Hedderwick Farm (good photos) is situated about 3 miles/5K from Dunbar. It has a very interesting history and the website tells us that “Hedderwick Hill has been a melting pot of sporting and economic activity since 1865, when Hedderwick Hill Race Course was first established”. According to this Canmore site “The racecourse and grand stand are depicted on the Revision Edition of the OS 25-inch map (Haddingtonshire, 1907, sheet 7), and annotated ‘Hedderwick Hill Race Course’ with a roofed grand stand”. I knew there had been stables at nearby West Barns for many years but perhaps the stables originated from the race course. There was also a golf course at one time on the farm’s land. The Hedderwick Hill Golf Course was established in 1896 and continued until 1937 – see here for an old photo and a detailed history.
My visit to the farm was to see the alpacas which are kept just to the east of the farm. I walked from the East Links Family Park (good photos) which features a range of animals and activities for children, along to where the two groups of the alpacas are kept. The photos below show the large field of impressively big leeks which I passed on the way, and a close up view of some of the leeks, which stand upright in regimented rows, like a huge army preparing for battle. Creamed leeks, made with crème fraiche and wholegrain mustard are one of my favourite vegetable dishes, especially when I cook seabass fillets.
The alpacas are owned by John Muir Alpacas (good photos) and the company offer one hour treks with the animals around the John Muir Country Park. Alpacas have a long history and this site informs us that “Alpacas (vicugña pacos) are members of the Camelid Family and are a domesticated species of the South American camelid. Camelids originated in North America over 40 million years ago. Camels migrated east via the Bering Strait and llamas migrated to South America”. They differ from llamas, to which they are related, in size, appearance and temperament. Llamas are bigger than alpacas and have much coarser hair and are more solitary animals. Alpacas have hair which is finer an can be used for wool and they live in close-knit groups – see more detail here. The photo below shows a group of alpacas in their fenced off area, with one on the left feeding and you can see a water trough on the right hand side. In the background, the line of trees hides and protects the farm buildings and there is a stack of bales on the right which will be used to feed the animals. Alpacas stand up very straight, with their long necks and sturdy bodies. These ones are obviously used to human visitors but of course, I did not go too close.
In the next photo below, I managed to capture an alpaca with one of its legs raised to allow it to either wash or scratch. This view allows us to see the shaped toe of the animal, with the very narrow end of its leg looking rather fragile. This is quite a balancing act for the alpaca but it has three strong legs which give it support. Alpacas have toes, with two nails on each toe, not hooves and if you have ever wondered how to trim an alpacas toenails, find out here.
By cropping the photo above, I got a closer look at the alpaca on the left. The photo below shows this young alpaca who appears to need a visit to the orthodontist as it has a very prominent tooth at the front of its mouth. In the enlarged photo, you will see the rather ungainly looking tooth but also the still furry hair on the animal’s head and face.
The Scottish Landscape Awards (SLA) exhibition runs until the 3rd March 2024 at the Edinburgh City Art Centre (examples of art and video tour). The Awards site tells us that “Spanning 2 floors, the exhibition displays 133 artworks selected from 2,800 entries. Showcasing the breadth and diversity of innovative contemporary creativity in Scotland today, the selected works reflect all dimensions of natural and man-made environments”. There is certainly much to see in this exhibition which features a range of media and it was difficult for me to choose particular highlights for the blog. The first exhibit (photo below) is the one awarded First Prize and the caption states “BASS ROCK is made by weaving musical scores of traditional Scottish songs about love and landscape as a response to the sounds and light of the iconic gannet colony”. This would not have been my choice of the best exhibit but it certainly is an impressive – and large – work of art, which draws your attention as you come across it. Before reading the caption, I was not sure what form of media this was. This is without doubt the most imaginative work in the exhibition, using musical scores to form it. In the summer, when you pass near the Bass Rock, you see hundreds of birds in the air just next to the rock and the lines of dashes you see here are reminiscent of the summer scene.
The second exhibit on show is seen in the photo below. It is a line print by artist Bryan Angus (examples of his work) and entitled Stonehaven. It is a superb depiction of the seaside town of Stonehaven in the north east of Scotland, which I featured on the blog here last year. You need to enlarge the photo to get the full effect of this panoramic scene, which neatly portrays the wide sweep of the beach at the harbour, the fishing boats in the water and on the shore, with the forested hills in the background. Angus has also captured the buildings at the side of the harbour and the clouds above the hills. This is an impression of the town but it has a photographic quality to it. The detail in the line print is outstanding and you have to admire the artistry of the man who completed this fine piece of work, which must have taken many hours to complete.
The final exhibit which particularly caught my attention is entitled Eve and the artist is Young Jeon. This is an extract from an intriguing and superbly filmed video which depicts a truly stunning depiction of a murmuration of starlings. You can see the full video on the Awards site here and it is a very calming experience, with the balletic movement of the birds and their formation of multiple parabolas in the sky.
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