Terns

Arctic terns (tirricks) I think though I'm not sure about the colour of its bill which I think should be red. Can someone please confirm or put me right?

Woke to glorious sunshine this morning though fortunately not as dawn broke at 03:30 or so. We got ourselves sorted quite quickly to make the most of the weather. Down to the Bay of Tuquoy where we walked along the coast path to the ruinous Westside Kirk (extra). I have blipped this before so have relegated it to an extra today. It is now owned by Historic Scotland which states,


"Westside Church at Tuqouy is probably a Norse construction, dating to the 1100s. The Orkneyinga saga suggests that it was built by Haflidi Thorkelsson, whose farm was in the field next to the church.

Today the church stands as a roofless ruin, though its beautiful simplicity still shows through. It’s surrounded by a graveyard, which is maintained by the local community".


It really is in the most delightful spot overlooking the sea. The tirricks (if that's what they are) kept us company all the way, shrieking at us to keep away from their nests.

We have done this walk three times now and this was definitely the trickiest. It looks as if new fences have been put in making the footpath very narrow in places. There is a stile near the church which Otter attempted but he couldn't make it. He easily would have in the past. He fell on his back poor old dog and had to be lifted over. He's fine though.

By the time we'd finished our walk the clouds had come back and there's even a bit of drizzle. It's forecast to go in the early afternoon when I'm going to set off round the bay to buy some fish from Jack's for our evening meal.