Lucky

Been a wonderful day here in Kintyre with blue skies and sun since early morning. Quite a change from the last few days! I was speaking to a farmer friend last week from the Scottish Borders who has had a terrible time with the weather, which was now threatening his crops. He returned home from Carradale last Saturday and I have seen from the forecasts that his weather has been even worse since then. Feel sorry for all our farmers who depend so much on the weather for their livelihood.

We really have been lucky with the weather this year here in Kintyre and have escaped the worst of the rain. Today was a perfect example as we basked in the sun while on the other side of Arran there was some serious rain. As I sit typing I am looking at Arran which has just been enveloped in a dark stormy looking cloud, which has a beautiful rainbow in front of it. To late to change my blip now!

Been a very busy day working in the garden getting all the grass cut and everything tidied up. While I was in my working togs I headed up to the church and got the grass cut there as well. Just as I was leaving to go to the church I was struck by the beautiful scene in front of our house where the late afternoon sun produced wonderful light and colours on the estuary. I just had to go back to the house for the camera to grab a few quick blips. For the next 20 minutes I was lost in my own little blip world rattling off umpteen shots of the river, sea and sky. All the time I was doing this I was conscious of my Sandpiper friend singing away as loud as he could. Clearly I was in the area where his chicks were and his song was a warning call I have come to recognise. No chance of blipping the chicks which were well hidden somewhere nearby, but the perfect opportunity to get a few more shots of him in different positions. I quite liked the one of him reflected in the water although my favourite was him standing on one leg on a post.. I could have chosen either of these shots as my blip but since I have already posted Mr Sandpiper twice, today it just has to be a lovely blue sky shot.

As I wandered about taking the blips I had a tremendous sense of enjoyment and being close to nature. I kept thinking to myself, how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful part of the country, even if the sun only comes out occasionally!

I forgot to add, if you go LARGE you might just make out Mr Sandpiper bottom left on top of the piece of seaweed. Can you see him?