The Weather is Wonderful, and still no camera !!

The weather here these last few days has been so hot it's sometimes difficult to remember we are actually on the North East Coast of Scotland overlooking the cold North Sea.

This weather is quite unusual for this area, it's a bit of a mini heat wave but nowhere near as hot as it has been in other places. I spent a whole hour one morning watching a Heron at the waters edge but unfortunatly........with only my mobile you can't see it.

I love the summer, I love the sound of the birds singing, the feel of the warm breeze on the skin, the sight of the grasses swaying and walking along the beach at low tide. There has been plenty of that these last few days and the only little blip on my happiness is my lack of a decent camera.

Even that I am getting used too, I’m learning to make do with my poor quality mobile phone and becoming very thankful for the camera that went every where with me over this last year. I have a good stock of decent shots that will take me forever to sort, edit and file, I’m trying to be very positive about this and be thankful for the year I spent with my camera rather than mourn the loss of it now.
I’ve started walking the cliffs again, I don’t go there in the winter, it can get quite dangerous in the bad weather but at the moment it's a wonderful place to be. Shear Red Sandstone cliffs dropping into a swirling foamy sea, all to the ever present din of the squawking sea gulls.
For the first time this year I’ve spent time on the beach with the grandchildren.

 I’ve walked along the cliff path counting the number of wild flowers in bloom,

 I’ve collected pebbles from the beach. They were picked out of rock pools and while wet, they had vivid colours, stripes and patterns.

 Once they dried out the colours dulled, but all it takes to bring back the colour is a quick splash of water.
I have my daughters dog for the week while she is in Spain and every day I've come home from work and walked the dog along the park overlooking the beach. Today it was so hot I stayed indoors untill almost 7pm but still  there was a heat haze over every thing. Then the haare  (sea mist) came in from the sea and swirled around over the  beach and fields like a rapidly moving fuzzy pale shadow.

 It is fascinating to watch and I tried to take a photo of it with my mobile phone, unfortunately you can’t see the full glory of the Haare with my little mobile.

 It is now well past midnight and the house is hot. My windows are all open but the air is still and heavy, soon I will have to try to ignore the heat and sleep. Work again tomorrow and I think it’s going to be just as hot tomorrow as it has been today.

ARBROATH HOLIDAY 1965

ARBROATH HOLIDAY 1965

I have just found a video clip on YouTube entitled Arbroath Holiday 1965. It’s fascinating, most people know Arbroath is where I live, I’ve shown loads of photos of this town and surrounding area over the last year or so and now I’ve found a film of the town as it was 45 years ago. I’ve been here 20 years now, some things have remained much the same and some things have changed. The real reason this film fascinates me so much is because it shows what the outdoor swimming pool was like. I have always wanted to see the outdoor pool. It was closed by the time I came to live here and now all that remains is part of the outside wall. The area behind that scruffy exterior wall is a night club now, the pool itself was filled in many years ago. I’m a great fan of the old fashioned outdoor swimming pool and find it very sad that so many of them are lost.
This was taken last yeatr so it's good to see some things don't change.


The things that have remained the same (with a little upgrading) are the paddling pool next to the outdoor swimming pool and Kerr’s Miniature railway. This is the little fire engine from Kerrs Miniature railway taken last year..............nice that it's still there.
This is the web site for Kerr's Miniature Railway
http://www.kmr.talktalk.net/

So………….have a look at my photos and then compare them to the same places on the video taken 45 years ago.
The paddling pool hasn't changed that much.


Film courtesy of Ian Mathewson YouTube.

This wall is all that remains of the outdoor pool of arbroath, watch the video to see what it used to be like. Another big difference between then and now is the number of fishing boats in the Harbour, it feels very sad to sit here looking at a harbour full of working fishing boats knowing they are almost all gone now.

Winter Sunset over the sea

On Friday (28/11/08) I finished my work a coupler of hours early. The weather was bitterly cold but dry and without wind. For the first time in months I managed to take one of my favourite walks along the cliff top. I didn't walk too far, just in case the weather changed the sea mists (or the haar as it is called here) came swirling in. The haar comes in very quickly and without warning and makes the cliff top walk treacherous. I was also mindful of the time, the afternoons are short here at this time of year and the sun was very low by 3.00pm. The pink light reflects on every thing, it is just as beautiful here this time of year as it is in the summer, a different kind of beauty.

