When you're smiling...

Two posts in one day (don't get used to this!), but I've got some more pictures that I never got round to posting up.

There weren't as many seals around this time, the bay was calm so most of them were out at sea, but I did spend a while photographing these three - love the smiles:



Since the sandy side beach was totally empty, I went for a walk along it. Seals are curious creatures and I soon had an escort:



Or two...:



I think pupping is more or less over for the year. Now that I know what's where, I can hopefully get out and about more in October and November next year. I've heard about a pupping beach that may be closer than the one I was visiting, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get to.

The robin's been in a fight I think - he was looking very tatty:





Maybe the sparrows have been beating him up again:

Early mornings

I was up at half past five this morning (though to be fair to the dogs their body clocks were saying half past six), so decided to make the trek over to John O'Groats to the grey seal beach.

Glad I did. Grey seal pups are one of the cutest creatures alive.





And the beach was just packed with seals:





They're by no means tame, but by staying low and moving slowly, you can get very close without spooking them:







The focus is a little bit off on this, damn it, but I couldn't resist keeping it:



And I never knew seals could boggle, but this one's eyes are almost out of its head!:



The males get very, very aggressive at this time of year, but there wasn't much fighting going on this morning, the worst of it was a bit of handbagging:



And how's this for a goofy grin?:



I spent about two hours there and would have stayed longer, despite the rain, if it wasn't for someone coming over the top of the dunes with a camera and marching straight up to the seals, who promptly disappeared into the water. 100+ seals all galumphing off a beach in under 2 minutes is an impressive sight though.

Strathy Point

Sorry, no lovely sunset pictures - the sky was flat last night. But today has been absolutely gorgeous, clear skies, sun and not too much wind, so I awarded myself the afternoon off and went to see if I could spot anything in the sea off Strathy Point.

Of course, British weather being what it is, a grey cloud turned up just as I got there. Which is why these cormorants were all hanging around on a rock rather than fishing:



Nothing in the sea, so I decided to walk slowly along the fence by the cliffs to the lighthouse and then back up the road, hoping that something would show up. And it did:



He was swimming around by some rocks and just at that point there was a stile over the cliff fence and a path. So since there was very little wind, I decided to be intrepid and hopped over it. The path led down to a wide ledge where I could sit and watch the seal in comfort:





But there were boot prints leading further down the path. I had a look and saw that the rocks below the ledge could be easily climbed down, almost like a ladder. Ten minutes later and I was seated on the pyramid-shaped rock at the centre top of this picture:



I'd spent a good quarter of an hour watching it to make sure the waves weren't getting anywhere near it first :o) I unpacked my camera again, sat there and waited. The seal popped up about 10 feet away, saw me, boggled, dived and wasn't seen again! This was the only shot I got - bear in mind the ones above are all heavily cropped in. This one isn't cropped at all:



Fabulous view from that rock though:



And this is what's at the end of the point - the lighthouse. It's a private house now and was up for sale at about the same time we found our house. Quite glad we didn't buy it, it must be a nightmare out there in winter: