KIPPERS (26/04/10)

Today is Caster and castle day. We caught the bus to Caster, pronounced like the sugar.  We arrived around eight o’clock in bright sunshine. There was a bit of a nip in the wind but still a very pleasant morning. Caster is famous for it’s smokehouse which converts Herring into kippers using oak chippings to provide the smoke. The variety produced here are supposedly the best in the world. I will try one before we leave and put up with the truck reeking of smoked fish for weeks, perhaps the BBQ is the sensible option

.   A fish eye view for a fishy village. Caster.

   It is a very nice place, though I found it hard to get a decent shot.

   The road out and the road in for that matter.

    The smoke house, the black streaks are a tar like substance, don’t know whether it’s fish juice or wood tar and I was not in the mood for a taste test.

   A level walk of around a mile brought us within heaving distance of Dunstanbugh Castle or what is left of it. It’s not doing too badly considering it’s exposed position and the fact it’s seven hundred years old. This image was shot through a warm up filter and polariser.

     The main gate. It doesn’t open till ten so rather than hang around for an hour I decided the inside could wait for another day.

  This is the North tower. just around to the left there is a one hundred and fifty foot cliff which drops straight down into the North Sea. It was impractical to even attempt a shot today as the sun was right in front of me. Plenty of sea birds nest building on the cliff so given a cloudy day I may even identify them.

   On we plodded to Embleton Bay, in total contrast to yesterday, we didn’t meet a soul. This walk of half a mile or so between the golf course on one side and the sea on the other is full of bird life. Lots of Skylarks, numerous unidentified wee brown jobs and several Small White butterflies. I will return for some dawn pictures and take a long lens with me so I can have guesses at what I’ve captured.

This is an example, a heavily cropped example of what in my inexpert but considered opinion is a Stonechat.

     Dunstanburgh Castle taken on the way back home. I was getting bored with Mediterranean blue skies so thought I’d finish with black and white.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings but it looks as if a very early start is called for.