Boys Jumping off Seaton cliffs 14/07/08

These photos load backwards in to Flickr so the first one is actually the last one, and I can't be bothered to rearange them

A group of lads taking advantage of the good weather and jumping off the cliffs into the sea. Even in July on a day like today the North Sea is cold.

From Seaton Cliffs to Auchmithie

Sign at the beginig of the nature trail

This is a walk I took across the top of Seaton Cliffs from Arbroath to the cliff top village of Auchmithie which lies about 5 miles north of Arbroath. The walk starts at the path across the top of Victoria Park, goes along the Seaton Cliffs (a site of SSSI) which is managed by Scottish Wildlife Trust, on to Dickmont's Den, past the Deil's Heid, to 'the flairs' where an earth mound can be seen which is the remains of a prehistoric defensive fort and then on to seaton Den. Once through the Den you pick up a smaller narrow cliff top path that takes you all the way to the cliff top village of Auchmithie. The whole walk is filled with views across the red sandstone cliffs with stacks and bays looking out to the north sea. There are many types of wild flowers and plants growing there and it is a sea bird nesting place. In all it is about 5 miles.

Angus, Arbroath, Seaton Cliffs

Seaton Cliffs, Nature Reserve, Arbroath, Angus, Scotland

Seaton Cliffs to Auchmithie, the long walk

 

 

From Seaton Cliffs to Auchmithie

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157606192254577/

 

We had a few very nice days at the start of this week and I took the opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I made up my mind a while ago that one day I would walk the whole five miles across the top of the cliffs the old fishing village of Auchmithie. I spend so much time worrying about being eco-friendly and not doing anything that will damage the environment any more than is absolutely necessary that some times; I forget to actually enjoy the environment.  I have to remind my self that if no one bothers to get out there and enjoy it the whole point of protecting the environment is partly lost. So, off I went, camera in hand, water and a snack in bag over shoulders and shoes I could walk in.

Seaton Cliffs, on the North edge of Arbroath, offer the most spectacular and easily accessible walk probably in the whole of Angus (the County). There are enormous red sandstone arches carved out by the raging North Sea, there are blow holes and stacks galore. At this time of the year the cliff top is awash with wild flowers and butterflies and part of this area is managed by the Scottish Wildlife trust as a nature reserve. It is also a designated SSSI (special site of scientific interest). At the start of the cliff top walk you can look down and see ancient cart tracks cut into the rock by the people who collected the raw building material, huge lumps of red sandstone. There is also the remains of a wooden walkway out to a natural deep gully that never empties out, even at the lowest tide. No one has actually told me what this walkway was for; I think its purpose is lost in time.

 

 

As you travel along the path you come to Dickmont’s Den, a deep ravine cut into the cliffs and continuing inland for a few hundred meters. As you walk around this you can gaze out at the colony of breeding sea birds nesting on the rocky outcrop in the middle of this ravine.  Past Dickmont’s Den, (which in its hay day was a paradise for smugglers), and onto three little coves where you can climb down and walk on the beach. This is known locally as ‘The Flairs’ but its official name is Carlingheugh Bay and above carlingheugh there is a large earth mound perched on the highest part of the cliff. This is called Maiden Castle, it is the earthen remains of a prehistoric defensive fort. This is where I chose to sit and eat my lunch and I could see why they chose this piece of the Cliff Face to build a defensive fort, it was like sitting on top of the world, a fantastic experience. Once past The Flairs the pathway begins to narrow and twist and turn. There are steps up and down, hear and there and the pathway becomes very overgrown. Then you arrive at Seaton Den, a thickly wooded gully carved into the rock face to the extent that the sea no longer comes into it. It is a narrow valley with trees rooted in the steep sides and just a trickle of water in the bottom. This pathway continues inland, over a little wooden bridge and then heads out again toward the cliff edge. Once back at the cliff edge and with the sea crashing away below you need to follow the narrow pathway with the cliffs and sea on one side and farmers fields on the other. There are more wild flowers and butterfly’s here. This part of the walk is much more isolated and free from fellow walkers than the pervious part had been. Eventually, after what seemed an age I spotted the first houses from Auchmithie. They were the old coast guard cottages situated on the cliff edge just out side the village itself. Once past these old cottages it was just a matter of walking along the lane to the village itself.

