Following the A836 to the west of Reay on Scotland's north coast we stopped to visit what is now known as Puffin Cove, to reach which we had a half-mile walk across flat, mist-swathed peatland populated by a mass of wildflowers including....
....heath spotted and northern marsh orchids. In the mist we came suddenly to the....
....descent to the cove, down a path which, in the damp conditions, was steep and slippery in places. The lower parts of the cliffs are formed of horizontally-bedded Caithness flags but the upper parts, which have a soil profile, are home to....
....the UK's largest mainland puffin colony, where thousands of puffins make their nests in rabbit-like burrows. Above us there was a constantly circulating flight of puffins, some of which....
....landed to stand, peering around, at the entrances to their burrows.
On the beach the sea-rounded stones of the flags are perfect material for making towers, but these human efforts were overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the place, with the echoing cries of the seabirds loud against the swash of the waves, and the mist rolling in across a cold sea.
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