After the Giant's Causeway, we went down to Ballintoy harbour and walked along through the dunes behind White Park Bay, before returning along the beach. Stunning scenery and plenty of orchids in the dunes. The cliffs are made from chalk (Cretaceous: 80mya), with the top being slightly baked by volcanic activity. Generally this stretch of coast is formed by Cretacious chalk, overlain by Tertiary basalts (60 mya). Click here for a good introduction to the geology and geomorphology of the coast.
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| A dramatic coast - loking west. |
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| Lovely lumpy Basalt with 'almost columns'. |
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| The underlying chalk at Ballintoy. The caves were occupied 9000 years ago when axeheads and arrowheads were exported as far as Europe from this area. |
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| Eider Duck. |
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| Arches in the Chalk with Basalt behind. |
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| Violas in the dunes....presumably Dune pansy, a subspecies of Viola Tricolor, which occurs around most of the Irish coast. |
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| Pyramidal, Common Spotted, Northern Marsh x Common Spotted and Twayblade orchids. |
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| Dark-green Fritillary. |
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