Apologies for the radio silence

...but in the two months since I last posted, I've barely had time to pick up a camera unless it was to shoot pictures of beads.

I saw the otter again yesterday whilst walking the dogs - you guessed it, no camera. And, worse, the dogs chased it and caught up with it, though it swam off with no apparent injuries, a ginormous fish still firmly clamped in its mouth. Today I walked the dogs in the field and then went back down to the beach with my camera. No otter, but plenty of oystercatchers:





And it wouldn't be a beach birds set without a ringed plover in there somewhere!



I think this is a female wheatear - I'm checking with knowledgeable people:



On the way back up to the house I took the opportunity to photograph my favourite sheep. This is Polly, she belongs to my neighbours and is due to lamb any day now:



I'm beginning to love sheep portraits - should I be getting worried??

Tides

As autumn approaches, the seas start to pick up and the flat, Caribbean-like bay we've had all summer is now something a little bit wilder. We're predicted a 14ft swell tomorrow and one of my neighbours told me that he's seen the end of the point disappear under spray before now. Here's a couple of snaps from yesterday of a pair of oystercatchers flying low over the waves:

Armadale airport

At least that's what it seemed like on Tuesday! Never seen so many birds taking off and landing:







And I saw my first stoat! I'm pretty certain it was a stoat and not a weasel, though we didn't see the tail - but we both went 'Ooh, look, a stoat!' instinctively. Unfortunately I'd put my camera away and by the time I'd got it out of the bag and fired it up, the stoat had whisked back into the long grass. But now I know where to look for it, I shall keep an eye out.

Old joke: What's the difference between a stoat and a weasel? A weasel is weaselly recognisable while a stoat is stoatally different...