Book Review

Lazybones by Mark Billingham
Probably the best word to describe a Mark Billinham novel is gritty. They feature DI Tom Thorne and are set in London which is quite unusual, (Morse - Oxford, Rebus - Edinburgh). I am sure that there must be others, particularly amongst novels set in Victorian times, but the only other detective working in London that comes readily to mind is Sherlock Holmes. This is the third novel in the series that I have read, and I have enjoyed them all. Although in the last few chapters I began to suspect what was going to happen, he builds up the tension very well and the end is terrifying.
Particularly enjoyed the previous Mark Billingham novel that I read - Lifeless. In that one Thone goes undercover amongst the down and outs in London to try to find out who is killing ex-servicemen. It describes what life is like for the homeless in London very well.
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Previously read in the series
Scaredy cat
Lifeless

Cleft in the Rock

I am always fascinated by this v-shaped cleft in the rock opposite the pier in Lower Largo, and wonder how it got to be like that. It takes on various shapes depending on the angle that it's viewed from.

At low tide one can clamber over the rocks to stand in the cleft.

Can look through the cleft to the other side of the Forth. The triangular shape of North Berwick Law is just visible on the horizon.

Hellebore

Hellebores produce welcome flowers in the winter, and I particularly like this dark-petaled one.. I bought this one as a small plant some years ago, and for some time it never flowered, however, in the last couple of years it has started to produce these beautiful blooms. Although they are so lovely, all parts of the plant are extremely poisonous. All hellebores contain glycosides that are fatal to man and animals. Nowadays poisoning occurs mainly in cattle and other livestock, which have access to the green parts in severe winters.

Tube Worms

Tube worms on stone, mussel shells, whelk shell and cockle shell.

I'd noticed that some shells on the beach, particularly mussel shells, had strange white squiggly deposits on them. I assumed this was some sort of chalky material. It took me a little while to find out exactly what these were, but the Internet can be a wonderful thing and simply putting the question 'What are the white squiggly things on mussel shells?' to Google gave me the answer. They are in fact the homes of tiny tube worms, the examples in the photo, which I collected from the beach at Lundin Links today, are I think Keel Worms (Pomatoceros Species). They live permanently attached to hard structures, such as stones or shells, living inside a protective tube that they produce themselves from sand grains a chalky substance and mucus secretions. The tube narrows to a point at the tail end and has a prominent “keel” or ridge along its length. At high tide the keel worm puts out a small crown of colourful tentacles, which filter food particles from the water. When the tide goes out it withdraws the tentacles back into the tube

Herring Gull

Gulls on the pier at Lower Largo Harbour. Herring gull is much bigger than the black-headed gulls in the background.

Herring gull standing on the edge of the pier.

Blackcap Returns

The blackcap returned today (see post 17th January). The pictures are not terribly clear, as I took them through the kitchen window, but I think the black cap is visible.

February Birdwatch

Dreadful weather today - wind, rain, sleet, snow, and gales. List of birds seen similar to January, but in addition saw a wren and a great tit. Wren seems to prefer the front garden, perhaps because it gets peace away from the aggresive robin, which always seems to be chasing the dunnocks away.

Robin 1
Wood pigeon 2
Dunnock 3
Blue tit 2
House sparrow 2
Starling 1
Chaffinch - male 1
Chaffinch - female 1
Blackbird - male 2
Blackbird - female 3
Great tit 1
Wren 1