A Moan

We don't often take the same walk two days running but this morning, after a night which saw 20mm of rain which fell as snow over the high ground and the temperature struggling to climb much above zero, we decided the beach would be a better bet than a muddy tramp through soaking woodland.

We are so fortunate to have Golspie's beach within a few minutes' walk of the house but access at the Golspie end is controlled by the tides and how much sand remains on its upper section following the last storm. At present the beach is miserably short of sand, and today's tide, with a low at around 4pm, wasn't ideal, so we were only able to access a limited section of the beach.

So, yes, we're very lucky to have a beach on our doorstep, so we shouldn't complain that it's probably one of the least interesting of the many beaches we've known. Along the high-tide line today we found little except seaweed, odd lengths of tree, crab carapaces, a few common shells such as cockles and whelks, a little, but not much plastic, and a few lengths of frayed rope; there wasn't even a dead bird.

I really shouldn't moan about it, particularly as there is usually something to see off shore, including, today, a flock of eider which, for a few moments, merged with a passing group of long-tailed ducks.