A grey, nondescript day today which we hoped to cheer up by taking a gentle wander along the path to Dunrobin Castle but the first thing we saw along the beach was....
....an oystercatcher which, to our considerable surprise, instead of taking off as we approached, launched itself into the, fortunately calm, sea. We've seen a curlew take a short swim but this oystercatcher kept going until it was some thirty metres or so from shore.
Later, as we returned along the path, we saw it again, walking along the beach but, this time, unwilling to take to the water. We can only assume, from its rather bedraggled appearance, that it is either injured or unwell.
Both times we saw it, this cormorant was in close attendance, and one wonders whether this was coincidence or whether there was a reason - either that the cormorant wanted to be sympathetic, or that it saw the possibility of a meal.
We also found this sad little body on the beach just above today's tideline. It's a guillemot, a species of which we used to see quite a number diving just offshore. These days, we rarely see one - and it's dead.
Fortunately, our walk was cheered by the sight of a dozen turnstones, a species we haven't seen much of recently. They seemed quite happy to allow us to approach close enough to watch as one of them took a very vigorous bath in the breaking waves.
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