A Disappointment of Dolphins?

So on Wednesday afternoon Gail had the bright idea that, in the hope of gathering some good material for this week's Nature Friday post, we should walk from our home (as per government guidelines) to the mouth of Aberdeen harbour, the favourite location round here for dolphin spotting.

It's quite a long walk today, so I hope you've time to trot along with us.

First of all we go down the hill and under the railway bridge,

Then across the River Dee,

Past the boat clubs, all closed for the duration of course, and along the south side of the river (tidal at this point).

There's plenty of activity at the business end of the harbour - North Sea platforms still need supplies, even if the oil companies are virtually paying to have the oil taken off their hands right now.

We see some traditional Aberdeen businesses too.

Beyond the supply bases and the delightfully whiffy fish processing operations, we finally reach the small beach area at the harbour mouth. But sadly the dolphins seem to be socially distancing themselves out to sea today, so we proceed on to the lighthouse.

A little further along and here we are, overlooking the huge harbour expansion works. This project, to create facilities for cruise ships and for decommissioning oil platforms (an interesting combination...) has been underway for about three years now. Delayed already, the Scottish government has now closed down all construction work because of The Virus so who knows when those cruise passengers will have the opportunity to gasp in admiration at the sight of rusty old oil installations being ripped apart...

I remind Gail that, absent any dolphins, we still need something for Arty, Jakey and Rosy's Nature Friday blog hop. Spring is slow to arrive at windswept headlands jutting out into the North Sea, and the only flowers we can find are these hardy little coltsfoots (coltsfeet?)

Coltsfoot might be a relevant flower for these times. According to Wikipedia, the plant has been used by herbalists to treat respiratory illnesses. However, as your resident Boffin, I feel compelled to point out that there seems to be a lack of scientific evidence for its efficacy in humans, and as it is known to contain toxic compounds too, it's probably best avoided.

For those interested in maps etc., Gail has been having fun with Google Earth and below you can see today's route to the harbour and back, indicated by the red line (a round trip of just over 5 miles).

Happy Nature Friday and STAY SAFE folks!

PS from Gail: I just want to reassure Bertie's readers that in choosing our 'walks from home' I am being careful to select routes where I am confident we will meet few other walkers, and where there is plenty of space to keep the required distance apart.