Big seas and little bays

Once again I've been tardy in my blogging - I do apologise. The pictures have been put up on Flickr; I just haven't got round to writing about them.

Anyway, just over a week ago OH and I went for a walk along past Thurso castle to see if the shipwreck he remembered from when he was a kid was still there (it wasn't). The sea was big and the wind was up:



which made it foamy:



The birds, as usual, were completely unbothered by it all:



although I did see an oystercatcher absolutely legging it out of the way of a wave, which was very funny. Sadly the picture was out of focus!

Wednesday's trip out was closer to home. At the far end of the village there's a track to a deserted village called Polouriscaig. It's quite a walk to get there (for an unfit photographer carrying a bag of gear anyway) and I was considering just walking to the top of the second hill, which is about two thirds of the way there, but then saw on the map that the burn at the foot of that hill led down to an inlet marked Port Mor. The contour lines on the sides were very steep, but it looked as if the burn itself went down a much shallower slope, so I decided to go and take a look.

I was right:



The burn was lovely; lots and lots of miniature waterfalls:



The climb down really wasn't too hard at all. There were a couple of points where I had to stop and consider my options (as in 'Do I attempt to follow that sheep track or do I turn round and go back?'), but pretty soon the bay was tantalisingly close and I was hoping against hope that there wasn't a vertical drop for the last bit like so many of these places have:



Fortunately the slope down from that grassy bit on the right was quite gentle and I made it all the way down to the beach:



My thigh muscles did not thank me for the climb back up!

Target practice

Normally it's seagulls who use human belongings, like cars, for target practice. Today I got my own back and used them - these are the three best from a session at Thurso Harbour, trying to get to grips with the camera's autofocus system.







We're due some really strong winds over the next few days and possible something called thundersnow, which is when you get a thunderstorm and a blizzard at the same time. Could be interesting. Anyway, it was starting to whip up this afternoon and despite the tide's best efforts, I did not get wet taking this photo!

A common Thurso species

It struck me the other day that there's one species often seen in north coast waters, particularly off Thurso, that I haven't blogged about yet, despite photographing it several times.

Often mistaken for a seal, due to their black pelts, the Thurso Surfer is a hardy creature that will brave the waves even on Boxing Day if the surf's good:





North Light reckons he counted about 24 out on Christmas Eve and we saw 15 or so out yesterday.

Fancy a shag?

I had to use that as a title sooner or later and today I have a picture that gives me an excuse to! Juvenile shag at Thurso harbour:



I was also very amused by this gull (it's a juvenile, but I'm not sure which species - trying to find out), which didn't spot the wave coming in behind it: