The Book of Enitharmon

I know Walney is an important stopping-off point for migrating birds, but finding four of these flightless latinos in a muddy field at North Scale is getting silly!

In other news...

I've been driving myself into the ground over the last couple of weeks, trying to get to grips with Ruby on Rails - a desirable IT skill, evidently - so I can have it on my CV and talk about it intelligently at a putative interview. And I woke up this morning with the beginnings of a cold (dry throat, rasping cough) and determined not only to let it drive me further into myself but to get a life once more. And furthermorer, to get on with some writing.

So, noting from the tide table that the low tide was nicely timed and it's a glorious day, I set off to Biggar Bank and walked from there up to Earnse Bay. It's only really feasible to do this for half an hour either side of the low tide because otherwise it's necessary to negotiate some difficult rocks rather than firm sand at the water's edge between the coastguard tower and Earnse Point. It was glorious and apart from the car-parky bits at either end I had it all to myself. Well, myself and large numbers of curlews, oystercatchers, dunlin and a small flock of (behave yourselves, umrats reading this) cormorants. I've never seen cormorants on Walney beach before, though they are seen often enough in the docks. Later, after I'd had a cup of coffee and put the world to rights with my friend Lilian, I walked back down the lane to North Scale, which is where I saw the rheas with their friends the donkeys, and then along the Walney Channel as the tide came in. Lots of redshank along the channel.

I feel a lot better than that!

Here's Cut-throat Jake, a herring gull who regards my back yard and the one next door as his personal fiefdom...




That was taken a couple of weeks ago. This morning, Jake was in his usual place but minus his right foot.




A few minutes later, even the stump was gone.




He doesn't seem at all fazed, however, standing steady on his left foot (something I've always found very difficult, by the way)

I mentioned this to Tosca. She says she feels insulted, that she doesn't know anything about it and besides she was with Claude the tom from down the street when it happened. After a meal break she refused to come out to play...