posers

The sun and very high tide made me think of a quick visit to Blackness Castle this afternoon to see the waders corralled on the rocks near the Castle garden. Quick wasn't quite the word as there was a tailback of traffic behind a hay wagon which travelled along the main road from the new bridge works to beyond where I turned off to Blackness. But quick as in a short time as I wanted to be back before the Friday afternoon Bridge traffic built up, adding up to 30 mins to the journey home.

Once at the Castle, I saw bar-tailed godwits, a curlew snoozing on a rock, redshanks, a lone turnstone, oystercatchers, and a flock of sanderlings which flew about trying to find somewhere to settle on the few rocks left above water. There were several birds who had settled on rocks probably about 15 minutes before the tide was up, being buffeted by waves (the wind was quite strong) as they stood up to the top of their legs in water.