Sitting at the dock of the bay

The Safari was able to get an hour down at the old dock where mooring pontoons have been commandeered by a colony of nesting terns. Actually there wasn't anywhere to sit so we were standing against the railings.The terns are sat on their nests right below your feet!

and offer crippling views 

as they come and go

sometimes bringing food for egg incubating mates

Right by the huge Mute Swan's nest was this Arctic Tern sitting tight. The swan's nest is constructed between heaps of driftwood.

The Common Tern's nest in the first pic got trodden on by the male Mute Swan as he clambered aboard the pontoon to join his mate. Somehow he only managed to kick a bit of cardboard over the eggs and managed not to crush them. Not the best place to build your nest - bit like pitching a flimsy tent in the inside lane of the M6 and hoping the trucks won't squish you.
On the way back to Base Camp we stopped briefly at the neaby marsh where a number of House Martins were busy collecting mud for ttheir nests. Is it just us or do numbers of these little beauties and Swifts appear well down this summer?

We had a quick scan of the muddy margins of the pool but found only a few Redshanks, Lapwings and snoozing Mallards.
Then out of cover close by, perhaps worried about the barking from Monty as we'd left him in the car and he wasn't happy, came a family of Shovelers. Good to have them nesting in our area, let's hope at least a couple of the ducklings survive.

Back at Base Camp the garden is blooming after our holiday and now we have two spikes on our Northern Marsh Orchid in the tub by the sitting room window.

Herb Robert self seeds into every available space buut we don't mind as it's cheery and the bees and other insects love it.

And finally here's a few mmore from Cornwall we've managed to get round to processing.

Botallack's Meeter-n-Greeter in-chief - - no-one was allowed to pass without giving him a tickle on the chin

Bumblebee sp on Gorse

Common Blue

Black Lipped Banded Snail - yellow un-banded form

Garden Snail

Navelwort - very common on the dry stone walls around the village and cliffs, in fact it grow where-ever it could find the tiniest toe-hold

Mine chimney built with granite

Cape Cornwall - originally thought to be Britain's most westerly point until someone measured Land's End properly - - there's five Grey Seals in the cove bottling just behind the surf

Cape Cornwall again

Where to next? Back on Patch 1 for a couple of days before we go back to work.
In the meantime let us know who has to be seen in your outback.