IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Merlin Terrace, ELLON, AB41 6FA

Postbox No. AB41 254. See Image] for context.

Showing position of Postbox No. AB41 254. See Image] for postbox.

These 2 stones belonging to the Stephen family show the risks faced by sailors. The left-hand stone was erected by Robert Stephen, shipmaster of Newborough, in memory of his wife and family. His daughter, Margaret, died in 1835 aged 4 years, while his three sons were all drowned at sea in 1860 and 1869, aged 23, 17 and 25 years. This stone shows carved symbols which are appropriate for a seafaring family, including the sun and moon, the Pole Star, several smaller stars and some navigation aids. Religious symbols include an open bible, a deid bell and a coffin on its side, thought to portray untimely deaths. The other stone remembers shipmaster William Stephen. All of this family lived into their 70s or 80s. Image gives more information about the burial ground.

The very old grave-slab in the foreground is dated 1752 but it’s impossible to make out any more information. The carved panel shows the symbols of man’s mortality – the open bible, the hour glass, the skull and crossed bones, a deid bell and a coffin.

Summer flowers, the Foveran Burn, Newburgh golf course and, in the distance the Sands of Forvie

The Foveran Burn and River Ythan approach the North Sea.

We are perhaps most familiar with those wasp species that build their papery nests in our roof spaces. Some species, however, build their nest underground and, this summer, one colony has built its nest deep under the heather bed in my garden.

Rainbow over the sands of Forvie, towards sunset.

The tidal burn takes a large bend between Inches (foreground) and Udny Links before entering the Ythan Estuary. Newburgh, mainly a dormitory village for commuting to Aberdeen, is in the background.

A 'grace and favour' home for the Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen in the 1970s. The pond was part of the adjacent Research Centre facilities.