Sand Storm!

Poor little Katya! She thought beaches were where you sat on the sand, in your swimsuit, making sandcastles and running down to the gently lapping waves for a bit of a paddle! Poor child - all her layers on and being sand blasted with icy gusts and the sea so wild that even Ollie only went in the foam at the edge!

Luckily her mother is a strong, determined woman from Latvia, who is used to inclement weather, so regardless of the wind and rain, we just put on sensible clothing, and lots of it, and enjoy the day whatever the elements throw at us!

We had great fun on the beach, until I found a gannet with a broken wing, flapping about in the surf. I picked it up, wrapped Ollie's lead around it to restrain the good wing and support the hanging one, and my brother in law drove us home. As we drove I became aware of huge, ticks, lice like things, emerging from between the feathers of the gannet on my knees! Ye gods, they were BIG! And as I had one hand holding the bird's head still, I only had one finger and thumb to try and crush them with! Terry was driving as fast as he could, cringing away from the crawling horrors in the passenger seat, while I tried to keep crushing the blighters and keep the horrendous beak pointing away from me. As it was, in the 10 minutes I held it, the gannet had bitten/pecked me three times. They were more a bite than a peck as it actually held on, like a terrier. The beak is serrated to hold a struggling fish, and so the ungrateful bird managed to draw blood as it held my hand in its bill.

We took it to birdy friends, who examined it and explained that the lice and ticks etc on it meant that it must be pretty poorly to start with. It was also quite thin and although it could peck, it couldn't walk and was very weak. They agreed to look after it until it died, but there was not alot else we could do for it. Better to die in a quiet box than be attacked on a beach by crows, dogs, gulls and Great Skuas.

Sad end to a good, wild walk!