Sunlight on the Forth

The sun shining through, between dark clouds, illuminates ships in the Forth.

A Tangle of Creels

A tangled jumble of ropes and several creels, presumably washed up on the beach at Lundin Links by the recent storm.

Sunday was a beautiful day for a walk and Largo Bay looked stunning.

Wild Weather and Rough Seas

No-one on the swings at the Massney Braes.  Two days of heavy snow showers had left around 10cms of  snow underfoot with some drifting in places.

Looking towards the West of Largo Bay, waves crashing on to the shore.

Down at Lower Largo Harbour, the sea was pounding the pier, which was already in a parlous state.

The sea was channeling behind the Crusoe Hotel and  coming onto the road, leaving behind stones and other debris.

Looking towards the East of Largo Bay

Sun Going Down

Never tire of watching the sun going down over Largo Bay.

Rainbows Over Largo

Rainbow over Largo Law from Lundin Golf Course.
An afternoon of sunshine and showers brought some spectacular rainbows.

 Rainbow over Largo Law from the beach walking towards Lundin Links.

Rainbow over Ruddon's Point at the end of Largo Bay.

Largo Bay at Dusk

 Never tire of the views of the sun setting over Largo Bay

From left to right on the horizon, parked oil platforms, the Pentland hills and the giant wind turbine at Methil.

The sun lights up the wet sand.

Light and shade in the black and white photo.

A young swan, still with it grey feathers, stands alone at the edge of the tide.

The Cocklemill Burn

The Cocklemill Burn emerges at the extreme eastern end of Largo Bay. One of my favourite walks is to park at the small Fife Coastal Path car park close to the caravan site at Shell Bay, then take the path through the woods to  the edge of the trees and then follow the Cocklemill Burn as it meanders to the shore.

 In parts the burn flows beneath high sand dunes.

I think that the holes in the sand dunes here  are used by nesting sand martins.



There are two wooden bridges which take walkers over the burn to reach the sands of Largo Bay. Looking beyond the first bridge can see the Lomond Hills in the distance.

The second bridge.

Looking over the second bridge can see the giant wind turbine at Methil.

The second bridge leads walkers on to Largo Bay.

The marshy ground close to burn. This area of salt marsh is an important resource for several bird species.

Out in the Forth

 Three oil platforms out in the Forth at sunset.

One of the platforms brightly lit.

 The platforms viewed from Keil's Den

The platforms lit by the afternoon sun shining through the clouds. Perhaps they are parked because of the downturn in the oil industry, although this afternoon  I noticed that one of them had gone.

Sharing a Rock

Last week on one day there were two seals sharing this low level rock just off Lundin Links; the next day there were five. They were balancing on the rock, in typical banana shape pose. First time that I've seen them at this spot; more usually on the rocks opposite the first fairway of Lundin Golf Course, but these were on the rocks opposite the swings on the Massney Braes.

Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Every so often, a number of jelly fish get stranded on the beach at Lundin Links. The stranding may depend on particular wind and tide conditions. In this case they were lion's mane jellyfish(Cyanea capillata) which is the world's largest - their bells can be over 2 metres across. However, they vary greatly in size and the bell diameter can be as small as around 10cm. The ones I saw stranded on the beach were around 10 to 25cm across. They have a mass of thin tentacles that resemble a lion's mane, which is where they get their name from.

They can deliver a painful sting, even once washed up dead on the beach and so should not be touched.