Birds, flowers and the coastal landscape during my first evening and next morning's wander around and near Berwick Holiday Park - 14th/15th June 2024

I arrived in Berwick-upon-Tweed on Friday afternoon and, after I had settled into the mobile home and had something to eat, I went for a walk along the coastal path at the edge of the park.

Some people were lucky enough to afford to be positioned on the cliff-top with a view of the sea

A Rock Pipit was perching on the fence and singing so much that it did not notice me!

Berwick-upon-Tweed lighthouse, situated at the end of a stone pier, viewed from the top of the cliffs

The holiday park perched on the cliffs

Two Common Mergansers in the foreground and, in the far distance, the white triangular shape of the Emmanuel Head Daymark at the end of Holy Island

Closer view of the lighthouse

Male Pied Wagtail on the beach

For a moment, a distant fishing boat was lit up by the late evening sun

Cornflowers growing near the holiday park - seen during a walk into Berwick-upon-Tweed the next morning

I love Foxgloves - growing in the same area on the way into town

Male Pheasant checking out which mobile home he should choose!

Goosander in Newhaven and wading birds in Cramond, Scotland

In August, while attending the Edinburgh Festival, I took a second day off to visit a couple of small towns on the edge of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian and just a short bus journey from the centre of Edinburgh.  It was a cloudy dull day, but not raining.

The first place I called at was Newhaven, near Leith, and below is a view of the harbour.  At first, I thought that the birds in the harbour were all gulls.  But I was mistaken!

Much to my delight, there was a Goosander!  One minute it was there and the next it wasn't as it kept diving for food.  Luckily I managed to get this photograph of it and have been told that it is a juvenile.

I was with a couple of friends and we had lunch in a pub in Newhaven.  Afterwards one went back to Edinburgh to see a show and one stayed with me.  We got a bus along the coast to the next small town and then walked along the towpath to Cramond, where there was a huge beach.

There is a long row of anti-submarine pylons across the beach between the mainland and a small island that was used for defence purposes during WWII.  Many gulls and wading birds were wandering around on the wet sand.

 An Oystercatcher was doing a balancing act - standing on one leg and stretching out it's black-and-white wing.

Two Curlews with long curved beaks were searching for food.

A group of Redshanks were paddling in a stream that ran across the beach..