Sunday was forecast for showers and light sea winds, so i looked out my cycling waterproof trousers and jacket and headed west to the john muir country park on the surly pugsley, just above the new toilet and shower block (thats almost completed) is this sign that shows some of the wildlife thats on offer and gives the reader some information on the history of the park.
The salt marsh which is a haven for various birds was some what different back in the early 1900s back then there was a nine hole golf course, horse racing, and a shooting range.
As you can see from the picture above its clearly changed, John muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and lived here until the age of 11 then the muir family immigrated to America where they settled in wisconsin, as an adult his pioneering conservation work led him to being dubbed the founder of national parks.
Today the john muir country park covers some of the most spectacular east lothian coastline and is a haven for wildlife, The park stretches from the castle ruins in Dunbar to the Peffer burn, the park also includes the cliff top trail with some spectacular views out over the Firth of Forth including the historic Bass rock and views west along the sandy sweep of Belhaven beach up to the river Tyne estuary, there are also extensive areas of grassland, salt marshes and wooded areas which are great areas for mtb biking or walking. (above a picture of my pugsley)
With the heavy showers and equally heavy ground the legs where starting to get a little tired so i rounded the point and rode along belhaven beach taking a picture or two of the surf and started my trip home to Dunbar to wash down the bike and myself.
As the firth of Forth has several anchor areas for large vessels this is a common sight around our coastline, no idea what the name of this vessel is.
When i made it back to Dunbar i cycled down to the harbor and hosed my bike down at the local lifeboat station of which i am a member, and another permanent member of our coastline is this common grey seal, this is i think a female as they are smaller than males and a little lighter in color if you look closer at the picture you can make out the scaring on her back caused by breeding, so with bike washed it was time to head home for food and coffee and a not so productive afternoon sitting in front of the television.
Great stuff. AIS on the 'Mighty Heron' says that the boat is CAMOR SCHULTE uk, tanker, 128m, call sign ZNVG3. sad eh?
ReplyDeleteAIS handy little tool, we also have it on the trent, i believe there is also a version on the internet that can be accessed although i have never used it.
ReplyDelete