On Thursdays I usually take a walk in the direction of Dunrobin Castle, often along the coastline but occasionally through the woods. Almost every time, even in cold weather, I stop at the bench about half way to the castle - at left in the picture with the castle beyond it - and....
....sit and watch what's happening out on the beach and the sea beyond.
Today, under heavy. grey clouds, with the temperature struggling to reach 12C and a strong northerly wind bringing in needling showers, what little of interest included two pairs of oystercatchers, a couple of cormorants, the usual crows scavenging the tide line, a single black-backed gull, and a few common and....
....herring gulls. This herring gull looked very comfortable on its nest on the roof of one of the houses by the Golspie Burn but I don't envy the people who own the house once the chicks are hatched as the parents become very aggressive.
None of the birds particularly excited me - other than I wish there were far more of all of them - until....
....this beauty soared across the firth. It's the first gannet of the season and a very, very welcome sight.
Then, as I was on my way back to the car and leaning on the rail of the footbridge over the Golspie Burn in the hope of spotting the first dipper of the year....
....I had the joy of seeing half-a-dozen sand martins feeding along the water - another first for the year.
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