You could be sitting on a deserted beach at sunset watching the waves and listening to the haunting calls of oystercatchers and redshanks while gannets plunge into the Firth of Forth for fish and throng in a huge cloud around the sheer cliffs of the Bass Rock. The sandy beaches of East Lothian are wonderful places on the warmest of days, but just as good on cool brisk days when the air is crystal clear and the wind off the sea energises you and gives you an incredible sense of well being.

The stretch of coast from Aberlady Bay to Tyninghame is stunning, with views of Fidra Island and the Isle of May, which have large colonies of puffins, guillemots and other seabirds, and the Bass Rock which holds one of the world's largest gannet colonies. The award-winning Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick offers incomparable remote viewing via visitor-controlled video cameras and several boats offer trips to the Isle of May or the Bass Rock, in the company of experienced guides to view a host of seabirds from just a few metres and absorb the rich smells and atmosphere of these bustling seabird cities.

Ravensheugh Sands, Seacliff Beach and John Muir Country Park have a wild natural charm and there is often no-one else in sight. A wide variety of birds can be seen; not just seabirds, but also waders, eider ducks, mergansers, buzzards, peregrine falcons and many more. In winter, chattering parties of fieldfares strip the sea buckthorn bushes of their berries and large flocks of yapping pink-footed geese fly in V-formations between the coast and farmland.