North Berwick and Bass Rock

Well the final post for our week away.

As I said we went up to Edinburgh to stay with our daughter for the weekend instead of heading south. Whilst driving up the A1 we had a brain wave, as Sunday was Fathers day then surely I could choose what we did, so we popped into the Seabird Centre at North Berwick, checked the boat times and put it to Jen and Jono when we got there, happily they were up for it, so after a great meal out at Tom Kitchin's Gastro Pub (just 5 minutes walk from their flat) on the Saturday night, we had a lie in, a great breakfast, some lovely prezzies then headed out for the 2pm boat trip around the islands. We thought we had left plenty of time, but roadworks delayed us (they weren't there the day before!) and after some frantic driving and phone calls to the Seabird Centre we made it (Luckily the boat was delayed anyway, otherwise we would have missed it!)

So after calming down, go to the loo, grabbing a coffee to take on board we set off in lovely sunshine, first out to Craigleith, where the Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Puffins and Shag were in abundance, plus the odd Razorbill, not so many as on the Farnes and of course the predators, Great Black Back and Herring Gulls.
Just a few snaps for the record, as very much Farnish:

We made a circuit of the Craigleith Island before heading out to the star of the show Bass Rock, it was just amazing, we had seen Gannets close up before at Bempton Cliffs but this was in another league, the Gannets were everywhere, the sky was full of them and there didn't to be a square inch of rock left for any of them to land (the smell from both Islands was a bit special too!)

So I hope this small selection of photos, gives you some idea of what it was like (as usual I will put more up in the gallery):

Then it was back to North Berwick and our final treat, Half a Lobster and Chips with a nice glass of White from the Lobster Shack in the harbour.

More Photos

I have to thank our daughter for putting up with the birding! But we are worth it!

Blackheath seems a bit quiet after all that (Though had a Bullfinch in the garden this morning!)

Til the next post.....
Tom & Tina