I am not sure where exactly we crossed into East Lothian, but by the time we reached Torness that's where we were. Near where the cycle path begins there's a lake, Whitesands Quarry, and another prolongued stop added Great Crested Grebe and Pochard for the trip. This was where I first detected some frustration - checklist #49 if you were wondering - so she did pretty well. There was a Yellow Wagtail along here somewhere as well.
So, East Lothian. In contrast to the Borders I've actually been birding here a few timest. My first recorded visit was for a Hoopoe in 2010. I'd been staying in Fife and back in those days I thought nothing of driving a few hours for a bird, I was at my most rabid. It was near a burn at Dunglass. I then neglected the county for a decade before going birding at Musselburgh in 2020 when there was a White-winged Scoter present off the beach. In then in 2022 I went to Aberlady Bay and dipped something but I can't now remember what it was. Presumably a duck of some kind. These visits meant I started this trip on 68 species, but with none of them having been in the summer months I was missing lots of common things.
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| The Bass Rock looms large |
We bought a picnic lunch (as well as food for the evening) from the Co-Op in Dunbar and took it to the seafront where we found a pleasant bench. This close to the Bass Rock Gannet passage was excellent, and my count of 750 is probably a massive underestimate. There was a sole Fulmar and also just one Sandwich Tern, but Kittiwakes were passing in good numbers. Things like Sand Martin, Swallow and Swift were all new.
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Seafield Lagoon |
At this point we headed inland, cutting out the lump of North Berwick and Gullane. We cycled past Seafield Lagoon which necessitated another stop, and then encountered what I felt was possibly the most miserable part of the route so far, a three mile straight line slog alongside the A199 against a direct 20mph headwind. We turned south at East Linton and from there it was only a few miles to our stop for the night at Morham. This was a one room bothy in the middle of endless cabbage fields that Mrs L had stayed in before, and it was possibly my favourite night of them all despite having to sleep in a sleeping bag on a rock solid bunk. It just had some real charm about it. We enjoyed a basic but very tasty home-cooked meal, a jammy Co-Op syrah without any finesse whatsoever, and listened to an episode of A Prairie Home Companion which somehow seemed appropriate.
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| Bell's Bunkhouse Bothy. Sleeps 6. |
The following morning we woke up to rain. Pah! Thanks Scotland. We packed up and got ready as slowly as we possibly could but ultimately were forced to leave in some light mizzle of the sort that gets you wet but not really wet. I did not break out the waterproof trousers. Despite the weather I continued birding, and by the time we reached Haddington it had brightened up sufficiently to get my bins out. We cycled along a small river into town, the hightlights being a pair of Grey Wagtail by the weir, and a calling Green Woodpecker closer to town.
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| The Great East Lothian Cabbage Belt |
After a nice but bad for me breakfast in a local deli (where we also stocked up on another picnic lunch), we headed up towards the coast a Longniddry. This was along a disused railway line and was quite wonderful, with lots of Warblers, Blackbirds, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, a Buzzard and best of all a male Bullfinch.
But we did, and at a perfect time for lunch. I wanted to go and explore the lagoons, so she settled down to more sock and I scooted off. I joined some birders on the sea wall looking for (and finding, with Velvets) the long-staying drake Surf Scoter, and then cycled up to the old lagoons. These were teeming with birds until two young ladies decided to try and inflate a dinghy on one. I mean really? Anyway, lots of Little Gull on the left hand pool, with Shelduck, Lapwing, Redshank and a few Dunlin, and then at least seven Common Sandpiper on one of the rear pools. There was supposed to a Wood Sandpiper knocking around as well, and I was a little disappointed when the intrepid rowers failed to put it up. Lots of Pied Wagtail on the short grass.
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| Surf Scoter in amongst Velvet Scoters |
I rejoined Mrs L at the Esk and we carried on into Edinburgh, East Lothian finishing on a pleasing but oh-so-close 97. My Edinburgh list stood at just 26 and is basically just my sister's garden and the airport. A couple of random housing estates added Song Thrush and Long-tailed Tit, and then all of a sudden we were rounding Arthur's seat and after a long graffiti'd tunnel popped out quite near the Royal Mile. From having been in the middle of nowhere for large parts of trip to now be in a huge throng of people was a little discombobulating, but we took it in for a while before carrying on to my sister's house, the run of which we had to ourselves as the whole family was out. We did boring things like all of our washing, and then walked into town to Aizle, a posh restaurant I'd booked a few days earlier when the deep-fried fare had been getting me down. We had a five course tasting menu that was simply exquisite, with wines that matched the food well but were (in my spoiled brat universe) fairly unexciting. I failed to take any photos of the food as seems so de-rigeur these days, but it was as beautiful as it was delicious.
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| Edinburgh |
Well rested and well fed, we awoke the next morning for the final leg. Over the Forth Road Bridge and onwards into Fife. I am not sure of the exact route, but it was inland rather than along the coast, passing through Craigleith and Davidson's Mains to Dalmeny and finally to Queensferry. I'd been looking forward to this bit.
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| Never gets old |
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