Along the Village Beach

From the bottom of the hill below our house a track on the other side of the A9 follows the Golspie Burn downstream to the sea, from which point it's possible to watch the birds which gather round its mouth. This morning, other than a few gulls, the usual hopeful semi-tame mallards, and some oystercatchers, there wasn't much to excite although this is one place where people say that the local otters can sometimes be seen.

From there the track leads on to a point where the beach in front of the village is accessible. Today, as usual, there was hardly a soul out on the sands and those that were all had a dog or two to exercise.

This morning I walked gently along the beach to the jetty at the far end, a structure which has seen better days and which will probably be replaced if and when the government gets round to re-developing Golspie's storm defences, which badly needs doing as a breach would result in the A9 being cut, with dire consequences for traffic trying to access Caithness and Orkney.

I walked almost to the end of the jetty but was stopped by two black-backed gulls and a juvenile shag, none of which wished to give way for me. I didn't mind: it was a beautiful warm, calm morning and I was in no hurry, so I leant against the rail with the sun on my face and relaxed.