The storm (Force 11 here) which hit us on the 26th and 27th of November was one of the most destructive I can remember, and I can remember the big one of January 1968, known as Hurricane Low Q.
Wind speeds were between 90 and 100mph when it came ashore on the East coast of Scotland, and that included Dunbar.
The John Muir Country Park plantation of Scots Pine was devastated, with between 80 and 90% of the trees destroyed. It’s still unsafe, so I haven’t seen it for myself.
What I have seen is the damage to buildings and property in Dunbar, and the effects on sea life. A huge volume of kelp was ripped from the holdfasts on the sea-bed and washed ashore. A lot of the creatures which lived in its shelter were battered on rocks or sand, and now litter the beach. Jane and I walked along yesterday, and it was upsetting to see all the dead lobsters of all ages and sizes. Gulls had stripped away the flesh from most of them, leaving only their blue shells.
I know there are lobsters round here, but I’d never thought about octopuses being part of the marine fauna. Yet here they are, at least half a dozen of them, and that’s just on the surface. Below the tangle there may be many more.
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