Out of the Shadows!

Thank you all for your lovely supportive comments.  It has been a scary few weeks with emergency gp call outs, changes in drugs and some added.  In the few lucid moments it has been lovely to read all your blogs, although not commenting much, it has taken me out of my pit for a while.

The Dawn Patroller has taken good care of me and managed to bring back photographs to tempt me.  Altho lifting a paintbrush is like lifting the caber just now.

 These are seals.  Lots of seals.  You may have to hit on the picture to confirm I am not hallucinating.  And, yes, done a fair bit of that too.

 Flock of Oyster Catchers. 

Our youngest daughter paid a flying visit on Sunday and spent the evening telling me I didn't look ill.  Strangely I never do.  Something to do with the pink glow cast by the merging broken veins I believe.  

Whilst here she and the DP visited the Ythan estuary where these photographs were taken.  An abundance of wild life here in the North East we do our bit to encourage them.  I have already written about the RSPB Bird Reserve at Strathbeg.  This is another of our reserves, the Ythan Estuary, via Wikepedia.

 
The Ythan Estuary is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of Aberdeen, Scotland. The estuary’s tidal action extends a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) inland and has characteristic widths of between 250 metres (820 ft) and 780 metres (2,560 ft). Besides the tidal channel there are interfaces to the upland dunes including mudflats, sand beaches and shingle flats. Reaches of salt marsh occur, but they are primarily near the Waterside Bridge (crossing of the A975 road) and the mouth of the Tarty Burn, a small tributary river. Based upon the habitat of the moorland bordering the east of the Ythan River near the mouth, this estuary is ^[1] the most significant coastal moorland in the northern United Kingdom.
The Ythan Estuary is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and appears as site no. 939 on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance^[2] with Meikle Loch. There are 50 breeding pairs of Common Shelducks^[3] in the estuary, and there is a mixed tern breeding colony on the east shore 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) from the mouth comprising Arctic, Sandwich, Little and Common Terns.

One other strange fact about the Ythan.  Somewhere on there is a decrepit old rowing boat quietly rotting away.  An artist I met has done literally hundreds of paintings of this boat. Obsessed.  He doesnt know why either.

Not to be recommended as a proper diet, but a definite way to lose weight, is not to eat.  Unike the rotting boat I can and will rebuild.