Terns at Tentsmuir

Tentsmuir beach is a Nature Reserve and one of my and my sisters favourite places. It's one of the haunts we used to visit often with our Grandparents and Aunt as children.

I returned back to Dundee from Argyll. More blethering, and putting the world to rights. My visit to Argyll was all too short but my sister hasn't been well and I've needed time with her to see that she is on the road to recovery. We are close and do what sisters do together. We laugh, cry and have arguments from time to time. We are very different but our values are the same.

Long walks along the beaches together with the dogs have been wonderful. The wind at Tentsmuir was horizontal, blowing the sand in patterns from the dunes onto the beach, nipping our ankles as we walked. The tide was out and we walked out to see if we could see the seal colony at the far end of the beach. There they were in the distance, possibly thirty head, sunning themselves on the sandbanks. I hadn't taken a long lens with me and with three dogs, a long way still to walk and the threat of the tide coming in, we decided to stop at a point where the tide had trapped an expanse of water.

Suddenly a massive flock of Terns appeared. A shoal of fish, trapped in the shallow waters, are a gift for hungry birds and for my camera. The flock drove the shoal towards us and it wasn't long before we were engulfed in a swirl of wings, diving continuously and reappearing with fish in their beaks. This is just one of the many images I took as they came towards and past us, undeterred by the dogs that from time to time took to chasing them.

We walked back to the car park through the pine and birch trees. The fungi season in Scotland has really begun. We found Charcoal Russula, a variety of not so enticing Boletus amongst which were a couple of Slippery Jacks, and many Saffron Milk Caps.

The Chantrelles, that Fiona had picked whilst I was away, were far more exiting!