Blending In

I headed to Foulney Island this morning - windy, cold, bleak, and good. I kept an eye on the tide as I didn’t want to get stranded. Apart from two fishermen I seemed to be the only visitor. I passed a very feisty oystercatcher and took a few photos (extra). I then met the warden, who asked if I had photographed the oystercatcher chicks - I said I hadn’t noticed them. He was on his way to check them so invited me along. So that’s the blip. It was a quick visit, we didn’t want them to be exposed to the cold wind for too long. Further along I came across ringed plover and oystercatcher nests on the path - little structures are placed around them so visitors do not step on them. A pic of ringed plover eggs and a superbly camouflaged adult are extras.

I then travelled to nearby Roa Island for a sausage butty and cup of tea in the café. I chatted to a chap about yesterday’s Dave’s Day. Dave Myers used to live on Roa Island (he pointed out of the window to the yellow house). The estimate of the number of bikers yesterday has been upgraded to 46,000.

Then I moved on to the ruins of Furness Abbey, a Cistercian foundation that in its day was immensely powerful and rich. It must have been a hugely impressive set of buildings, it’s certainly an impressive ruin. It’s sited in the evocatively named Vale of Nightshade. The bedrock is 14 metres below the surface, so the whole structures was built on an enormous oak raft, which has created some challenges to its stability. I took lots of photographs of the ruins, and of the swallows nesting in the chapel (extra).