B is for...

Firstly – an apology. As I understand it *some* of you “down South” may be enjoying less than brilliant weather. If this is something you feel particularly sore about, you may prefer not to read on…only it would appear that currently we have brought the good weather over on the ferry with us! The forecast for today was mostly cloudy…bit of sun…small amount of rain. Instead we’ve had a small amount of cloud (first thing this morning) and then sun, and lovely warm temperatures too – bliss!

We headed off round to Balranald – the RSPB reserve – this morning….and that is why this is part of my “Alphabet Photography Project”series – B is for….Birds! Before we go any further then, shall I make you say “Ahhhh!” ? Ok then - try this…

…Yes, thought that would work – Lapwing Chick, there are masses of them around up here at the moment! A little further along the road we saw this Swallow…

…we’re so used to seeing them flying about but tend to forget the stunning colour of them!  Those were before we even got to the reserve and parked up, too!  Once we had we started out on the walk – one of our favourites this, a circular walk of around 4.5 miles taking in machair, sandy  beaches and rocky shores, it never disappoints – we soon arrived at the first stretch of beach and immediately saw this…

…not quite your standard gull this – much paler and with a larger, dark eye, it looks far prettier than the Herring Gulls which we’re used to seeing when we spot a gull of this size.  It’s a Glaucous Gull – not precisely rare, but not that common either, and unusual enough here that people comment on them.  It flew off not long after I took that shot, but helpfully came right overhead…

We wandered on. Terns, Pipits, A pied Wagtail, Lapwings and Oystercatchers, lots of small waders…everywhere you looked (and listened) there were birds! The nice thing is that a lot of the time the only sound you can hear is the bird calls – no traffic noise here. The first few times we came over it actually took time to get used to that, when you live and have always lived somewhere there is some form of noise around you all the time, total silence is something that your ears struggle to process.

It's not just the birds either - at this time of year the wildflowers are getting properly into full swing and  the bees are taking advantage...we spotted this stunning chap, a Moss Carder Bee, we think... 

You finish the walk on another lovely beach, and in this weather there's really no better place to be!

And there you go, that's all the "B's" I can think of. No link in this post to the rest of the challenge either - getting (and keeping) a signal up here can be hard enough I'm afraid! Tomorrow is going to start with a walk lead by a chum of ours to looks for otters. We may see them, we may not, but either way we'll have a fine old time no doubt. We're following that up with a boat trip too so fingers crossed for more lovely weather, please!

Robyn.