Seabirds are Love

[dolorous_ett]

I gave myself Saturday off on mental health grounds, and bunked off to North Berwick to see the seabirds.

Of course, I'd have been a lot quicker off the mark if my computer hadn't chosen that morning to go all weird on me (all sorted, thankfully). But by running I just managed to catch the last tourist boat to the Bass Rock - and I do mean just - the last rope was being coiled as I came pounding down the road at an ungainly run. Think the It's Man at the start of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and you'll get the general idea.

For those of you who don't know the Bass Rock, it is this dirty great lump of rock sticking out of the sea just off the coast - and at this time of year it is literally covered in seabirds, mostly gannets. You think  "Oh, what a big white rock" and then you get a bit closer and realise that it's white from all the birds nesting on it - not the guano either, the actual creatures, who nest a beak's length apart, being territorial, rather bad-tempered and endowed with long, pointy beaks. The air above the Rock is thick with gannets, which are odd-looking things even in sillhouette - long tails, long necks, long wings, like a big X shape, only very pointy at one end. Have you read the scene in the Dragons' Run from the Ursula Le Guin Wizard of Earthsea books? Because it's the nearest thing you'll ever get to seeing flocks of dragons in real life.

Some gannets nest down closer to the water, and you can get a good look at them doing gannet things: sky-pointing (crouched with beak pointing skywards to warn its mate prior to takeoff), beak-fencing (the charming thing gannet pairs do to reinforce the pair-bond. If you're close enough there's an audible clonking noise), pecking at a bird that landed by the wrong nest and making a curious honking noise that is surprisingly pleasant. You wouldn't want to cuddle a gannet, but they really are a bit special.

Though there are other seabirds that could give them a run for their money: puffins, bobbing on the waves or fluttering through the air like clockwork toys, paddle feet dangling; cormorants with their snaky necks drying their wings; shags with their tufts and funny green eyes; neat little guillemots standing upright like brown and white penguins only more pointy about the beak... so many birds and you're probably bored already. But seabirds are love. Really they are.

A tip for any of you who are passing through North Berwick. There is a fantastic Seabird Centre - you can watch the gannets and the puffins through remote cameras and see films. But if you're prone to seasickness, do not watch the Too Much Information video on gannets before you take a boat trip - last time I visited the Bass Rock I couldn't stop thinking of images of the parent bird feeding its chick regurgitated fish as the boat bobbed up and down in an alarming manner...

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

Yay! North Berwick! I used to go there with my grandparents as a child.

I think fulmars are my favourite sea-bird, though. They are so sweet...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I used to go there with my grandparents as a child.

There were a lot of families with children on Saturday, so it looks like some things never change...

I think fulmars are my favourite sea-bird, though. They are so sweet...

One oiled my brother when he was little. I thought it was really funny.

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

Berwick is gorgeous. I've only ever passed though it on the train (used to live on the East Coast of Scotland) but what a pretty town and countryside!

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it? The train ride is a treat in itself...

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

Definitely! And we always used to get onto home ground at dusk, and how beautiful is Scotland at dusk? *purrs*

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely - how well you describe them all! Couldn't you have brought some sea birds back with you to provide more long-term cheering? I was at the seaside too this weekend, but the only birds we saw were blackheaded gulls - not quite as exciting...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to have an Imaginary Gannet to walk beside me and guard me from harm. Next time someone pisses me off it will stab them with its beak!

A good notion - cheered me up a lot. Thanks!

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

what? do i have a scottish person on my flist? YAY!!!! FINALLY!!! adn god timingtoo now thati 'm reading elizabeth byrd'sbook on Mary Stuart adn jsut i don't know ,bewick .castles. rocks and mist and intrigues and plotting
oh yeah. seabirds. i hope ther are these mini rock-caves where the ydive inand out of. that was fun in ireland.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I'm not a real Scot, sadly - though I've had some near misses. I was born in Scotland to English parents, raised in England and live in Scotland. I've always wanted to be Scottish, but I don't quite make the grade. Sorry.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

well i' mnotthat picky.
queen mary isn'tscottisheither. is jkr herself a pure scots...woman(is that aword). i mostly MEANT to say yay i finaly have someone on m yflist who lives there. heh...

[ajat.livejournal.com]

Whoa ! Ye Scot too ? YAY !

:)

But ... Why no picciez of birdies ? *pout*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Whoa ! Ye Scot too ? YAY !

As I said above, I'm close, but not quite. Despite always wanting to be Scottish... but they don't let just anyone be Scottish, more's the pity - you have to work for it!

But ... Why no picciez of birdies ? *pout*

I'm sorry! I just don't have the technical skills!

But [Unknown site tag] below has done two nice posts recently - an oriole and an owl.

[ajat.livejournal.com]

Work at being Scottish ?! HEE ! Great concept ! Ye know, I scored 75% in a StPaddy's day HowIrishAreYe quiz … Shocking !

:D

Irish lady in my f-list was only 50% HEE HEE !!! So miffed about it ! *giggle*

But … I din't get the lj-name you gave … maybe some problem with coding ?

