All clear for take off…

Peter’s morning visit to the beach with Alfie delivered a Turnstone, a bird which we mostly associate with Norfolk.

and also a magnificent flight of Sanderlings (see featured image), a bird that always seems to travel en masse with or without Dunlins (my favourites).

I have taken lots of photos and I can never resist a lamb or two!  Here are a few:

We decided to go down to the café early to bring the blog up to date and to sample one of their specialities – crunchy sweet potato chips with sweet chilli sauce to dip! Writing this blog does mean our diet goes to pot…

As usual these days, the carpark plus extension is packed with cars, motorhomes etc. and there is the usual throng at the fence waiting for the plane to come in. When the carpark was only a third of the size there was often a small gathering but these days its attraction seems to have grown to massive proportions. That’s probably the internet for you. If they did away with the airport Barra would go back to being a remote island rarely visited I suspect.

Luckily Barra shows no inclination to become a super holiday destination and I suspect most of the passengers come for a short time only for the thrill of landing on a beach. It is unique.

The plane arrives and a few more people come into the café for a drink and/or some food. Peter tells one of bright young things behind the counter today that we first came to Barra (on the plane!) in 1972 when Sally was 2-3 and she is amazed and tickled pink! She now refers to us as ‘72’ with a giggle! The chips are as great as ever and I manage to publish the two blogs easily.

We drove out to Vatersay to give Alfie a walk on the long white sandy cove. He makes a friend of a large indeterminate black dog and runs along the beach with him. The dog’s presumed owner is sitting in the dunes and appears not to worry.

We see some Mergansers in the water frolicking about.

A woman with a dog comes by and I tell her her dog just did a poo on the beach. She says, ‘Oh, the tide will wash it away’. I wish I had the nerve to give a repost about small children accidentally treading in it before the tide did its work, but I didn’t. I don’t know whether she was a resident or not.

We drove back along the coast, passing a Ringed Plover beautifully camouflaged as a stone on the beach…

… and then a male Wheatear at last.

It wouldn’t be one of our holidays without a chicken crossing the road in front of us…

Another Sandpiper on a rock as usual.

… and a larger collection of snails!

In the evening Peter gets on with his 1950s style jigsaw of two AA men, one in a Mini and the other in a motorbike and sidecar, but both in identical khaki colour jodhpurs, jacket and peaked cap – those were the days! I remember seeing their like on the roadside when driving with my Mum and Dad (probably in our old Prefect!) and waiting for them to give us a salute as AA members.

I have another go at a watercolour and I’m better pleased with this one.