I was a little bit obsessed with seals when I was young; or more accurately, I was obsessed with cute, cuddly, white Harp seal pups that have huge dark eyes. Even as I write this, I’ve had to stop and look at a picture of a cute little white fluffy seal pup. We don’t see Harp seals in Scotland because, although it gets cold here, it’s not the Arctic or the North Atlantic so the closest thing we have are Grey seals. Their pups are also covered in white fur, but it’s a grubby white, like children’s clothes after they’ve played outside for more than 3 minutes. As I spent time this morning thinking of seals and pups, it made sense to start today’s walk from Tayport and finish it at Tentsmuir Point where my friend and I had seen seals the other day.
Back I went to Tayport to start The Path in a different direction with a different walking buddy on another beautiful, sunny, spring day. I’m not complaining but it’s been an odd spring this year, with hot days that are almost like summer and cold, frosty nights. My friend summed it up perfectly by saying she’d heard it described as an “Arctic Roll” spring. We set off enjoying the warm sunshine and blue skies as we followed directions along The Path through a caravan park and then through a housing estate. This seemed odd because (as we discovered on our return journey) there is a little gravel path that runs beside the beach which would have been much more scenic than walking past blocks of flats or untidy gardens strewn with faded, abandoned children’s toys. When we reached the entrance to the Nature Reserve, we took a moment to look at the information board describing what we could see in the reserve. Most of the time, I like reading these boards, but this one had too much writing on it and I felt that we could either stand there reading the board for half an hour, or we could actually go and see in real life what it was describing. So, after quickly scanning the pictures for the highlights (anti-tank coastal defences, oystercatchers, blah blah) we left the board behind us and, rather than following the wide gravel pathway into the forest, we decided to veer left and wander along the beach. It was the right choice, the view was of bright yellow sandbanks arching out of the blue water like breaching whale humps. To our right stood the tall Scots pine forest, curving to follow the clear water round the small bay. It looked like a tropical paradise, if those trees had been palms instead of pine and the weather had been 20 degrees warmer. A bed of short reeds broke through the surface of the river and a smart grey heron waded in the reeds with his neck stretched out, watching the humans as they passed by.
The information board was right about the anti-tank coastal defences, the tall concrete blocks marched in single file along the beach in a curved line which stretched as far up the coast as we could see. Although they used to mark the high tide, Tentsmuir and Kinshaldy beaches are constantly changing, and there were sections which now lay in the water and sections that were quite far inland. It was strange to see how much the coastline had changed within a person’s lifetime. That lifetime of currents and waves had shifted the sands around their bases and many of them lay on their sides on the beach.
We followed the defence line to Tentsmuir Point and I kept my camera handy, in case any seals should pop into view. If I had given more thought to my idea of seeing seal pups today, I would have remembered that pups are born in late summer, when the mums are well fed and healthy after spending the summer eating lots of fish in calm, warm waters. I would also have remembered that I am still not as fit as I used to be and that a long walk along sand is surprisingly strenuous. By the time we had stopped for a rest and a sunbathe on one of the fallen concrete blocks, we had decided that this was as far as we were going. At that moment, we were passed by an older gentleman, who didn’t seem to be tired or out of breath as he was obviously much fitter than I was. I had a little grumble about how jealous I was of healthy older people but, despite that, I still refused to move off my seat until I had rested for a bit longer and scanned the beaches and sandbanks with my monocular instead. There were no signs of any seals at all, but for those of you hoping for a photo of a seal, here is one I prepared earlier:
Having been grateful to see seals last time, I was content to enjoy the other sights and sounds as we headed back down the beach. Actually, that’s not true. I was content to enjoy the sights, but the sounds were awful, because although the information board was right about seeing oystercatchers, it left out one particularly important warning - oystercatchers are very noisy. In all fairness to the people who provided the information board, the warning may have been mentioned in a part of the writing that I had ignored in my hurry to start the walk, but perhaps it should have had a large red warning triangle or some flashing lights? I may write to them. In a previous post I had been enthusiastic in my descriptions of the beauty of birdsong, but having heard the racket from oystercatchers today, I have to say they are the exception. From a distance, and individually, they sound like a dog’s squeaky toy, but above your head when they are circling and diving in a small group, the piercing monotone calls are so loud, they hurt your ear and it feels like the noise could split your eardrums. We were back at the caravan site and although the views from the caravans was stunning, we both agreed that it would have been annoying to sit outside trying to enjoy the view while the oystercatchers screeched overhead, or to be woken at 5am by those loud “dog-toy” squeaks.
Of all the walks I’ve completed so far, I think this part of The Path has been my favourite and it’s definitely a walk I will return to again. The scenery was beautiful, the walk itself was a nice combination of forest path and beach and it seemed to remain calm and tranquil despite other people being around. Although if the oystercatchers are still there next time, I’m taking earplugs.
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