The making of an Eiderdown…

True and everlasting love… a pair of Eiders who mate for life (female is the brown one).

A bad night with my shoulder (the stainless steel one!) and I spent most of it lying stiffly, hardly daring to move.  It had been raining and the day certainly didn’t look promising.  Peter took Alfie for a walk on the beach as usual and took a few pictures like this Ringed Plover – the first we have seen this holiday.

Later on, the weather still rather dodgy, we drove down to the Co-op to get some milk as the shop will be closed until Saturday after the big extension.  Then, rather late in the day we called in at the Airport café.  It was past 3.30pm and, although I started to put the blog on, after a couple of pictures I found I couldn’t do any more.  They had turned the wi-fi off!  The café closes at 4pm and the airport staff must have decided to switch it off.  Last time we used to park outside when the airport was closed as we found we could still use it – not this year!

Disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to publish yesterday’s blog, we finished our coffee and cake and decided to go back to the campsite.  Peter took Alfie down to the beach while I nursed my shoulder after the door forced it almost out of its socket when the wind blew it backwards.

Peter came back, very pleased because he had seen a bonanza of birds – at last – and had taken lots of lovely photos:

A pair of Greylag Geese in perfect symmetry:

Linnet:

Thrift:

Unknown…

White bluebells?

Female Wheatear…

Common Gull on her nest…

Sandpiper…

Male Stonechat with a caterpillar!

Interestingly, Peter spotted one of the feral cats from two years ago – the stripey tiger one – sneaking around the bins and then, spotting his opportunity nipped into a tent that had its flap up.  Don’t know what he found but he was in there some time before the owner came back and gave him his marching orders!