Shifting Sands

With low tide perfectly timed for just after ten this morning we walked to the south end of the village to take a brisk stroll along Golspie's sandy beach, to find the beach still there but the sand mostly missing. So much sand had been removed during the recent gales that, although we arrived only shortly after low tide, the sea was already up to the back of the beach so we were obliged....

....to take the much less interesting walk along the top of the sea defences between the golf links and the beach.

I do keep rabbiting on with my concerns about the local wildlife but, this time a year ago, we would almost certainly have seen some small birds amongst the grasses, perhaps a pipit or two and a pair of stonechats, but today we saw nothing but a few jackdaws on the greens, some gulls, and a couple of oystercatchers along the sand-denuded beach.

The effect of the recent easterly and northeasterly gales is illustrated by the beach below Golspie. The sand has been piled up against the jetty at the southwest end while it's been removed....

....from the northeast end, exposing the upper, cobbled storm beach and some of the original sea defences in front of the village. The power of the waves was evident when we walked along the promenade, seen at top left in this picture, which was covered in pebbles and masses of seaweed thrown up by the waves.