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Birdy season on L_J! Lazy_neutrino has posted about Florida recently and I've started my bird-series (tomorrow more), and now you. Cool!

Too far from the sea for gannets here - and the are a rare occurence on our coast anyway. Funny, in Polish they're literally called "stupid birds" because of their weird and complicated courting-dance.

More birds = more love.
Please more bird-posts.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go out looking for more birds. I'm really very fond of them - though not an expert, having only got interested a few years ago.

In English if you call someone "you gannet" it means they're greedy - eating too fast and too much. I believe there's also a bird called a "booby", though I've never seen one - I don't think they're native birds.

I loved your owls and orioles, by the way. Dare I hope for more?

[ajat.livejournal.com]

The booby's a shy sort of water bird, I think ... eats snails and stuff ... hides in reeds ... sort of greenish ...

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

ohhhh. sea birds. What a nice change from office politics.

Icon love!

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

They're fantastic - so alive, so... non-politicky.

(I'm sorry if I'm being tedious in the matter of office politics, by the way. I'll try not to do it again - normally I'd promise but i have a terrible, furious rant building...)

[saralinda.livejournal.com]

I don't like gannets. They wet their nests.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

True - and how.

Still, at least they don't expect their mummy gannets to wipe up after them...

[aerama.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, a blanket of white due to SEABIRDS. How cool is that.
What a perfect day.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

They are pretty amazing. Though I bet there are brilliant creatures where you live too...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

From the troubles of this world I turn to gannets
That sounds like the first line of a poem. Congratulations on actually getting up and taking the day off – something that can be surprisingly hard to do. It sounds marvellous.

Poem correctly identified.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

You're right. I first heard this line quoted in the brilliant "Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen" - but this is the poem in full.

Ducks


(To E.M., Who drew them in Holzminden Prison)

I

From troubles of the world I turn to ducks,
Beautiful comical things
Sleeping or curled
Their heads beneath white wings
By water cool,
Or finding curious things
To eat in various mucks
Beneath the pool,
Tails uppermost, or waddling
Sailor-like on the shores
Of ponds, or paddling
- Left! Right! - with fanlike feet
Which are for steady oars
When they (white galleys) float
Each bird a boat
Rippling at will the sweet
Wide waterway ...
When night is fallen you creep
Upstairs, but drakes and dillies
Nest with pale water-stars.
Moonbeams and shadow bars,
And water-lilies:
Fearful too much to sleep
Since they've no locks
To click against the teeth
Of weasel and fox.
And warm beneath
Are eggs of cloudy green
Whence hungry rats and lean
Would stealthily suck
New life, but for the mien
The hold ferocious mien
Of the mother-duck.

II

Yes, ducks are valiant things
On nests of twigs and straws,
And ducks are soothy things
And lovely on the lake
When that the sunlight draws
Thereon their pictures dim
In colours cool.
And when beneath the pool
They dabble, and when they swim
And make their rippling rings,
0 ducks are beautiful things!
But ducks are comical things:-
As comical as you.
Quack!
They waddle round, they do.
They eat all sorts of things,
And then they quack.
By barn and stable and stack
They wander at their will,
But if you go too near
They look at you through black
Small topaz-tinted eyes
And wish you ill.
Triangular and clear
They leave their curious track
In mud at the water's edge,
And there amid the sedge
And slime they gobble and peer
Saying 'Quack! quack!'

III

When God had finished the stars and whirl of coloured suns
He turned His mind from big things to fashion little ones;
Beautiful tiny things (like daisies) He made, and then
He made the comical ones in case the minds of men
Should stiffen and become
Dull, humourless and glum,
And so forgetful of their Maker be
As to take even themselves - quite seriously.
Caterpillars and cats are lively and excellent puns:
All God's jokes are good - even the practical ones!
And as for the duck, 1 think God must have smiled a bit
Seeing those bright eyes blink on the day He fashioned it.
And he's probably laughing still at the sound that came out of its bill!

FW Harvey

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

You paint a vivid picture. I could almost see them. I've never seen a puffin in real life, and would really love to - they look so cute in pictures.

It's kestrel time here. We've had a pair nesting in a hole in the side of the house each year since we came here. The young have just left the nest and for a few days the garden was alive with squabbling mini-kestrels. Hubby got some pictures, and I'll try and post a few to satisfy the bird lovers.

MM

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Puffins are amazing. What the pictures don't tell you is that they are weeny - only about a foot high. And they flap their wings incredibly quickly when they fly.

A kestrel... wow. I'd love to see the pics!

[fungus-files.livejournal.com]

Awww. I love puffins! That place sounds fab. *adds to dream-trip itinerary*

And birds with the regurgitation: they enjoy it way too much.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Well, if you ever do go on your dream tour, it's worth a visit. Though sadly lacking in cacti.

And birds with the regurgitation: they enjoy it way too much.

The chicks in that Too-much-information video certainly did! Though I suppose if you've never had anything else...