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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NIK III" data-source="post: 929202" data-attributes="member: 28181">Hi All,The Head is a 3 mile circular walk which I find easy spending all day doing. Arriving in the car park early the still morning was broken only by birdsong from the surrounding trees. Mainly our garden birds but Blackcap was amongst them. Woodpigeons looked down on me from nearby farm buildings. Swallows and Housemartins put on their aerobatic display around some cottages. An unclassified road runs from the car park past the farm and cottages, past a copse, through fields, past a loch and up to the seacliffs and lighthouse. A few hawthorn bushes beyond the cottages had more of our garden birds. Gorse bushes at the side of the road have Yellowhammers. I sat down hoping for a closer look at the Yellowhammers but instead had a close encounter with 150 sheep the farmer was driving back to the farm. Rooks in and around the copse provided background cawing which Yellowhammers and Skylarks competed with. Leaving the road a track leads down to Mire Loch. Several Willow Warblers and a Whitethroat were singing. Damselflies hovered in the vegetation. A Pied Wagtail flitted around the waters edge. Tufted Ducks splashed around, and Coots and Moorhens were present. A Mute Swan sailed her flotilla of cygnets. The path along and above the loch had more Willow Warblers, some Chiffchaffs, a Sedge Warbler, and popping up everywhere were Linnets. 5 Hares were in a field close by. One gave another a left and a right to the nose, but half hearted no boxing match. Lots of Kittiwakes were having a communal bath in the loch. Reed Buntings perched and swayed in the reeds. Several Stonechats flitted around gorse bushes.  A sunbathing Crow looked as if it could do with an ice-cold drink. Past the end of the loch there is the first view of the seacliffs. Flotillas of Guillemots and Razorbills on view. Herring Gulls and Kittiwakes on rocks and ledges. It's a bit of a climb from here up a grassy slope and along to the top of the high seacliffs. This was the view to see. A multitude of Guillemots several with chicks, covered the stacs. After enjoying it for a few seconds it was gone, enveloped in a seamist!  As the mist closed in I sat down with just the sounds and smells of a large seabird colony for company. Three quarters of an hour later the sun broke through again and the mist retreated out to sea. Fulmars glided past a few feet below me. A Shag flew past hugging the water with 2 male Eiders in line astern formation.  A Cormorant flew in the opposite direction. Walking further along the clifftops, strings of Gannets flew past close inshore, heading both north and south. One destination is bound to be Bass Rock and feeding grounds probably the other. I wondered if any travel to Bempton. Maybe someone will satellite tag a few sometime. Further along a surprise was in store. A handful of Gannets had secured a foothold on the edge of a stac with hundreds of Guillemots. It would be an exciting development if they were looking to breed here. Now close to lots of nests there were good views of Kittiwakes sat patiently on eggs. Other ledges were filled with Razorbills and Guillemots. I'm a little more than half way round now and the walk back to the car park has spectacular views. More of the same birds but the lower rocks were dominated by Herring Gulls. Some Shags were nesting low down on the cliff face. A Wheatear appeared on a rocky slope. A bench provided a welcome rest with a view of rafts of Guillemots 80 feet below, and the picturesque harbour of St Abbs just beyond them. One or two Meadow Pipits here, and more Linnets. Then back to the car park. Over 6 hours to do 3 miles. I'll not win any races but a great way to spend a day I think. 44 identified. 15 pics.</blockquote>

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