 

Well, I had done the five mile out there and didn’t feel much like attempting the walk back, maybe next time I’ll attempt to do there and back. Fortunately there is a local bus service nad I didn’t have to wait that long before the bus arrived and I could go home.

 

I am so glad I did that walk, even if this is the first and last time I am able to do it I’m glad I did. I have a total of 130 photographs from this epic walk, every photo has a title and a description and it can be watched in its entirety as a slide show, (titles and descriptions included) over at flickr. I would love you to take the time to go over there and sit through the slide show, some of the views are spectacular. But be warned, this is a slide show that lasts maybe 15 minutes or more. Not something to do in a hurry, of course if you prefer you could just take a quick look at the pictures without bothering with the slide show. Either way, I totally enjoyed this walk and I hope you do too. We really DO need to protect out environment, all of this is far too precious to risk losing.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157606192254577/

Seaton Cliffs, first few days of July 2008

Seaton Cliffs, Arbroath, Scotland. Taken with Fujifilm S5000. Trying out the zoom lense. Amazing what you see on those cliffs, every day is different.

Picture Perfect, Freedom

 

These last few days the weather has been wonderful and I have amused my self by going for long walks all around Seaton Cliffs, happily wandering along watching the birds and the sea. Every time I go there I find something different, I have seen a group of young people standing on a cliff excitedly shouting about the dolphins in the water. I have seen cormorants swooping and diving for fish. I have seen young boys’ way out on the rocks with their fishing lines. I’ve seen young rock climbers practising. It has been a totally beautiful couple of days. Obviously I took my camera, a Fujifilm S500, and I took the opportunity to practice with the zoom lens, something I am not very good at. This is a fairly complicated camera compared to my previous ‘click n go’ ones and it is taking me a while to learn how to use it. This weeks PP theme is ‘FREEDOM’,  the batch of photos I’ve collected over the last couple of days show every thing I associate with the word ‘Freedom’, my only problem was chosing which one of these photos to post. I finally made my selection but I have also posted the whole lot in flickr and am about to put them in a multiply album too. I know how difficult it is to get round every ones PP entry without stopping off to have a look at a whole album. But maybe when you have a bit more time you might like to take a look. This is the first time I have used the zoom lens so some of these photos are not that good.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605963007585/

 

 

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/67/Seaton_Cliffs_first_few_days_of_July_2008

 

How Many Wild Flowers Can YOU Name???

How many wild flowers can you name?

Today has been a happy day, my computer is returned to me, de-bugged, installed, connected and behaving moderately well. The only minor hic-up I am left with is the mysterious and total absence of all sound on any imported video or music. This is most odd since I am able to play CD’s and DVD’s on the computer. But, after being computer-less for more than a week I can cope for a while longer without YouTube. And so, knowing I would be able to sit here happily playing on my computer tonight, I decided to have a bit of a walk along the cliffs and maybe bring back some nice photos to share.

 

It was a gloriously hot and sunny afternoon  with strong blustering winds. The gulls love those strong air currents they ‘sit’ in the air allowing them selves to be taken higher and higher with out moving a muscle, just relying on the power of the wind. Then they tumble sideways, releasing themselves from the air stream and glide back to the rocks below. Just before they hit the rocks they change angle, their feet come forward, outstretched at 45 degrees below and in front of the body and the wings fold behind them, pointing skyward. It’s at this angle that the birds land on the rocks. It’s quite amazing to sit at the top of the cliffs looking down onto the outcrop stacks where the gulls nest. This is a place that looks as if it should be quiet and peaceful but it very rarely is and today it was noisier then ever. The gulls screeched, the waves crashed and the wind howled. Despite the strong winds I managed to walk quite a way along the cliff top path, and in doing so could not help noticing how many wild flowers are in bloom at the moment. As I walked and took photos and walked some more and took more photos an idea began to form. I thought to myself,

    ‘I wonder if I could find all the names to all these wild     plants.’

And then I thought to my self,

   ‘I wonder how many people actually know what these plants are called.’

All of which is quite sad really, if I were a child walking this path 100 years ago not only would I know the name of every plant I would also know what it could be used for. I would know which plants were edible, which were poisonous and which had a medical use. I would know how to pick these plants, how to store these plants and which part of the plant was useful, the flowers, the roots, the stems or the leaves. All this knowledge that was once so common, known to every one, is now lost to all but a few.

So…… here are all the photos, how many can YOU name??, answers in the comments box please.

