Working

I had a trip out to Incholm with D on his daily commute - very nice to visit again, though sadly not able to visit the abbey itself yet. All that Heras fencing is depressingly familiar from the tramworks.

I strolled about the eastern end of the island, visiting the Minor Light and a fulmar, a couple of eiders and a great many gulls. There was a problem for one of the eiders - see first extra. It was so odd to see a male out of the water and up amongst the nestings. There had obviously been a nest miscalculation on someone's part - the gull he's back to back with (who's sitting on 2 eggs) is almost beak-to-beak with an eider whose nest is further back in the undergrowth. When I passed, both females (and the male) flew off - the usual behaviour is for them to sit absolutely tight when you pass. N said he later on saw the lady eider back but sitting on the gull's eggs. Oh dear. (Oh, note that you can see Leith in the far distant haze, beyond the Oxcar lighthouse).

There were some charming goslings about (2nd extra) - very tightly guarded by four adults although D reckons they're down in number to 9  from the original 13.
 
Thought that DaveH's friends on Blip might like to see him at work - well, he's just visible in the main blip, but the 3rd extra shows him tying up a rope on the high pier, having just helped the Maid cast off.

Stu gave us a lift back from Granton Harbour and we went to the Carrier's Quarters for a beer - haven't done that for a very long time. A very satisfying day.