Osprey bay

You might need to take my word for it, but the bird flying in from Morecambe Bay over the top of Arnside Knott is an osprey. With lockdown restricting access to the breeding sites, I was beginning to think I might not see one this year. And seeing one from the Knott was a first for me too. Now, if this had been carrying a fish, that would be even more of an event to witness.

Most mornings I stop at this point to look into the bay and its multilayered mudflats of browns, blues and greys. I was thinking perhaps a fly-by of shelducks would be good against the Bay's backdrop.  But nothing appeared, and as I was putting the camera away, the osprey materialised as if from nowhere, leaving me little time to frame and focus.

It was a cool start to the hottest day of the year so far. After allotment watering duties, the afternoon was spent on the scaffolding finishing the painting work on the dormer that I started a few months ago on a rare dry winter's day. On that occasion I was frozen to the core from bitter wind and no sun on this north facing side of the house. Today I was sunburned and squinting in the bright sunlight as I tried to reach the most inaccessible corners.