Abercorn to Blackness

All this wet weather is having a devastating effect on wildlife and many breeding birds are suffering badly. Ground nesting birds are either having their nests flooded or their eggs/chicks chilled and many are failing to raise young this year. Those that nest in holes on the banks of rivers such as Sand Martins and Kingfishers are finding their nests completely submerged with no hope for the chicks.
I have hardly seen any butterflies this year so they must also be suffering.
Some wildlife, especially some plants seem to be managing in particular Foxgloves. I've never seen so many Foxgloves out in the countryside and they seem to be even taller than normal with some over two metres high (that's six and a half feet in old money).
We were out for a walk on a rare dry day along the cycle pathway that leads from Abercorn (just west of South Queensferry) to Blackness and saw hundreds of Foxgloves:

Moira refused to stand beside the Foxgloves as a height comparison as she would have to climb up a banking and battle through the undergrowth.
The colours were so varied as well, there was Pink Foxgloves, White Foxgloves............

 ........and even Pink & White Foxgloves

Another plant which seemed to be doing very well were the Ox-eye Daisies, there was a massive bank of them on the slopes near the path, it's really quite a pretty plant when you see it close up and is about ten times the size of the daisy you get in your garden (probably nearer 20 times)

There was also a strange plant which I did not recognise, most likely an escapee from nearby Hopetoun House. So if any you gardeners/horticulturists out there can tell me what it is then that would be great (I had it down as a Triffid)

The birds were all being very secretive and hiding in the bushes and trees so I have no photos of them I'm afraid. I did manage to capture a Bumble Bee on a Spear Thistle but that was the only flying object I got, and it wasn't even flying at the time.

Once we crossed the Midhope burn the path ran alongside the River Forth, so we popped down to the beach to see what was about. They have started working on the main supports for the new Forth Bridge and we could see the large caisson in position, which they sit on the river bed and then pump out the water inside so they can start to pour the concrete foundations for the main support. Don't know what the large floating crane was doing though.

Talking about large cranes, we could also see the huge crane they shipped over from China to Rosyth to help build the new aircraft carriers. I think there is a U-tube video of this thing squeezing under the Forth Bridges when they delivered it.

So there is a lot of activity on the Forth at the moment, we still have sleepy little villages though like Limekilns and Charleston below on the Fife side:

And the historic Blackness Castle on the West Lothian side:

I won't bore you with too much history but Blackness Castle was built in the 15th Century and was more of a fortress (and also a prison) and Linlithgow Palace was the royal residence.

These previous photos were taken from the beach alongside the Abercorn to Blackness cycle/walkway and to prove I was on a beach here is a photo of some shells (very artistic):

After spending some time on the beach we headed back to Abercorn, stopping to spend a little time at the lovely little church they have there. Parts of it date back to the 12th Century but it is built on the grounds of a much older monastery, so it's not a new place.









I really love the church bell which is linked to a blue nylon rope so you can ring it from the outside, that beats any door chime I've seen before.

The church graveyard has some scary gravestones and I wouldn't like to spend a night there, the one below is covered in skulls!!

Ah! they knew how to make them back in the 18th Century, this next one even has a skull and cross-bones. I wonder if he was a pirate, maybe from Carriden near Bo'ness just a few miles up river.....

"Pirates of the Carriden".................that has a familiar ring to it??

I'll leave you with my favourite gravestone in Abercorn Church where it seems the stonemason refused to change his font size to match the column width:







Sorry if that was a bit morbid, no more gravestones.

Take ca

re Tedd

y Edwa

rd.