You may remember that I wrote about our summer walk at St Cyrus in an earlier post in 2011. On that occasion a strange thing happened. My stats showed an enormous hike in the number of visits from of all places... Russia. But I realized its all in the name. The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes St Cyrus as one of their saints. I hope they weren't too disappointed to find a gardening blog.
Maybe I'll get a similar hike in numbers today....
What is particularly appealing about St Cyrus on a sunny winters day is the landscape and the colours and how much the light changes in an hour.
At the start of the walk, the winter sun lights up the warm muted tones of the landscape and it is further enhanced by the stormy gray of the sky.
The golden brown of the dead bracken fronds.
The gorse is still in flower and it's acid yellow screams for attention.
Even towards noon the sun is low in the sky and accentuates the shadows.
The intensity of the blue sky contrasts with the more muted hues of the greys, browns and greens of the cliffs.
The only bright green in this drained winter scene can be seen in the gorse bushes and the moss and grass that line the path.
Other yellow colour is apparent in patches on the rocks. This is the vivid ochre yellow of the lichen xanthonia parietina (Golden Shield lichen)is emphasised by the almost neutral gray of the rocks. The lichen is found in sunny exposed places.
We had meandered along St Cyrus paths many times before we noticed this finger of rock or stac.. What excitment. Imagine we had never noticed it before. The only reason we noticed it on that occasion was because of sun casting a shadow and throwing the stac into stark relief. It was easy to spot today as well.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos :)
I think it was a little warmer here although not by much! We went for a short walk around a park where I lived previously. I did a spot of bird spotting and finally saw my Nuthatches - the last few times I've been I haven't seen any but I know where they always hang out in the park. It was a lovely clear day here too which allowed for great views across the city.
I would love to see Nuthatches - I'm not sure they come this far north. We saw buzzards on our walk but that was about all. Lots of birds at the feeding station in the garden. It's good to get out for a wlk especially when it's sunny.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful place...and a gorgeous day, to boot!
ReplyDeleteWhat stunning pictures - looking so bright compared to a gloomy day here.
ReplyDeleteOh that does look lovely. It was 6C here today and when the sun shone it was lovely but definitely more wintery than we had had recently
ReplyDeleteLovely. We kept having sleet/rain/hail showers today, some torrential, so we weren't outside much. Looks like there's going to be some heavy rain overnight for us too!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
What is good about cold areas like yours is that you can hike a good deal without being tired fast! Here in our country, the only colder months are in Dec to Jan when the spill-over winds from Siberia and Mongolia reach us, giving us the mid 20C about 23-27C. The rest of the year is above 30C already! Can you imagine our difficulties in hiking!
ReplyDeleteA lot of pretty scenery. It looks like a great place to explore those golden tones.
ReplyDeleteThe textures and subtle shadings are just gorgeous--the top photo looks just a teeny bit like a New Mexican landscape... Beautiful close-up of the fern!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great when a new discovery is made while out walking. I love the finger rock. Gorgeous photos of an incredible landscape. I love the colours. Would make a lovely mood board for an artist or designer.
ReplyDeleteNice landscape scenery. Gorse may be prickly but the flower display is great. Happy new year! Kelli
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful landscapes. Such rugged land. I would love to see it. The yellow blooms on the gorse are beautiful and a bright spot. I have never saw those before. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. I have to say we had a meander with cameras and a dog rather than a hike!It was so cold and windy that photos were difficult. But these golden colours are so muted and warm in the sunshine.
ReplyDeleteJanet - I don't think anyone would be disappointed to find this post. There may even be an influx of russian tourists!
ReplyDeleteMhmm, all looking for St Cyrus no doubt...
ReplyDeleteLovely sunshine, we may be a lot warmer but it is so grey and dull, today has been much colder with sleet and torrential rain! Your scenery looks very like where we used to live on the Lancashire coast and walk our dog, it looks really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous pics - looks like you had a lovely walk. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Janet! This ridge and plain reminds me more of Africa, fantastic set of images. A motorway journey recently was made bearable by the sight of countless gorse in full bloom, it’s a glorious plant and I love its rambling habit!
ReplyDeleteAwful windy weather yesterday. Gusts of over 100mph in Edinburgh. Compared to that not too bad here. St Cyrus is one of our favourite dog walking places and the gorse never seems to stop blooming even in the winter.
ReplyDeletedepending on wind direction that could be a good spot, with those high walls. Your walkabout has such gorgeous warm colours but bet the icy blast did not make it feel so. Seems like you found St Cyrus in the outcrop
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, I love the colour of the light. It has been very mild here in Wales but we pay for that with dull, grey days and seemingly endless rain. We did get for some walks over the Christmas but invariably ended up getting wet. Still it'll hopefully mean no talk of hosepipe bans this summer.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos, Janet - I especially like that bracken, it's just glorious with the light on it at that angle. You wouldn't expect something dead to look so good, would you?!
ReplyDeleteA slightly belated happy new year!