What a great day it has been.

Last night NM started to bake the Christmas cake which meant that we were out of eggs this morning. So I volunteered to pop round to the local farm and pick some up. There was no-one in the shop so I picked up a dozen eggs and and left the money on the counter.

As I was leaving the yard the farmer's wife and six year old daughter were walking from the byre with a young calf between them. I stopped to say hello and was told that the calf had been born last Monday and had been rejected by her mother and that the farmer's wife had to clean her off and now she followed her everywhere. Her daughter had named the calf Jayden, after her boyfriend at school, and now the calf followed them everywhere and answered to her name being called. I didn't have my camera with me or this would have been my blip today.

This afternoon we went to Thurstaton where we meet up my daughter F, son J and A. These guys were launching themselves off the cliffs. I managed to get some good close ups but this one shows the scale better. I love the little white cottage on the beach at the foot of the cliffs.

We popped into the hide at the ranger station and we were rewarded with some great close ups at the feeding station.

As it was getting dark we made our way down to Parkgate for an ice-cream. We saw the magnificent sight of two short eared owls hunting on the marshes and a kestrel searching for his supper.