The Blowhole

A subtidal seacave starting with a big arch 13m long, then a gloup/blowhole/shakehole 7m across, then a modest cave - at high tide. At low tide there is an inner tunnel - unmeasured at 16 Sep 21.

20 Aug 20 There is an inner cave - accessible only at low tide. Discovered by Iain Greig's friend Cameron Smith. Entrance is submerged at HW. "I found a new sea Cave last week. Probs 300ft long [see GSG fb post 4/9/20], branches off near the end to form 2 pebbly beaches. It's inside the Blowhole Cave but at the back right. I thought you could only swim through it but at very low Tides the kayak just fits through, only stayed for 2mins ".

See photos 7 & 8 - which appear to be of the same beach, taken on two occasions.

The hole after the inlet arch is certainly a gloup and is a proven blowhole. (of the wave-hits-cliff/wall and is deflected upwards type).

Notes: The inner tunnel is unmeasured - up to there is 26 m with a guessimated 30 - 40m for that tunnel.

Links and Resources:

1st Ed OS 25 in shows The Blowhole clearly.
Oldham, Tony, 2007, Caves of Scotland Bibliography, p. 59.
OS Namebooks] for Forfarshire, St Vigeans vol 80 p124. "The Blowhole: On the Shore SE [South East side of the parish. This name applies to a perforation in the Rocky Cliff formed by the action of the Tide; it is surrounded by Cliffs and in Stormy Weather the Water is blown or forced through it to a considerable distance into the adjoining field." See video below.
www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk/Geodiversity/PDFs/Auchmithie_Trail_Leaflet.pdf
Photo 1 The entrance from outside - with sunlight shining down through the blowhole. 26 Jun 18.
Photo 2 looking down through the blowhole from above and inline and seaward. Taken 21/8/17 by Adrian Diack.
Photo 3 Looking out from the chamber beyond the blowhole with the tide fairly high. On this occasion, no inner tunnel was noticed. 26 June 18.
Photo 4 was taken at 12:21 BST on 10 Sep 21 from under the blowhole. This shows the entrance to the middle chamber and also the inner tunnel entrance just to the right of the kayak bow.
Photo 5 taken just after photo 4. Looking N into the inner tunnel. The tide level was 1.2 m which was too high to go in with a kayak. There is some Breadcrumb Sponge on the left wall - see www.realmonstrosities.com/2012/09/breadcrumb-sponge.html.
Photo 6 taken after photo 5 from the left (W) part of the middle chamber. This is 10.5 m wide and 6.0 m long N-S. This shows an oblique view of the entrance to the middle tunnel.
Photo 7 taken after photo 6. This is the W end of the middle chamber. Depth here was measured at 4.0 m less the tide depth of 1.3 m (measurement time 12:30) to give 2.7 m BCD. The ceiling height is 7.7 m ACD which makes it very nearly full at a maximum high tide.
Photo 8 Inner beach - photo by Cameron Smith Aug 20.
Photo 9 The other of the alleged two beaches - photo by Cameron Smith Aug 20. Light from the entrance just visible. However a) it is a different kayak b) different lower tide. Two rocks on the right look similar to ones in photo 8 - so N Feilden thinks this is the same beach, but photographed from nearer the W side.
Video clips taken 20/10/23 by Lee Mitchell. These include two which show waves deflected up through the gloup.
Photo 10 is a frame from the above video looking down into the cave tunnel between waves. Compare with photo 1 - which shows a quite tall and narrow tunnel continuation; but the rest is a solid wall against which big waves strike and are deflected upwards - just as happens against a harbour wall or an open cliff face.
Photo 11 is a frame from the same clip of a 'blow'. It is still coming up in this frame.
Photo 12 is a frame from a different clip taken from a bit further back.

This entry was last updated: 2025-12-05 15:50:53

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NGR:	NO 66700 41534
WGS84:	56.56458, -2.54345
Length:	60 m
Vert. Range:	15 m
Altitude:	-2.7 m
Geology:	Scone Sandstone Formation
Tags:	Cave, Arch, SeaCave
Registry:	main

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