Chirstmas Fairs

Today was the day three Christmas Fairs on the islands on one day. Actually they weren't very extensive and even Tricia was not tempted to buy very much. The German Christmas Fair tradition is not going to be challenged by the Hebrides.
At the first of them, word spread of an Arts workshop in Lochmaddy and so Tricia was safely dropped off there leaving me to the peace and quiet of Berneray.
One of the things you have to do there is check the Sanderling flock for colour rings. In the past I've found several, previously ringed in Iceland or Greenland. Not today however.
That said Sanderling are one of those birds you can keep looking at. Like those stupid rabbits in the Duracell adverts, they just keep on running along the shore to and fro like little black and white clockwork toys. Not quite sure what delicious worms lurked below the surface here but there was clearly one line's worth to investigate. Breeding in the Artic and wintering as far south as Ghana, these little shorebirds have an interesting - albeit short I expect - life.