A Bitter Wind

Yesterday's blue skies took us out to Loch Fleet for a walk through the forestry that lines its banks, to find the tide rising across sandbanks sculpted into intricate patterns we'd never seen before.

About twenty seals were hauled up on one of one of the sandbanks, far fewer than we have seen in the past. In the foreground there is a small flock of red-breasted merganser.

The loch is a large area of water which becomes a large area of sand and mud low tide, and at this stage of the tide one would expect there to be plenty of ducks and waders working the sediments. There weren't, just some curlews and oystercatchers, and ducks, mostly wigeon. But then, sadly, a lack of wildlife is what we are coming to expect.

We emerged from the forestry into the small community of Littleferry. At this point we began to realise that the sunshine, warm as it was, couldn't overcome the bitter southeasterly breeze, and the more we walked the colder we became.

The links in the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve must be at their most barren at this time of year. Walking the paths that criss-cross them, it's difficult to believe that, come summer, they will be a mass of wildflowers; and that we'll be able to sit and enjoy the sunshine without risking frostbite.