Blueberry Field...

[Ross Macintosh]

The pic was taken in the fall of 2016.

Prince Edward Island has 13,000 acres of commercially-harvested wild low-bush blueberries. The crop is almost completely flash frozen and then exported. About 45% of our local blueberries are exported to China. The other major crop here is potatoes. The blueberry acreage is typically former potato fields. Wild blueberries are grown commercially in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Compared with the other places where they are grown, Prince Edward Island has a big advantage in that our soils are not rocky and that makes harvesting much easier.

[MarcT]

Wow!
Let's hope you don't have too many bears on your Island...

[Ross Macintosh]

Wow!
Let's hope you don't have too many bears on your Island...

PEI has no bears, lynx, cougars, deer, wolves, or moose. They are on the mainland which is about 10 miles away at its closest. We have just three species of snakes - all non-venomous and no turtles or lizards. There are however lots of birds as we are on a
migration route.

[Ross Macintosh]

Here's a pic of one of our Prince Edward Island beaches. The number of people in the image would qualify it as a "crowded" day at the beach. It is possible to visit a beach here and see no other people.

[handrawn]

i do love empty beaches

heres one of Ainsdale beach, Lancashire taken 11.31am on 18 november last year, not a soul in sight, walking down from Southport to Formby



there's more sand on the Formby dunes:





no wild blueberries though, have to go west across the Irish Sea I think to get any chance of those

[Ross Macintosh]

i do love empty beaches

heres one of Ainsdale beach, Lancashire taken 11.31am on 18 november last year, not a soul in sight, walking down from Southport to Formby

Beautiful! I particularly like your second image - the one close to the dunes. Sadly your third looks like the dunes are being damaged. Are people allowed to walk in the dunes? Here they are protected. In many areas here dogs and horses are restricted because there is a endangered bird (Piping Plovers) that nest on the beach -- they are very sensitive to being intruded upon. Motorized vehicles are never on our beaches either.

[handrawn]

the first pic was looking back north towards southport

this pic is looking south with liverpool in the far distance on the skyline



The dunes at Formby are National Trust property so they are a recreational resource and managed - walking is allowed - activities are controlled and restricted to designated areas

One thing you can't do anything about though is coastal erosion...

dunes looking the other way:



dunes long shot:

[browj2]

Lovely photos all. Ross, I see that you are another Canadian who wears shorts until the snow flies, if it does in PEI.

There is now an 11 km bridge to PEI, so watch out for bear and moose making their way across.

We were supposed to vacation on PEI last year as I was selling the idea of those beaches to my wife. Didn't make it. Tried again this year, but she wants to go around the Cabot Trail again.

This reminded me that I have yet to finish my video of our trip to Îles de la Madeleine in 2013. How time flies! To get there, you drive about 5 hours NNE of Souris, PEI. Well, actually, you drive onto the ferry and it drives for 5 hours. Ross, I presume that you've been there. More fantastic beaches, but also a reddish rock along many of the shorelines. Most beautiful!

Attachment 121232



Hmm, strange, a couple of the photos that I wanted to attach wouldn't.

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi HD. My 'Uncle & Aunt' used to run the Grapes Hotel in Formby. Well remember happy family holiday visiting the dunes in the early 60's as a kid. Great coastline. Very similar to Hemsby in Norfolk where the erosion is an even bigger issue.