A Return to Littleferry

With our existence over the last few weeks concentrated on moving house we hadn't been to Littleferry and Loch Fleet in a long time so today's sudden break from three days of gale-force easterlies finally offered an opportunity - but in the cold, damp, dead calm conditions we found a chilly, grey landscape.

The picture above looks out to sea near the mouth of Loch Fleet, with the tide running strongly into the loch with two hours to go before high water. On the point in the right distance we could just make out....

....a flock of about fifty oystercatchers roosting on the beach and in the calmer waters round the edge of the strong tidal flow we watched a constant procession of....

....eider in their mating plumage. However, turn the other way to look inland towards the small settlement of Littleferry and....

....winter's resculpting of the entrance to the loch becomes evident. Not only has the sea removed....

....most of the miles of sand which we used to enjoy so much but it has also severely eroded the dunes, breaking through into the grass and heather dominated area of the links behind the beach; and it has completely changed the geography of the entrance to the loch.

Having walked north along the beach as far as the rapidly-rising tide would allow, we took to the network of paths through the links, finding plenty of evidence of the recent heavy rain which has accompanied the storms - but were surprised to see ice on the puddles, showing that the temperatures last night must have dropped below zero.

As we usually do, we stopped off on our way home to look at the main basin of Loch Fleet, seeing a few small ducks - perhaps widgeon - and a dozen or so....

....very smart shelduck.

The shelduck, along with the eider, widgeon, oystercatchers and a small flock of waders on the wing were all the birds we saw on and around a loch which should be a major wintering site for hundreds of birds.