The Memory Wanderer

We drove to Littleferry this morning to see if the northern marsh orchids had started their annual spectacular display across the links and they had - that is, they had started but it was far from the usual 'spectacular' as the dry weather has hit them hard. This picture shows one of the largest; most were very much smaller.

Never mind. As they say, "one man's meat is another man's poison," and the beneficiary of our increasing drought has been....

....the purple milk vetch, which is growing in small florets and in big bunches like this, and in a subtle variety of shades.

So we wandered the paths, seeing upward of half-a-dozen people and sundry dogs and enjoying the masses of wildflowers - the tricolor pansies in particular - before....

....moving on to the beach and its miles of almost deserted sands.

There wasn't much to remark upon except....

 ....a number of tests of sea potatoes being pushed up the beach by the rising tide and the....

....dismal lack of shore birds. In the hour for so we wandered along the beach we saw this group of eider feeding just off the mouth of Loch Fleet, a small flock of waders, a couple of oystercatchers and a few gulls. Our only other excitement was two seals watching us from the incoming waters in the entrance to Loch Fleet.