Tag: Scottish Coastline

Common Guillemot

Tue 19th Oct '21

When we visit Scotland to see family & friends we try to make time to explore more of the country of my birthplace. I have to admit I have probably explored more of the North-East of Scotland in the 10 years since I have moved away than I ever did when lived there.

Earlier this year we took the opportunity to explore RSPB Fowlsheugh (Crawton, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire), which we had been informed was an excellent location for seeing nesting seabirds such as Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, and Puffins. It’s estimated that Fowlsheugh is home to more than 130,000 breeding seabirds during Spring and Summer. So with cameras packed and off we went exploring along the cliffs and coastal path.

One of the many seabirds that I was lucky enough photograph on this visit was the Common Guillemot aka Common Murre. We were being careful and respectful of the wildlife by sticking to the paths along the cliff tops. The views over the North Sea and of the seabirds are breathtaking. I would highly recommend visiting.

Red Campion

Sun 29th Aug '21

After 15 months of not being able to travel much further than our own local area due to the COVID pandemic, we finally managed to venture over the border to Scotland in June to visit family and friends. This meant we were able to explore more of the North-East of Scotland’s coastline and take in some of magnificent coastal views.

This was our first trip to Bullers of Buchan (Aberdeenshire), which is about 6 miles south of Peterhead. We’d heard several reviews stating it was a perfect location for Puffin spotting, so we actually went with the mission of hopefully being able to photograph some Puffins. Sadly we did not manage to spot any to photograph. We did manage to capture a few good photos of some other seabirds, which I’m saving for another post.

As well as being a perfect location for photographing seabirds, the rugged coastline and flora are just magnificent to photograph. The cliffs are covered in various wildflowers including these Red Campions, which line the edges of the foot-trails along the cliffs. I couldn’t resist photographing the flowers as they swayed in the wind looking out to sea.