Sweet Violets

Sweet Violets

There is a short path which runs along the top of the banking by the side of the road leading up to the golf course and at the moment it is carpeted in white sweet violets. There are also patches og snowdrops which are coming to an end, daffodils and chinodoxa.

Breadcrumb Sponge

Breadcrumb Sponge - Halichondria panicea

At low tide the breadcrumb sponge can be found on the beach at Lundin Links and Lower Largo forming a thin layer on some of the rocks under overhangs. It looks nothing like a bathroom sponge. It is covered in crater-like structures called oscula. It looks as if it would be very slimy but feels quite firm and dry to the touch.

Witch's Broom

Witch's Brooms on a Birch Tree on the Common in Lundin Links.

A Witch's broom is a disease in a woody plant. A dense mass of shoots grows from a single point with the resulting structure resembling a broom or bird's nest. In Britain they are generally found only on birch trees. They are the result of a fungus Taphrina betulea. It does not seriously harm the tree, and because of this it is classed as a gall.

Birch Trees on the Common, Lundin Links.

Birds on the Wire

Walking along the disused railway track in Lower Largo, noticed these birds on the telephone wires above. Difficult to identify as they were so far away, but I think they are linnets because of the forked tail, reddish breast with white midline.

Reminded me of a song that I'd heard sung by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy -
All God's creatures got a place in the choir,
Some sing low and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands or paws or anything they've got now

Stormy Skies over East Lothian

Bright sunny evening in Fife but stormy skies across the Forth over North Berwick Law and the Bass Rock

Goldfinch

In recent weeks goldfinches have been coming to the garden to feed on the peanuts.

Low Tide

Oarweed - Laminaria digitata

At low tide the 'forests' of oarweed appear on the rocky shore at Lundin Links..

Oarweed attached to a rock by a branched root-like structure - the 'holdfast'.