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6 Apr 2020

St Abb’s Head through the seasons: spring

Written by Laurie Campbell and Liza Cole

A brown hare sitting among green grass. The black tips of its long ears can be seen. It’s chewing an ear of grass.

Laurie Campbell

Spring is when St Abb’s Head wakes up after the long winter. Colourful flowers start to bloom, migrant birds and seabirds fly in from afar, and everything settles down to breed.

As part of our celebrations of the 40th anniversary of St Abb’s Head being in the Trust’s care, we asked award-winning nature photographer Laurie Campbell to put together four galleries of his photographs, one for each season. Laurie lives locally and has a lifetime of experience of taking nature photos at St Abb’s Head. It’s a joy to see things through his eyes.

A brown hare sitting among green grass. The black tips of its long ears can be seen. It’s chewing an ear of grass.

A sedge warbler sitting on a branch in a leafy tree. It has a white tummy with yellowish markings near its throat. Its orange beak is open as it calls.

A close-up of the head of a yellow cowslip flower, showing 14 small flowers all coming out of one stem.

Two brown frogs stick their heads out of the water, next to a blurry patch of frogspawn on the surface.

A close-up of a purple milk-vetch flower. Tall, slender purple petals grow straight up from a furry-looking stem.

A green-veined white butterfly perches on the petal of some white flowers. The veined markings in its wings are clear, as are its furry body and long antennae.

Two purple orchids grow side by side. They have clusters of purple flowers at the end of a long, smooth stalk.

A close-up of a grey and white fulmar, its wings outstretched and tail fanned out. It hovers over water.

Two white and grey fulmars sit in a nest on the cliffside. Both have knobbly beaks with yellow tips. They appear to be looking at each other.

An aerial view of a section of the coastline at St Abb’s Head, showing rock stacks with the sea swirling around them.

An aerial view of a crowd of guillemots on a rock face.

Gannets swoop above a cliff face, which is packed with nesting guillemots. Some gannets have managed to land at the top of the rocks. A blue sea is in the background.

A black and white razorbill rests on its tummy, with its wings tucked in, on a rock face covered in yellow lichens.

A view of the nature reserve at St Abb’s Head in spring, with flowering yellow gorse beside a gravel path leading along the cliff top.

A stonechat sits on a yellow flowering gorse branch. It has an orangey-red tummy with a black head. A caterpillar dangles from its beak.

A kittiwake hovers in the air. Its white wings have black tips and it has black feet. Its yellow beak is wide open.

Two kittiwakes sit in a nest on rocks, with another visible in the background. They face each other with their beaks open, as if they are arguing with each other!

A close-up of a mute swan nest, with the swan’s tummy seen sitting on five eggs. One is starting to hatch.

A mute swan sits on her straw nest, and reaches down to a newly hatched fluffy cygnet. Three more eggs can be seen by her tummy.

Eight fluffy grey cygnets swim on the loch in a huddle.

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The coastline at St Abb’s Head, where steep rocky cliffs plunge towards the sea. The clifftops are covered in grass.

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Breathtaking coastal headland with dramatic cliffs, famed for its seabird colonies

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