A bewitching day on Barra…

 

Today looks set fair – the sun is shining and the sky and seascape is amazing.

We haven’t been down on the beach for a while so this seemed the ideal day to do it.  The tide was coming in but still plenty of sand to walk on.  Beautiful firm sand so a joy to walk on.  We hadn’t walked long before we spotted a large group of small waders near the water’s edge.  About half flew further off before we reached them but we eventually got really close without scaring them.

We watched them for some time, fascinated by their antics.  Most were Sanderlings with just just a handful of Dunlins but they all seem to get along and know the way to get along with each other.

After a while, the birds started to form an orderly queue, two or three birds wide, number 1 standing on his/her own in an inch or so of water with the others waiting quietly in order.

After a minute or two the head bird would turn and hop (usually) or run down the side of the queue and take his/her place at the end.  NOTE: Two blue arrows denote the hopper!

This carried on for some time.  I’d love to know the reasoning behind this behaviour but it was very entertaining to watch.

In the end we left them to their fun and made our way back to Bessie.  The sea and sky scapes were continually changing.  This photo shows the sea and the distant hills of Eriskay as a sort of embroidery.

Peter spotted this small bird – a Linnet – on a bush at the side of Angus and Mary’s house.

On our way down to the airport café for spiced cauliflower soup followed by home-made apple pie, we stopped at the old jetty.  I took lots more photos, including this one of the wonderful beach.

At the café –

Writing the blog…

Mick is serving today with the trusty help of Marie.

We will miss Mick, Sharon, Marie and all the other cheerful staff at this splendid café when we come to the end of our stay on Barra next Wednesday…

PS. We are cheating as the rest of this day’s adventures will appear on tomorrow’s episode.  We have seen the weather forecast for tomorrow and it’s back to heavy rain and force 9 gales, so it might be a bit of a write-off as far as doing anything exciting is concerned!