Aberlady Bay

A coastal trip this afternoon, first of all dropping in at the Scottish Ornithological Club HQ (a rather lovely building and garden), then Aberlady Bay, then via a stop for scones/ice cream at Luca’s (an institution in these parts) a walk around the lagoons at Musselborough. H has a bad back, so we didn’t walk too far, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

The main image is looking across Aberlady Bay to the hills of Edinburgh. There was flora in abundance, and I was excited to hear ( and then see, some distance off) sandwich terns, my first terns of the year. Rather nearer at hand a drake eider duck posed for a photograph as I crossed the wooden bridge into the reserve (extra).

The extra is a view across the lagoon area at Musselborough to Levens and the Fife coast. There were splashes of red poppies everywhere. This is a reclaimed landscape. Ash was stored here, a by-product of the nearby (now gone) power station at Cockenzie. It has been stabilised by capping it with coal waste and re-forming the land to create lagoons. A bird on the footpath posed for us (extra). I explained it was a skylark, my walking companion was convinced it was a sparrow, it then ascended upwards singing - rather proving the point.