Today we were out at Blackness Castle and foreshore. Very windy and wet weather so we parked ten minutes walk away in case the weather got worse – it improved as forecast. A this time of year, we tend to only pick the route and venue on the day of the class, this allows for a better route with the prevailing weather. Today’s venue was relatively sheltered being East facing and sheltered from the westerlies.

The tide was out, the reason we visited today, and the class enjoyed traversing the shore, explore the rock pools and looking for shrimps and crabs. The class learnt how the tide moves in and out with the Moon and Sun. Lots of small shrimps about but no crabs. One of the class lost her socks when a shoe came off in the mud !

There is a huge number of oyster shells on this shoreline, no whole oysters though. Some of the shells are palm size.

Exploring the rock pools, these are just outside the Blackness castle walls. It was a sea port for Linlithgow Palace and the palace was halfway between Stirling and Edinburgh castles.

Large volumes of sea shells here two, Longshore drift depositing them in a  particular part of the bay.