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/64/The_Wild_Flowers_of_Seaton_Cliffs_29.06.08

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605884414459/

The Wild Flowers of Seaton Cliffs, 29.06.08

Just before the actual cliffs start there is a steep embankment full of these white flowers

Today I thought I would see how many different types of wild flowers I could find as I walked along the Cliffs. It was quite windy along the cliffs today, maybe too windy to be leaning over the edge taking photographs.

HOW MANY WILD FLOWERS CAN YOU NAME????

A WALK ALONG SEATON CLIFFS

SEATON CLIFFS, MONDAY 5^TH MAY 2008-05-05

It has been an absolutely beautiful sunny day today. I decided to take myself on one of my favourite walks, the walk along the top of the cliffs looking out toward the  sea. These cliffs are great red sandstone stacks and gullies jutting out into the North Sea. The only thorn in my side  was discovering my camera doesn’t work, even that didn’t dampen my spirits because I have already stored a complete album of pictures taken  a couple of years ago while wandering along the cliff path. (They are all in my photos just take a look) Today was one of those days when the sea, sun and sky merge into haze at the horizon. The sea that is usually grey and foreboding in this area was transformed into a shimmering body of water cascading onto the rocks below. In places the cliffs rise 50 foot above the sea, looking down is awe inspiring but not for the faint hearted.

I hadn’t gone very far when I saw a cormorant sitting, wings outstretched, on a ledge some 30 foot beneath me. Then I noticed he wasn’t alone, the ledge he was on was directly above a series of small rocks jutting out of the sea and on the rocks sat another four of these magnificent birds. I left the path and sat on the grass verge as near to the cliff edge as I dare, I sat there for ages just watching the birds. I was surrounded by primroses, primroses are not that common anymore and these sprawled hap-hazzardly down the cliff edge until the undergrowth stopped and bare rock started. Suddenly the biggest bird, the one I noticed first, seemed to stand on tip toes, point its yellow beak seaward and take off. No aeroplane could possible match the grace and precision of that flight. The bird soared skyward and then swooped down toward the sea.

It never actually touched the sea; it just skimmed the surface and flew in a huge semi circle, its great black wings outstretched, jet black against the sparkling blue sea. When it was strategically placed it floated up, effortlessly, on an air current, and landed exactly where it had taken off from. This seemed almost like a reconnaissance mission, his safe landing triggered the other birds, who had all sat motionless on the rocks in the sea, to take off in all directions. They soared, and flapped and glided and swooped, sometimes they seemed to narrowly miss each other, and one by one they skimmed the surface of the sea before landing on the sea, turning in the water and swimming toward the land.  Once in the sea the depth of the swell became apparent. I hadn’t noticed this before, I had been too engrossed in the primroses, the birds and the crashing waves on rocks, to notice how full and deep the swell had become. These little birds were swept up and down, up and down, up and down, as they swam valiantly inwards. When they reached the cliff face they seemed to stand up in the water and stretch skyward before taking off and gliding down to take their place next to the big bird on the ledge. He had sat motionless watching them. When they landed, one by one to take their places in a row next to him, he shifted his position so slightly it was almost unnoticeable. And then they all sat, like a row of little statues, looking out to sea and watching the advancing tide sweep over the exposed rocks.  Sitting on my grassy verge enveloped in a swaying carpet of primroses I felt as if this whole incident had been played out for my benefit. It was a bit like having a very expensive seat at an exclusive performance, all played out to a live soundtrack of crashing waves, a chorus of songbirds and gulls squawking. The backdrop was the clear blue sky melting into a hazy horizon above the sea. The sea was strewn with shafts of sunlight and foamy white waves that left a thousand little rainbows as they hurled themselves onto the cliff face.  Oh what a very pleasant afternoon, who needs anything else when we have all this for free. This, I hope is the first of many such days now that the summer weather has finally made an appearance. 

As I already said, unfortunately my camera chose today of all days to die, I’ve just managed to get myself a working computer and now it looks as if I’ll have to get a new camera as well. But please do take a look at the album of pictures called Seaton Cliffs, they were taken a couple of years ago but the cliffs haven’t changed that much in a couple of years. The pictures of cormorants I found on the internet and the pictures of the sea I took last week, on the beach below the cliffs.

http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/popup_reserves/east/seaton.htm

http://walking.visitscotland.com/walks/perthangusfife/seaton-cliffs