Gullane Bents

Today's the day ………………………. for a thorny problem

We went for a lovely walk with the dogs today along the long sandy beach at Gullane, near Edinburgh.

As you walk down to the shore from the car park, the path is bordered with a mass of thorny bushes covered in bright orange berries.  It's called sea buckthorn  and niece Lizzy is modelling it beautifully in the extra!  It was deliberately introduced there in the 1970s to control years of man-made erosion that had stripped the dunes of their natural vegetation.  The trouble was that it became a problem in its own right as it spread rapidly and threatened to take over the landscape completely.

Its growth is now controlled but as its orange berries attract birds that feed on it in the winter - as well providing good nesting sites in the spring - it is still good to have around.  Just not everywhere ……………………..