Old and new life

A wonderful day for a walk across the Sands of Forvie and then along the beach. Bright sunshine, blue sky and a warm wind coming across from the west.

As I walked across one of the large dunes I came across this reminder of the mortality facing all life. The skull is that of a rabbit and the eggs were laid at least a year ago by a shelduck. The two species have something in common in that shelduck lay their eggs in rabbit burrows. These particular eggs never hatched, having been smashed, perhaps by a rabbit re-gaining its burrow. Later, the wind has destroyed the burrow, exposing the eggs.

But the great thing about life is that it goes on, year on year, and I was surrounded on all sides by birds getting ready to produce the next generation, the eiders were courting on the estuary, the mallard drakes were, as always, trying to mate with anything that came into range, and high above the sky larks were singing their little hearts out. An excellent day!