Close Encounters of the Bass Rock Kind

Lovely lovely day today (if you gloss over the hour or so of pouring rain this afternoon). The fateful phrase "first day of spring" was even heard... which will obviously doom the whole of Eastern Scotland to a second bitter winter lasting until April.

We headed down to Yellowcraigs to run around on the beach. The shot above is looking over to Bass Rock, where the birds are returning. Every year at about this time, the rock gradually turns white as the birds come back for the breeding season. There are also lots returning to Fidra as well - these are gannets. I also saw a potential blipper, who was being spied on here while taking a photo of his friend. Who knows, maybe there was someone behind me continuing the chain.

One small rant to finish off with (hey, it's been a while). There's a fantastic playground at Yellowcraigs - really big scary equipment for the kids to climb on. It's not fenced off and today there were loads of dogs in there - some had just wandered in out of the woods next to the playground, but most were there with people watching their kids play. I've nothing against dogs, but they have the whole of the beach and forest to run free - why do they have to invade the one small space that is set aside just for kids? None of the dogs looked like they were about to eat any of the children, but I for one rely on playgrounds being the one place where I don't have to keep an eye out for dog poo everywhere. Anyway, for kids who are nervous around dogs it can't be a lot of fun having sheepdogs and german shepherds running about under their climbing frame.

Rant over. The weekend is over too soon - hope everyone had a good one. I was just cooked an excessively hot stir fry - which will hopefully see off a burgeoning cold before it really arrives, and Mr B has just plonked a groaning cheese platter down. Yum.