And not my beach at Armadale for once. I was on my way to Wick to start off the Christmas shopping and took a small detour to stretch my legs on Dunnet beach:

It's a really ginormous beach that swings round in a big curve from Castletown to Dunnet. This is Dunnet Head, which is the most northerly point on the mainland:

Today, even though it was lunchtime, I had it to myself :o) (There are some benefits to freezing cold weather!). Well, not quite to myself.
A bunch of ringed plovers (and something else, which I haven't identified) were hanging around digging for food:

There was a solitary curlew doing his best Meryl Streep (French Lieutenant's Woman) impression:

A Greater Black-Backed Gull was fishing for some lunch:

And finding some:

And I just hung around by the water and practised my panning shots :o)
I have to say, I'm really pleased with these. They might be grainy - I had to push the ISO to get the lens speed up - but I think I'm moving from pictures that record something towards pictures that show something, if that makes sense?