Shelducks

It was a case of 'Plan B' on Sunday afternoon, but it turned out rather well in the end.

After church in the morning, I decided I would driver over to Blackness Castle in the afternoon. It was a bright, sunny day if a little breezy and it seemed the perfect location for a pleasant day out.

On arrival at Blackness Castle, however, I discovered that rather a lot of people had the same idea - the place was incredibly busy. The narrow road towards the castle was a logjam of cars trying to enter and others trying to leave. On- and off-street parking spaces were full, as was the small car park at the Castle itself.

I blame Outlander myself, or maybe it was the LEGO exhibition. Either way, once I had reached the car park and managed to turn the car (no mean feat) I headed instead for Bo'ness with no particular plan in mind.

In the event I decided to go for a walk along the Foreshore. It was, one might say, bracing. OK, blowing a gale might be more accurate. However, I walked along the Foreshore path into the teeth of the wind and around the loop at the Kinneil Nature Reserve, thankful that the wind was behind me for the return walk along the Foreshore.

There were quite a few birds to be seen on the mudflats - the tide was out - but as I didn't have binoculars, only my 'point-and-shoot' pocket camera, I used the zoom lens on that. I was rather taken by the colourful birds that are my main photo - it's a bit grainy, but I later identified them as Shelducks. I have also included one of the photos I took of a curlew as an extra. It was a little closer to shore. A warming cup of coffee and a slice of cake was a welcome reward for my buffeting,