head was not too extortionate (there are no cheap places in Penzance). I opted for a BBQ Chicken, Bacon and Davidstow Cheese melt, and enjoyed it, although I felt that it did not really live up to its name on two counts:
1. There was precious little evidence of bacon (though they had used good quality chicken)
2. Davidstow is supposed to be a strongly flavoured cheese and yet I barely noticed it over the other flavours – if I ask for something of which cheese is a featured ingredient I want to taste said cheese.

Here some photos taken between leaving Penzance station and having lunch:

PenzanceFerryWall painting PenzanceWall Paintings, PenzancePenzance WalksMap, Penzance Info OfficePenzance HarbourPenzance ChurchOld lifeboat station, PenzanceView from the Bridge1View from the bridge 2Mermaid Pleasure TripsMermaid Seal Cove CruisesCornish IFCAWildlife Display BoardShark TripDisplay BoardPelagic TripsChapel

Egyptian House
The Egyptian House

The GlobeTGChurch Tower

Air pressure
The first of a number of shots of interesting items on display at The Turks Head

Decorative plateBrass implementsInternal DecorTurks Head

BN1
There were five sets of framed banknotes starting with this one.

BN2BN3BN4BN5BeermatsHorsebrass 1LanternHorsebrass 2Toby JugsCopper Plate

Devon and Cornwall
Poor lighting prevented me from doing full justice to this map.

Map
This, and the two set of framed cigarette cards the follow it were in a narrow passage that meant that I could not get them fully in shot from front on – had to photograph at an angle.

Cig Cards 1Cig Cards 2otter aleCopperwareBed warmerCopper Pot

POST LUNCH EXPLORATIONS

Having consumed my lunch I headed for the Promenade, and walked along it. From the other end of the Promenade I walked back to the train station and then did some exploring on the other side of the train station, locating a path that ran between the tracks and the sea. Here are some photographs…

Headland

Jubilee Pool 1
In November one would not expect an open-air pool in Engalnd to have much custom, and indeed the Jubilee Pool was empty.

PromontorywavesChurch from PromenadeJubilee Pool 2Penzance Town trailJubilee Pool RestorationJubilee Pool 4MemorialMayor Stuchbery1839 RC

Helen Glover post box
A number of post boxes were painted gold to honour people who were successful at the London 2012 Olympics – this one Penzance is dedicated to rower Helen Glover.

Plaque close upHG Postbox - frontThe BuccaneerPearly Nautilus from the BuccaneerAcross the bayAcross the bay 2walks from PenzanceBranwell's MillAtlantic CoastersBus infoPZPZ support 1PZ Support 2Looking across the stationSurfDomeGothic TowerThe LongboatOutside Penzance Station

I conclude this post with two special sections, firstly…

ST MICHAEL’S MOUNT

Being grey the whole time, and misty for most of it this was not a great a day for taking long-range photographs, but St Michael’s Mount was not a target I could resist, even under those circumstances, so here are the results:

St Michael's Mount through mistSt Michael's MountSt MNichael's Mount IIISMM4SMM5St Michael's Mount and Flying GullSMM7The St Aubyn Estate, atop St Michael;s MountSMM8SMM close upSMM close up 2

You will notice gulls in a couple of these shots, which leads to the second special section, which concludes this post…

BIRDS

There are many seabirds to be observed in Penzance and I was able to capture some of them on camera…

Small Wadersbirds and boatsbirds on a rockPosing cormorantBirds on a rock 2bold gullRock and birdsOne gull, two corvidsGull and corvidGathering of gullsSwimming gullsGullsGulls on seaweedMarine CorvidFlying CormorantSea CorvidMany Gulls

The journey back was uneventful, and with the train departing Penzance at 16:41 on a November afternoon it was too dark for photographing through the windows of that train.

 

 

North Norfolk Walk Part 2

This is my third and final post relating to Easter Sunday. The first, concerned specifically with the North Norfolk Railway can be viewed here while the second, dealing with the walk as a whole from its start at the Sheringham Park Visitors Centre to Weybourne can be viewed here.

After leaving Weybourne we had a very nice stretch of walking along the Norfolk Coast Path, where at points the erosion caused by the remorseless battering of the North Sea was clearly going to be forcing the path further inland in the not too distant future. Here are some pictures from this coastal stretch…

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Four birds, and each one a different species.
Four birds, and each one a different species.

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Did this warning sign have potential Darwin Award winners in mind?!
Did this warning sign have potential Darwin Award winners in mind?!

Turning inland, we crossed back over the railway, and then a main road, before having a much more open walk back up from the coast towards the Visitors centre. Near the end there was a significant climb (yes, even in Norfolk such a thing is possible), before getting back to the car. The photographic tale of the final leg of the walk…

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Here for the record is the walk as publicised in The Times.
Here for the record is the walk as publicised in The Times.

Monday in King’s Lynn

Having been confined to barracks all morning as I was waiting for two deliveries (both materialised – my new tenancy agreement, and a Christmas present for a cousin that I then had to send on to Australia) I was glad to get out and about immediately after lunch, especially as the weather was pleasant for an English November.

Therefore, having taken the package for Australia down to the post office, forked over a noticeable amount of cash and obtained proof of posting I set off on a walk in the course of which I obtained some decent photos even while restricted to the old Samsung (a phone call to the shop in Dereham revealed that the components were delivered at the end of last week, so I really should not have much longer to wait).

My twitter following continues to grow at a satisfying rate, with 400 rapidly approaching.

Now for some pictures…

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